Tribal bloodshed

Referring to the recent rise in tribal feuds, Kawish deplores that two recent clashes in Khairpur district have claimed 13 lives and some of the victims were women.

It points out that disputes between the Kandhra and Maitlo and Solangi and Jagirani tribes had been festering for quite some time but police hardly did anything to prevent them from turning into bloody battles. It was only after the clashes that Rangers were deployed to keep the situation under control.

The daily points out that Rangers are deployed when police fail to maintain law and order and asks that if police fail to fulfil their responsibility, as suggested by the Khairpur clashes, then what is the justification of spending millions on the force.

Only a handful of people are involved in tribal clashes whereas police force comprise thousands of people. If there is a resolve to prevent tribal feuds and curb other crimes, there is no reason why police should not be able to do the job. But realities on the ground confirm the force's apathy and inefficiency.

Another manifestation of the failure of the administration to maintain law and order is its patronage of the banned jirga system to get tribal disputes settled, the paper adds. This erodes the writ of law and gives a free hand to the tribal forces.

Awami Awaz condemns police failure to recover the kidnapped rice trader, Santosh Kumar, and says that even a deadline given by Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim to the Larkana police to recover the hostage has failed to produce any result.

Kidnapping for ransom has become a permanent source of agony for law-abiding residents of rural Sindh, the paper says and urges the administration to work out an effective plan to curb the crime.

Ibrat says that a builders' group is trying to occupy the land of the Ladies Club in the Heerabad area of Hyderabad and claims that the Auqaf department has sold the plot to it. This is despite the fact that the club is under the control of the culture department and not the Auqaf department.

The daily insists that the club is part of Sindh's heritage as it was established before independence and imparted music and dance training to women. These days the club is being used to host classes for children, sewing and embroidery training for women and wedding ceremonies. The paper calls upon the provincial and district governments to ensure that the efforts to occupy the plot and use it for commercial purpose are foiled.

Tardy follow-up action: Campus Round-up

Karachi faced a host of environmental hazards last year due to the spillage of crude oil in a large quantity from the tanker Tasman Spirit, which had run aground in the KPT channel on July 27 and broken up into two within 20 days.

The disaster led to discussions on working for contingency plans to deal with such emergencies and tackle oil pollution. The Centre for Molecular Genetics (CMG), University of Karachi, was also involved and it submitted a project to the federal ministry of science and technology for rehabilitation of the oil-affected beach areas.

The centre wanted to enhance the pace of degradation of the petroleum pollutants by using environmental bioremediation technology, which it had developed during the last decade.

According to Dr Nuzhat Ahmad, director of the CMG, the technology makes use of native micro-flora to enhance degradation of petroleum pollutants. The CMG was awarded the project in question in October, 2003, but is still waiting for release of funds.

Against its research work, planned to be completed in two years, the CMG has been promised an amount of Rs10.63 million, a portion of which was to be delivered to it last December.

It is learnt that the centre has been able to carry out some of the projected works through its resources, but is now finding it difficult to field its scientists at the beach for further works.

The centre has developed experimental scale laboratory cultivation of a viable oil degradation bacterial agents during the last six months and now wants to apply, monitor and measure the bioremediation progress of oil degradation in the contaminated beach sediments.

Under the project, the CMG has to optimize the growth conditions of oil degrading bacteria to treat contaminated sediments and water.

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Graduates of the master's programme in economics and finance of the Karachi University's economics department an event recently to create awareness in the corporate sector and business groups about the new degree in economics and finance (MEF) launched by the university in 2002-2003.

State Bank Governor Dr Ishrat Hussain was the chief guest on the occasion, while, among others, Vice-Chancellor Dr Pirzada Qasim and the dean of the arts faculty, Dr Abuzar Wajdi, were also present.

The chairman of the department, Prof Shafiqur Rehman, informed the guests that the MEF programme emphasized equipping students with knowledge of practical and applied aspects in the field of economics and finance, and make them acceptable to private and public sector organizations.

Dr Hussain said quality professionals with expertise in a combination of economics and finance comprised an urgent need of the financial sector. He assured the graduates that the MEF degree would be made a part of the recruitment policy of the State Bank in the future.

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The ambassador of Nepal, Pushkar Man Singh Rajbhandari, visited the Sindh Medical College, a constituent unit of the Dow University of Health Sciences, during a trip to Karachi last week.

The principal, Prof Noshad A Shaikh, briefed the ambassador on various renovation and refurbishment projects undertaken at the college. The chairman of the foreign students association informed the guest that at present 132 foreign students were studying at the college, out of whom 13 were from Nepal.

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The student branch of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineer, USA, at the NED University of Engineering and Technology, organized an international conference, E-Tech 2004, on July 31.

The student branch counsellor at NED varsity, M Saquib Ilyas, highlighted the scope and objectives of the institute. As many as nine noted professionals from local and foreign organizations provided career guidance to the students during a panel discussion.

Dr Irfan Haider delivered his keynote speech on "how to get a PhD degree." The varsity's Vice-Chancellor, Abul Kalam, who presided over the post-lunch session of the conference, also gave shields to the panel participants and the keynote speaker.