Acid attacks on the rise
Incidents of acid attack are on the rise in the Bahawalpur district. Last week, a woman councillor had suffered serious burn wounds when her husband allegedly poured acid on her.
According to statistics, over 15 acid attacks had been reported during the last six months, in which two persons died while the rest lost their limbs and eyesight. Of them two sisters of Ahmedpur East were sent abroad for treatment by the Punjab chief minister.
The preliminary treatment for the surgery of their faces has begun in London. Other victims, now crippled, are leading a miserable life. The open sale of acid is illegal, but the suspects involved in such cases freely purchase it from the open market.
The licence holders are selling the acid without let or hindrance. The law checking the illegal sale of acid is not practicable and the criminals are taking advantage of it. The illegal trade of acid is the main cause of attacks not only in the urban but also in rural areas of the district.
If the suspects of the acid attacks are brought to the book, their challans are delayed first on the investigation stage and then in courts with the result that the victims have to wait for years for justice. In this matter, the sole responsibility lies with the police. There must be a proper check on the illegal sale of acid.
The cases of the accused arrested in acid attacks should be investigated in the shortest period. Their challans should also be submitted to courts without any delay. There is a demand of the general public that the acid attack cases should be tried by anti-terrorism courts to bring the accused to justice.
Both the district and Punjab governments should take immediate measures to stem such incidents. The illegal sale of acid should be checked by the police and the responsible shopkeepers be taken to task to protect society from such criminals.
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The work on dualizing of a 90-kilometre-long Tarinda Muhammad Panah-Ahmedpur East to Bahawalpur Road has been in progress at a cost of Rs2.6 billion for the last one-and-a-half years.
According to the National Highways Authority (NHA), about 40 per cent work on the project has so far been completed and it is expected that it will be completed by the end of December, 2004.
At present, the road is in a poor state and almost unmotorable. The motorists have complained that neither any temporary service lane nor diversion for both heavy or light vehicular traffic has been constructed by the department.
The absence of any such diversion is bringing about inconvenience to passengers and drivers. Moreover, the tyres, brakes and wind screens of the vehicles are also affected, burdening financially to owners of the vehicles.
During the Punjab chief minister's recent visit here, Bahawalpur Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Sheikh Muhammad Abbas Raza had drawn his attention towards this problem of the motorists.
He also demanded the chief minister that this road should be completed within the shortest period as this important highway connected the traffic of northern and southern Punjab to Karachi.
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Hasilpur, an important cotton market in the Bahawalpur district, is located about 100 miles off in the east. Its THQ Hospital is without specialist doctors due to which most of the poor people are unable to seek their advice for they cannot afford to travel to Bahawalpur.
Sometime back, the government had announced posting of specialists doctors with special incentives for them in the far-flung areas. The government should implement its decision and the posts of specialist doctors lying vacant in the THQ Hospital should be filled during the current fiscal year for the welfare of the ailing humanity of this area.
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The launching ceremony of "Kahani Thak Chuki Hai", a poetic collection of Qamar Sajid, an engineer by profession, was held under the auspices of 'Cholistan Adabi Forum, Bahawalpur' at the local Circuit House. Islamia University vice-chancellor Prof Dr Munir Akhtar presided while Faculty of Arts Dean Prof Dr Najeeb Jamal and Wapda S.E Rana Akhtar Hussain were the chief guests.
Prof Dr Aslam Adeel, University's Education department head, Dr Muzzamil Bhatti, Malik Akbar Utera and Mumtaz Hussain Bazmi spoke on the occasion about the new book. The Cholistan Adabi Forum held this literary function after a long period.
IBA library to have archive section: Campus Round-up
With a recent bulk supply, the number of books at the Institute of Business Administration's library has increased to over 50,000 on various subjects, particularly on business management, finance, economics, sales and marketing.
The history of the library goes back to the year 1955 when the IBA was established in collaboration with the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce, University of Pennsylvania.
On average, around 1,000 books are added to the stock every year besides its subscription to more than 80 international and 42 local journals and periodicals. Libraries generally discard the outdated books time to time, which are normally not required by readers in view of limited space and other maintenance problems.
But same is not the case with the IBA's library, which is maintained at two places, the university campus and city campus. IBA's librarian Maqsood A. Siddiqui says that management of the institute has decided to retain the old and rare editions of books in an archival section planned to be established at the library.
According to Mr Siddiqui, the latest induction of over 1,000 books and international research journals cost about Rs2.2 million, which were managed by the IBA from its own resources and donations by its alumni. The IBA has also benefited from the Asian Book Foundation, which used to donate books to institutes in bulk.
Last year, the IBA signed an agreement with the JSTOR Inc. - a searchable electronic database - to enable its users to gain better and easier access to 46 leading business journals with full text, which can also be downloaded at both campuses of the institute.
The library would also be automated within four to five months after which students, faculty members and research scholars would easily locate books and other materials.
The IBA has also subscribed to the Commonwealth Universities Database Online Service, which has been designed to bring students and faculty members instant access to the expertise of over 500 varsities.
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The role of philanthropists and non-governmental organizations becomes crucial especially in health or education sector when states are unable to meet demands of society in these sectors.
At the latest meeting of senate at the NED University, Vice-Chancellor Abul Kalam urged the university alumni to come forward and help develop projects at their alma mater.
Presenting his annual report in the meeting, the vice- chancellor stated that in the year 1996-97 there was no private sector funding except for scholarships. At present, he said, the private donations for scholarships had increased to Rs3.34 million.
Abul Kalam said it was regrettable that the university alumni had hardly contributed anything to its development. Probably, according to him, it was due to some inherent weaknesses in the university itself.
He also mentioned about donations of Rs33 million received from private sector for construction of building and implementation of programmes of the newly-introduced petroleum engineering department at the university.
He said that Mr Latif Ebrahim Jamal, a philanthropist, who had also donated funds for the establishment of HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry, Karachi University, had agreed to donate a building on a plot measuring about 75,000sq-yds on Stadium Road, which will be managed by the NED university as an additional campus.
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An important meeting of the senate of Federal Urdu University is scheduled for July 17 in Karachi. The senate, besides other items on agenda, will consider some names recommended by a nominating committee appointed by the university chancellor, the President of Pakistan, for new vice- chancellor of the university.
The post of vice-chancellor has been lying vacant for the last seven months and the day-to-day affairs of the university are being looked after by a "chief administrator" appointed by the senate.
The senate is required to present a panel of three persons from amongst those proposed by the committee, in order of priority, to the chancellor for appointment of new vice- chancellor. The chancellor is empowered to decline appointment of any nominated person and seek recommendations of a fresh panel.
However, the university employees are hopeful that the appointments of registrar, controller of examinations and finance director will be made as soon as the new vice-chancellor is appointed.
The posts were advertised in December 2003, but, the related proceedings are in suspension, probably, for want of the new vice-chancellor, claimed a couple of teachers. Since its inception in November 2002, the university has been maintaining campuses in Karachi and Islamabad.
It has affiliated 21 institutions so far. About 25,000 candidates have appeared in 23 exams of different courses under semester and annual systems during the last six months.
Water issue & resignation of Abbasi
Commenting on the resignation of the chief of the technical committee on water, A.G.N. Abbasi, Kawish says that the committee has been facing obstacles to its working right from its inception.
President Gen Pervez Musharraf, during his Sindh visit in November last year, had announced formation of the committee headed by an irrigation expert from Sindh to help resolve the dam issue and determine if the River Indus system had water for new dams.
However, the notification on the formation of the committee was issued as late as in February this year. Similarly, a controversy was created over its terms of references.
The committee was given just one room for its office and no funds were sanctioned for it. The departments concerned, like the Water and Power Development Authority and the Indus River System Authority, did not cooperate with the committee and failed to provide it the documents it asked for.
The daily argues that the treatment meted out to the committee seems to have stemmed out from apprehensions that its report may confirm that there is not enough water for a new dam.
What message did the authorities want to convey by not providing a congenial atmosphere to committee, the paper asks, and says that it suggests that the rulers are bent upon building the Kalabagh dam. But the construction of the dam has been made conditional upon a national consensus over it, therefore the committee must be given the resources and cooperation it needs to accomplish its job, Kawish concludes.
Ibrat welcomes the news that Mr Abbasi has been persuaded by the president to withdraw his resignation, but it contends that the president should now ensure that the committee does not face the same situation again.
Hilal-i-Pakistan says that Irsa has decided to send a reprimand to the Sindh government on the issue of releasing water downstream Kotri Barrage, despite the fact that it has been one of the divisive factors for the authority.
Its members from Sindh insist that the release of 10,000 cusecs of water below Kotri is necessary to save agriculture in the downstream area and Indus delta which is facing an environmental disaster. On the other hand, Punjab's representatives believe that it is a waste of water.
The daily adds that a decision to get a study conducted on the need and quantum of water release is yet to be implemented despite announcements made by the authorities concerned. It says that the study must be conducted before a decision is taken on the dam issue since the subject is directly related to the water needs of Sindh.
Awami Awaz comments on a statement made by Federal Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat, saying that an army operation in Balochistan cannot be ruled out.
The paper suggests that instead of using force against the people of the country, it will be better to initiate a dialogue with Baloch nationalists on resource distribution, Gwadar port project and establishment of cantonments in the province.