Policemen suspended

KOHAT, Aug 2: Two policemen were suspended after a handcuffed drug smuggler ran away from their custody while being taken to district courts on Tuesday.

The police said the accused Mohammad Salman was arrested for possessing hashish and was locked up in the tehsil city checkpost after registration of case against him in the city police station on Monday afternoon.

Sub-Inspector Saifur Rehman and head constable Javed Iqbal were taking the accused to the courts when he broke out of them and ran away in chained hands.

The SSP, investigation, Atique Ullah Wazir, suspended both the officials for negligence in duty. —Correspondent

Man gets life sentence

PESHAWAR, Aug 2: The additional district and sessions judge Muneera Abbasi on Tuesday convicted a person after he was found guilty of murdering a man and sentenced him to life imprisonment with fine of Rs100,000.

Following completion of evidence and arguments by both the parties the court pronounced that the prosecution had proved its case against the accused, Akhter Ali, resident of Azakhel village in Mathani area.

The accused was arrested on charges of killing a man of his area named Noordad Khan. An FIR was registered against him at the Mathani police station on June 12, 2008.The prosecution claimed Noordad shot dead Akhter Ali after an altercation between them over a petty issue. —Bureau Report

POL price hike flayed

PESHAWAR, Aug 2: PML-Likeminded Group, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, general secretary Malik Riaz advocate has termed the increase in prices of petroleum products tantamount to snatching livelihood from the poor people.

In a statement on Tuesday, he said the people were already leading very miserable life due to price hike and the worst affected were the unemployed people who were unable to feed their families.

Mr Riaz said the oil rates at the international markets were falling day by day while ‘in our country the situation was going from bad to worse as the government was least bothered about the welfare of the poor’.

Mr Riaz said in the prevailing situation the people had the only option to come to streets. —Bureau Report

Complaint offices

PESHAWAR, Aug 2: Police department will set up complaint offices at the district level to accommodate public complaints against police and take stern action against the personnel involved in any kind of violation or misuse of powers.

Speaking at a press conference here on Tuesday the DIG, Inquiry and Inspection, Sultan Hanif Orakzai informed that about 100 inquiries of different nature were underway against the police in the province.

The DIG said the people could come to his office directly, submit application, send him stories about any kind of injustices done with them, and also contact him on the phone numbers: 091-9212617,0321-9028202 in case of any complaint against police. —Bureau Report

Faulty tube-well

LAKKI MARWAT, Aug 2: The residents of Ghaznikhel, the native village of Saifullah brothers, are facing shortage of drinking water for last several months due to apathy of the concerned authority to repair the out of order water supply scheme.

“The tube-well No 2 of the village is out of order since last January but no visible efforts are underway to repair it”, a villager, Ameer Nawaz Khan, said on Tuesday. He said the broken tube-well had caused acute scarcity of water for drinking and other needs in the area.

When contacted Public Health Engineering Department SDO Alam Zeb Khan said electricity transformer of the tube-well had been repaired and installed in June last. He said after availability of funds the pumping machinery and other equipment would also be repaired. —Correspondent

Torghar part of Mansehra

PESHAWAR, Aug 2: The provincial government, under section 4 of the West Pakistan Civil Courts Ordinance, 1962, has declared the Torghar district as part of the civil district Mansehra till further orders, says a notification issued here by the Home and Tribal Affairs Department on Tuesday. —APP

Education sector

PESHAWAR, Aug 2: Department for International Development (DFID) will spend Rs40 billion on education sector in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

This was stated by a delegation of DFID which called on the Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education Sardar Hussain Babak here on Tuesday.

Appreciating the contribution of DFID and other donor agencies in developmental activities, the education minister said it was a matter of great satisfaction for his government that donor agencies were offering huge amount of funds for this province.

He asked the donors to spend funds without involving other agencies as it resulted into wastage of more than 90 per cent of the total funds.

He told the delegation that they should visit the projects' sites and get themselves acquainted with the details.—APP

MA/MSc exams

PESHAWAR, Aug 2: The University of Science and Technology, Bannu has notified that MA/MSc and B.Ed (for private candidates) and LLB (for regular candidates), annual examination 2011 would commence from September 13. The date sheet will be finalised shortly.

The roll numbers of the regular candidates will be delivered to the principals of the concerned colleges on August 20, while the roll numbers of the private candidates will be dispatched on their respective addresses on August 22.

If a candidate fails to receive the roll number slips up to September 7, he/she can contact the examination conduct section of the university immediately for issuance of duplicate roll number slips, while in case of any problem/query, candidates can contact the examination section at 0928-621827 for help.—APP

ANP committee

SWABI, Aug 2: A two-member committee of the ANP comprising Azam Hoti and Hussain Shah is likely to meet leaders of the rival groups on Thursday in an attempt to resolve differences, which are damaging the party’s cause in the district.

Sources said the committee was constituted about two weeks ago by the ANP provincial president Afrasiab Khattak to meet the rival groups led by former MNA Haji Rehmanullah and district general secretary Jehanzeb Khan.

The sources said Mr Azam Hoti’s inclusion in the committee was because he was well aware of the entire scenario. He remained in touch with key leaders of the party and might succeed in making the rivals groups to bury their hatchet. —Correspondent