Man shoots wife dead

SWABI, Jan 3: A man killed his wife in mountainous region of Gadoon Amazai on Tuesday.

Police said the incident occurred in Utla area where Abdul Waheed, after exchanging hot words with his wife over some domestic issues, shot her dead.

Police said Waheed disappeared in the mountainous region after the incident and an FIR was registered against him in the Ulta police station. —Correspondent

JI calls for elections

BATKHELA, Jan 3: The Jamaat-i-Islami provincial chief Prof Mohammad Ibrahim has said the prevailing situation should not be made obstacle in the way of holding fresh elections. He said the JI will hold rallies against the price hike, unbridled increase in rates of gas, electricity and PoL products.

Talking to media persons in Batkhela, Malakand protected area, the JI leader said rulers were still taking dictates from Washington.

Amirs and general secretaries from all the seven districts of Malakand division were present on the occasion.

Prof Ibrahim said the JI will hold a mammoth rally in Zafar Park Batkhela next month (Feb), hoping that the show will be bigger than the one held in Peshawar.

He said the PTI was following the JI stand on drone attacks, but feared that joining of the PTI by cronies of former dictator Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf might fore Imran Khan to change his stand on drone strikes. —Correspondent

MQM move criticised

PESHAWAR, Jan 3: Provincial Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain has criticised MQM for taking the issue of creating more provinces to the National Assembly.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr Iftikhar said the MQM had started a controversial debate on the sensitive issue of dividing federating units.

He stated that MQM’s move was aimed at establishing ‘Jinnah Pur’ by playing the card of carving a new province out of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said MQM should not have initiated the controversy surrounding the establishment of new provinces at this juncture.

He said a political party belonging to another province did not have the right to indulge in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s politics. “If MQM has the desire to carve out new provinces then it should, at first, prove its majority in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan,” said Mr Iftikhar.

He said ANP would extend support to every move covered by the constitution and would thwart unconstitutional endeavours. —Bureau Report

Shop looted

GHALANAI, Jan 3: Unidentified thieves took away cash, pre-paid mobile phone cards and other valuables, including a Kalashnikov, from a shop in the Ghalanai bazaar on Monday night.

Locals said the thieves entered the shop by making a hole in the roof. They said the shop was close to a checkpost of Khasadar force. The political administration registered a case and started investigation. —Correspondent

630 bags of rice seized

NOWSHERA, Jan 3: Azakhel police on Tuesday seized a huge quantity of rice and arrested a man and his son besides impounding the truck.

DSP Shahjehan Khan said Sher Afzal and his son Zard Ali, residents of Inzeri Nezampur, were arrested when they were trying to smuggle at least 630 bags of rice in a truck (E-9203). —Correspondent

College teachers problems

PESHAWAR, Jan 3: Minister for Finance Eng Mohammad Hamayun Khan has assured the college teachers that the finance department will send a summary relating to their time-scale and upgradation to the chief minister soon.

Talking to a seven-member delegation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa College Teachers Association (PCTA) on Tuesday, he said efforts would be made for immediate resolution of their problems. Provincial president of PCTA Prof Nasrullah Khan led the delegation.

The minister said he was fully aware of the problems of college teachers and efforts were being made to evolve a solid strategy to this effect. He said most of the cases sent by the finance department to line department were not dealt properly, which resulted in pushing them to cold storage.

He directed the heads of the line departments to help dispose of cases in short period. He also directed for constitution of a high-level committee to review problems of the college teachers.—APP

Former official booked

PESHAWAR, Jan 3: The executive board of NAB, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, at a meeting, authorised inquiry against Ms Saba Zaman, former assistant manager CSD, Peshawar for allegedly cheating public.

A NAB spokesman said the accused had grabbed millions of rupees from number of people on the pretext of investing in high profile business. To establish her confidence, she returned a percentage of original amounts to certain people by showing it as a profit.

General public was advised to approach NAB authorities if they had any claim against the said accused in order to recover their looted money, the spokesman said.—APP

MPs hostel rules

PESHAWAR, Jan 3: A meeting of the Standing Committee of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Housing and Library was held here with Deputy Speaker Khushdil Khan in the chair.

The meeting reviewed the report of the sub-committee regarding MPAs' hostel rules, administrative control and residing of irrelevant people. The meeting decided that the MPAs' hostel rules 1976 were not meeting the requirements of the present era. Therefore, the provincial government in consultation of the speaker Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly within a period of one month should introduce amendments in it to bring further improvement in rules concerned.

The meeting also recommended that all outstanding dues against members and ministers residing in the hostel should be written-off and directed the ministers to guarantee the allotment of rooms and charges of the hostels according to legal procedures so they didn’t face any difficulty in future.—APP

Fata development

PESHAWAR, Jan 3: Governor Barrister Masood Kausar said on Tuesday that record Rs15 billion had been allocated for the development of tribal areas.

Talking to median men after laying foundation stone of Fata House in Islamabad on Tuesday, the governor said, the government was endeavouring to bring the tribal areas at par with developed parts of the country.

He said the necessity for the construction of Fata House in Islamabad was being felt to provide better facilities of hospitality to the tribal elders, students and other dignitaries visiting Islamabad. The project was delayed due to unrest in the tribal areas, he explained.—APP