Man shot dead

SWABI, Oct 11: A man hailing from Mohmand Agency was shot dead by unidentified attackers here on Thursday.

Registering FIR in the Yar Hussain police station, brother of the deceased, Wali Khan, said they were living in Fazal Abad area of Yar Hussain for the last few years.

He said unidentified gunmen after attacking his brother near their house disappeared in the maize crop. He said his family had no enmity with anyone.

Meanwhile, three women were injured when an auto-rickshaw overturned near Charbagh on Swabi-Mardan road. —Correspondent

Work on media colony starts

ABBOTTABAD, Oct 11: Commissioner Hazara Khalid Khan Umerzai inaugurated work on the Ameer Haider Khan Hoti Media Colony at Shimla Hill here on Thursday.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Umerzai said funds had been allocated for provision of basic necessities, including roads, electrification and water supply in the media colony.

The commissioner said Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti had directed the Abbottabad Development Authority and the works and communication department to prepare a development plan for the residential scheme for the journalists.

He also inaugurated the newly constructed hall of the press club and expansion work completed at cost of Rs9.8 million. He said in the second phase IT room, library, recreation room, mini conference room with main hall would be completed along with offices for office-bearers of the press club and Abbottabad Union of Journalists. —Correspondent

Pesco workers hold demo

PESHAWAR, Oct 11: Reacting to the government’s failure to recover the kidnapped employees of Wapda, members of the Pakistan Wadpa Hydro Electric Central Labour Union staged a protest rally on Sher Shah Suri Road here on Thursday.

The employees led by central chairman of the union Gohar Taj, provincial chairman Haji Mohammad Iqbal and general secretary Mustajab Mazdoor Yar shouted anti-government slogans.

They were holding banners and placards inscribed with slogans demanding early recovery of the kidnapped employees.

They said despite protests by the union members on a number of times, the government failed to trace them out. The protesters also criticised the government for planning privatisation of Wapda and demanded of the government to withdraw its decision.

They suggested merger of power distribution companies into Wapda and construction of new hydro power stations to end loadshedding. —Bureau Report

Cancellation of interviews

TIMERGARA, Oct 11: Candidates applying for lecturers and assistant professors at Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University Sharingal, Upper Dir, have alleged the scheduled interviews were cancelled at the eleventh hour with mala fide intentions to deprive them of jobs.

Talking to journalists at Timergara Press Club on Thursday, the affected candidates said they were told by the university on the due date on October 5 that the interviews would be held next day. But, they said the university informed them on October 6 that the interviews were postponed till further orders.

Meanwhile, Residents of Ziarat Talash complained that some influential people were trying to grab state land and demolish an old water tank.

Talking to reporters the other day, they said some people wanted to demolish a decades old water tank constructed on land donated by Maliks of Amlok Dara. They demanded of the district administration to take notice of the matter. —Correspondent

NGO denies firing workers

PESHAWAR, Oct 11: Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has clarified a news item that appeared in Dawn on October 9, which mentioned that the NGO had fired 16 workers on corruption charges in Bajaur Agency.

In a statement, the NRC said 48 staff members were made redundant after a one year project was closed on September 30.  As per NRC national staff guidelines, these 48 staff members were given a month notice in August. They worked at different NRC offices, including Kohat, D.I. Khan, Nowshera, Peshawar, Bajaur Agency and Mohmand Agency. Out of these 48 staff, 12 staff were from Bajaur.

The statement said NRC agency coordinator had not been terminated rather he had recently been selected for NRC prestigious national management training programme. —Bureau Report

Doctors continue protest

PESHAWAR, Oct 11: The doctors working on ad hoc basis in different hospitals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa continued their protest against the delay in their regularisation for the third consecutive day on Thursday. They have set up protest camp along the Sher Shah Suri Road near press club.

They also announced boycotting the vaccination campaign against polio till acceptance of their demands.

The doctors had displayed banners and placards inscribed with their demands. They told media persons that government had decided to sack all the 500 ad hoc doctors thus negating its slogan of roti, kapra and makan.

They appealed to the provincial government to accept their demands and remove the unrest among them. —Bureau Report