Women as community leaders

PESHAWAR, Jan 24: Active citizenship project aims to bring out women as community leaders through launching awareness campaigns, participants of a workshop were told here on Thursday.

Khwendo Kore, a non-governmental organisation working on women’s health and education and their political participation, launched the three-month pilot programme here at a workshop jointly organised by KK and Oxfam GB.

MPA from ruling Awami National Party Shagufta Malik was the chief guest. She said that women and children were worst affected in the terrorism-hit society. She said that women needed to be organised and made more aware about their rights so that they could raise voice against injustices.

The participants were informed that the active citizenship awareness project would be initially launched in Dera Ismail Khan and Nowshera and later extended to other parts of the province.

The project activities will focus on education, livelihood, disaster risk reduction and preparedness. — Bureau Report

Loans for businesswomen

PESHAWAR, Jan 24: The provincial public sector Bank of Khyber has would issue soft term small loans to women entrepreneurs of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in an effort to encourage women’s participation in trade and business activities.

According to a press release, Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry, an offshoot of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and State Bank of Pakistan agreed, here on Thursday, to encourage women entrepreneurs and give them small loans through Bank of Khyber.

The modalities for determining eligibility criteria for loans would be evolved jointly by WCCI, SBP, BoK, and Small Industrial Development Board, according to the release.“Women entrepreneurs from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would be issued loans of up to Rs1 million on easy terms and conditions and against a single digit markup,” said the release. —Bureau Report

Prolonged power outages

LAKKI MARWAT, Jan 24: Residents of rural areas have threatened to launch a protest campaign if unscheduled and prolonged loadshedding was not stopped by Pesco forthwith.

“The rural localities lying under Darra Pezu sub-division are hard hit by continuous and hours long power outages,” said Minhajuddin of Zangikhel village. He said that power outages had added to the misery of rural population, especially women and children.

A former councilor, Mohammad Ghulam, said that the residents had lodged several complaints with the local authorities of Pesco to rid them of unfair loadshedding, but to no avail.

Other villagers said that Zangikhel, Matora, Kakakhel and Mela Mandrakhel were among the rural localities that had been hard hit by power outages for the last couple of months.

Members of Darra Pezu welfare committee also expressed their anguish over the 18-20 hours long loadshedding in the town and adjacent villages. —Correspondent

Rehabilitation of IDPs sought

PESHAWAR, Jan 24: Activists of All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter on Thursday staged a protest demonstration here on Thursday against the ongoing military operation in Bara tehsil of Khyber agency and asked the government to take steps for rehabilitation of the IDPs.

Holding banners, a large number of students from different colleges assembled outside the Peshawar Press Club and shouted slogans against the recent killing of 18 tribesmen.

Talking to reporters, leader of APML students wing Owais Khalil asked the government to withdraw troops from the Khyber Agency and find a peaceful solution to curb militancy in the area and added that the prolonged operation and curfew had made lives of the residents miserable.

He criticised the federal government for its failure to bring normalcy to Fata, especially in Khyber Agency, saying that the rulers were not sincere to control the situation and provide security to the people. —Bureau Report

Girl recovered

GHALANAI, Jan 24: The political administration of Mohmand Agency has recovered a girl of Tangi area of Charsadda from kidnappers and handed her over to her father.

Ghincha Gul tehsildar told Dawn that levies personnel raided the house of Syed Alam on the complaint of the girl’s parents. The accused, however, managed to escape before the raid, he said. The girl was allegedly kidnapped by Syed Alam and his associates on Jan 22, 2013, when she was coming home from the college on a motorcycle rickshaw.

Meanwhile, workers of Pakistan People’s Party blocked the main Peshawar-Bajaur road at Ghazai Baig area of tehsil Haleemzai in protest against the unscheduled power loadshedding.

Speaking on the occasion, PPP Mohmand Agency president Dr Farooq Afzal Khan and others warned to block the roads daily if government did not listen to their complaints.

Later, they ended the protest on the assurance of the political administration. —Correspondent

Teachers meet SDEO

LAKKI MARWAT, Jan 24: A delegation of teachers belonging to Lakki city called on sub-divisional education officer Rehmatullah Khan at his office on Thursday and apprised him about the problems of their community.

The delegation consisted of Khan Momin, Samargul, Haji Ghulam Akbar, Pir Mir Badshah, Javedur Rehman and others. The members of the delegation appreciated SDEO and other local officials of education department for completing the process of upgrading primary schoolteachers to higher scales.

They demanded that the teachers hailing from Lakki city who had been promoted to BPS-15 should be adjusted as head teachers in the primary schools of urban areas. They said that non local teachers should be posted in the schools of their native union councils.

Mr Rehmatullah assured the delegation that genuine grievances of teachers of urban areas would be addressed on priority basis. —Correspondent

Hungarian envoy opens school

KARAK, Jan 24: Hungary Ambassador Steven Sazb and Deputy Commissioner Ali Anan Qamar inaugurated The Citizen Foundation (TCF) School in Gurguri area here on Thursday. The ambassador while speaking on the occasion expressed his country’s resolve to make more investment in the province to provide quality education to the children of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said that his country had supported Pakistan on different international forums. He also announced $20,000 for the library of the school.

On the occasion, the managing director of the company, Frenc Juhuz, said that MOL Pakistan had established three model schools in the area to provide quality education to the children of the area.

He claimed that MOL Pakistan had so far spent $1.6 million on the welfare projects in the district and also praised people’s support to the company at the time of attack on the plant. —Correspondent