Man commits suicide

KOHAT, Jan 6: An old man committed suicide by firing a bullet in his head in Mitha Khan village here on Friday.

The Ustarzai police said 50-year-old Niazmeen Ali shot himself with a pistol in Kohi Kalay hamlet due to unknown reasons.

His body was brought to the Liaquat Memorial Hospital for autopsy and then handed over to the family.

His son, Akram Ali, lodged the report about the death of his father in the Ustarzai police station which launched investigations in the case.—Correspondent

Clerks to go on strike

PESHAWAR, Jan 6: All Pakistan Clerks Association (APCA), Elementary and Secondary Education Department, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter, on Friday announced single day strike in a week till acceptance of their demands.

APCA general secretary Muneer Khan told Dawn that the finance department was a big hurdle in awarding the time-scale to the ministerial staff of the education department. He said the E&SE department and standing committee on education had recommended several times award of time scale to the ministerial staff, however, the finance department didn’t approve the recommendations.

He said they would observe strike on each Saturday till acceptance of their demand. On January 18, he said APCA would hold a protest rally in which they would announce future line of action.—Bureau Report

Girls excel in B.Ed exam

TIMERGARA, Jan 6: Female students topped the Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) results announced by the University of Malakand (UoM), said a press release issued here on Friday.

According to results Ruman Shah stood first in department of education with 755 marks, Fayeza Faiz of the Oxford Education Academy Batkhila stood second with 720 marks while Aesha Parveen of the Chitral College of Education stood third with 707 marks. A total of 996 candidates appeared in the B.Ed examination out of which 402 were declared successful and the result remained 40.36 per cent.

Meanwhile, MPA and chairman district development advisory committee Mohammad Zamin advocate distributed over Rs220,000 among 28 jobless master degree holders belonging to his constituency of KP-96.—Correspondent

Landowners seek compensation

MARDAN, Jan 6: People from Mayar and Palato areas held a protest here demanding jobs in the Abdul Wali Khan University and payment of reasonable prices of their fertile lands as promised by the concerned quarters.

The protesters were demonstrating in front of the Mardan Press Club.

The government has only paid Rs2,500 per marla to the landowners while the affected families have not been provided jobs in the university, they lamented.

They alleged the former district nazim and ANP leader Himayatullah Mayar had recruited 30 residents of Mayar area in the university who did not include any person from the affected families.

They pointed out that the agricultural lands were only source of their income and now they had no other source of livelihood.

They demanded of the quarters concerned to provide jobs and minimum of Rs250,000 per marla to the affected families.—Correspondent

NGOs work lauded

BUNER, Jan 6: NGOs have played key role in rehabilitating people’s lives in the district.

The district in-charge of army wing Major Aziz, addressing participants of small skill development certificate distribution ceremony in Swari said the short courses arranged by different organisations would help the people get livelihood with honour.

Representatives of NGOs said ten high-risk union councils were chosen for skill development programme in different sectors, including tailoring, electrician, plumber and auto mechanics.

They hoped those completed courses would play positive role in the society.—Correspondent

Traffic engineering

PESHAWAR, Jan 6: Citizens for Clean Environment, an NGO, has welcomed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government’s decision to establish an autonomous traffic engineering authority to tackle the chaotic traffic in the provincial metropolis owing to growing number of vehicles plying the congested thoroughfares.

Once renowned to be a “city of gardens and flowers” Peshawar now resembles a huge garbage dump with smoke emitting vehicles and clogged roads adding misery to the lives of ordinary citizens, a statement issued here on Friday said.

Had the government taken timely advice and input from civil society members and experts the ensuing problems would have been tackled earlier, it added.

It was stated that despite citizens’ pleas the government had initiated multimillion flyovers projects costing approximately Rs800 million each.

The proposed 12 flyovers will consume a huge amount of public money into obsolete and environmental unfriendly projects with little impact on the increasing traffic.—Bureau Report

FC men’s killing condemned

LANDI KOTAL, Jan 6: A jirga of Malagori tribe has condemned the killing of 15 FC soldiers by militants in North Waziristan and announced a three-day mourning.

Headed by Malik Haji Manan, dozens of Malagori tribesmen gathered at Marble Chowk here on Thursday to express their anger over loss of lives of the FC soldiers, some of whom belonged to Malagori tribe.

Mr Manan said Malagori scouts sacrificed their lives for defence of the country and coward acts of militants could not shake their determination.

The jirga decided to keep all markets and marble factories closed during the three-day mourning besides observing transport strike.

Meanwhile, in a statement MNA Noorul Haq also condemned the killing of soldiers.

Meanwhile, Khasadar force found a bullet-riddled body of a young man, who was kidnapped for ransom. Officials said body of Nasir Pervaiz, resident of Rawalpindi, was found in Qambarabad on Thursday morning.—Correspondent

Probe demanded

PESHAWAR, Jan 6: Former MNA from Chitral and JI leader Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitralli has condemned the personnel of the Levy Force at Lowari Tunnel for allegedly opening fire on passengers who were protesting against the closure of the tunnel in Upper Dir on Friday.

He demanded of the government to probe into the matter and award punishment to those responsible for harassing the passengers, including women and children. He said the tunnel had been closed for seven hours without any reason and the people had to wait in the chilly weather.—Bureau Report