KARACHI, Aug 7: The Sindh government has decided in principle to hand over the control of the examination boards in the province to the education department. The boards were previously controlled directly by the governor.

This was disclosed on Saturday afternoon by the governor of Sindh while talking to a group of journalists following a seminar on oncology organized by the Dow University of Health Sciences. Dr Ishratul Ibad said the new policy would be implemented within the next couple of months.

Answering a question about the students who had been thrown out of the Sindh Medical College for using fraudulent means to obtain admissions, the governor said the persons in question had been punished enough.

"These students studied at the medical college for a number of years but because they had used dubious means to enter that institution, they have been denied degrees of a public university," said Dr Ibad.

"They have already been punished for two to one-and-a-half years. Now if some private medical colleges want to admit them, in line with their own policies, we have no objection." The students were in shock and had hardly reconciled to the fact that they would now be getting degrees from private institutions.

Several gangs targeting doctors had been busted, he said. As a result of the terrorist actions perpetrated by these gangs there used to be a lot of chaos in the medical community. "But now, because of the government measures against these groups, things are getting better for doctors."

To detect irregularities in the finances of the public-sector institutions, said Dr Ibad, their accounts would be audited. "This is being done across the board and even the accounts of institutions like the Institute of Business Administration would be audited."

Earlier, speaking as the chief guest of the event the governor said cancer was deadly but far more deadlier was terrorism, which afflicted the Pakistani society seriously.

The increasing number of suicide bombings was awful, but particularly horrendous was the involvement of young people in these actions.

Dr Ishratul Ibad said that people of 18 to 25 years were now increasingly taking part in suicide attacks, which was a worrying development.

Nobody had problems with fundamentalists so long as they did not impose their faith and will upon others.

"However, fundamentalists become a big problem when they cross the boundaries and try to force their faith onto others," said the governor. He was of the opinion that the government alone could not deal successfully with terrorism.

"This is one problem in which the people and the authorities must stand united in the efforts to stop society from descending deeper and deeper into the malaise of terrorism."

He urged the students to shun extremism and to work for the progress and prosperity of the country.