Tharparkar 'betrayed'

Halchal says that prime minister-in-waiting Shaukat Aziz should have retained Tharparkar's National Assembly seat because he secured 170,000 votes. In the paper's opinion, he ignored heavy mandate given to him by the Thari people when he opted for the Attock seat where he polled 70,000 votes.

The daily says Mr Aziz's statement that he decided to retain the Punjab seat on the advice of Pakistan Muslim League president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain suggests that he will not be free to take independent decisions.

The fact that in his first interview after the by-election, Mr Aziz did not say anything concrete, the paper adds, has created an impression that there will be a little difference between Mr Aziz and the ousted premier Mir Zafarullah Jamali. The paper concludes that Pakistan needs a prime minister with full authority of the office.

Kawish expresses the hope that Mr Aziz will keep his promise to develop Tharparkar which is one of the most backward regions of the country. It says that the desert area is frequently hit by food shortage and famine, causing a tremendous increase in poverty among in the area.

Politicians, the paper says, have given the people of Thar nothing except hollow promises made during general elections in the past. Their national identity cards, like their clothes, have developed holes but none of their elected representatives bothered to keep his promises. The paper expects Mr Aziz to prove himself to be an exception and do something meaningful for Tharparkar.

The daily points out that the mineral-rich Tharparkar has a lot of potential to change the lives of its people. Apart from coal, it has vast reserves of china clay and granite. It needs industries to provide jobs to the people and take them out of the mediaeval era.

Ibrat criticizes a Sindh Assembly resolution which calls for providing national identity cards to the Bengalis and other outsiders settled in Karachi. It says that the resolution was tabled at a time when the leader of opposition was in Tharparkar because of the by-election, and it was adopted without a thorough debate.

The daily says that Sindh has been witnessing an influx of people since the independence. This has upset demographic balance in the province and created fear among the indigenous population that they are going to be converted into a minority.

In the situation, it contends, the provincial assembly should have taken steps to repatriate hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants; instead it has asked for according the right of nationality to outsiders.

Tameer-i-Sindh writes that the Sindhi language is again being neglected in Sindh, which is evident from the fact that it is not being taught in private schools and the NADRA is not issuing the CNICs in the language in the province.

All eyes on EU's rising star

The European Union's long-awaited change of guard _ with Portugal's former premier Jose Manuel Barroso replacing Romano Prodi as head of the EU's powerful executive commission _ will only take place on Nov 1.

But as EU policy-makers, diplomats and reporters trickle back to work after a long summer break, all eyes are already on Mr Barroso, the 25 nation bloc's new and undisputed political star.

Mr Barroso's rapid emergence from relative obscurity to almost-overnight celebrity status is no surprise. Eversince he was nominated commission chief by EU leaders at the end of June, the multilingual and savvy 48-year old Portuguese politician has been wowing the bloc's top officials with his dynamism - and above all his promises to whip the newly expanded Union into shape.

After five years of life under Mr Prodi's lacklustre leadership, many in Brussels are hungry for change and anxious to taste real power as promised by Barroso. The incoming chief has certainly correctly identified the many challenges facing the bloc as it struggles to play catch-up with the United States: fighting Euro-apathy, economic reform, future enlargement and EU policy financing.

But some of the battles ahead _ many of which involve sparring with EU governments over money, power and prestige - may prove to be too much even for the dynamic Barroso.

So far, so good, however. Mr Barroso's line-up of commissioners, for one, is impressive, with the future EU chief proving that he can stand up to bullying by the bloc's heavyweights Germany and France.

Key posts in the new EU executive _ including competition policy, external relations, regional policy, budgetary affairs and the internal market _ have been given to representatives from smaller and new EU countries.

Keeping a pledge he made to the European Parliament last month, Mr Barroso has also managed to recruit a record number of women to the once male-dominated commission. Most importantly for EU policymakers struggling to restore the body's credibility vis-a-vis national governments, Mr Barroso has promised to put the EU executive in the bloc's "driving seat". "We will focus on delivering results," Mr Barroso told reporters last week.

Top of the agenda, says Barroso, is to bring Europe closer to its citizens. With approval of the new EU constitution expected to dominate the agenda over the next two years, Barroso's key task will be to convince increasingly Euro-skeptical Europeans that the EU is a force for good in their lives and in the world.

The tough Euro-sales job has been given to Sweden's much-respected Margot Wallström _ formerly a journalist and currently in charge of the bloc's environment policy _ who will be one of Barroso's deputies with the specific task of improving the commission's communication strategy.

Mr Barroso has also vowed to "reinvigorate" the EU's so-called Lisbon strategy which aims to transform Europe into the world's most competitive economy by 2010.

The former Portuguese premier _ known for pushing through tough domestic reforms _ has in fact underscored his economic reform agenda by giving top posts to an array of men and women known for their free-market convictions.

Competition and anti-cartel policy _ arguably the commission's biggest and most powerful portfolio _ will be handled by the Netherlands Neelie Kroes, a forceful and experienced former minister and businesswoman.

Ireland's tough-talking finance minister Charlie McCreevy will be responsible for the internal market and financial services. Newcomer Latvia's Ingrida Udre will look after taxation while Lithuania's Dalia Grybauskaite will be in charge of the EU budget. Britain's Peter Mandelson will take on the trade portfolio.

While these appointments are likely to make it harder for France and Germany to push their traditionally more protectionist agenda, Germany's current Commissioner Gunter Verheugen has been given the newly-created portfolio of guiding EU industrial policy. France's Jacques Barrot, however, has only received the relatively small portfolio of transport.

Barroso's team will have the uphill task of steering efforts to reform the much-maligned eurozone stability pact, putting in place tougher anti-terrorism measures and overseeing a possible EU decision to bring Turkey into the EU fold.

Most EU politicians say they are reassured by Barroso's team and his determined focus on reform and pursuing liberal economic policies. But there is criticism from centre-left politicians who say the new commission may end up being too Atlanticist and open-market oriented.

All commissioners-designate will be quizzed by the European Parliament in public hearings at the end of next month or early October. The EU assembly then has to approve the commission as a whole at the end of October before it can take up its work on Nov 1. So while Mr Prodi will still run the show for the next two months, few in Brussels doubt that the EU spotlight will remain firmly on Barroso and his team.

Foreign students at Karachi University: Campus Round-up

The enrolment of foreign students at the University of Karachi has started to increase after registering a decline in the last decade. In comparison to about 300 foreigners in the early 90s, there are now 67 students from abroad, including 38 admitted during the current academic session. The university administration is confident that enrolment may increase if security and scrutiny hassles are reduced.

Teachers at the university say that the earlier decrease in the number of foreign students was due to the poor law and order situation in the city as well as enforcement of stricter academic discipline.

About 275 seats are reserved every year for foreign students in different departments of the university. During ideal years, the university was receiving students from the US, Iran, Jordan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Syria, Thailand and Canada.

At present students from 15 foreign countries are enrolled at the university. On average, each one is charged a tuition fee of Rs 40,000 per year. There are 25 foreign students in the pharmacy programme, followed by nine in the microbiology department.

However, teachers feel that after 9/11 and the consequent bias in the west against Muslims, the KU could have attracted more students from Muslim countries. Probably, students prefer educational institutions in cities other than Karachi in Pakistan and in countries in their neighbourhood where they can get education at a lesser cost and in a more congenial environment.

About 38 students, including 13 women, are staying in the two hostels of the university, whereas others live outside the campus. In the case of the boys' hostel, foreign students have some grievances as well, which can be attributed to a previous decision of the university syndicate under which hostels for local and foreign students were abolished in 1994.

Prof Iftikhar Imam Naqvi, the provost of the foreign boys' hostel, agrees that the hostel has been neglected after 1994. However, he maintains that some of the facilities have been improved in recent months and repair and renovation of toilets and bathrooms is due to be undertaken.

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On the occasion of Independence Day, President Pervez Musharraf conferred civil awards on various Pakistanis for excellence in different fields. Two from Karachi University were also honoured. Dr Bina S. Siddiqui and Dr Khalid Mohammad Khan, both from the HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry, were awarded the Sitara-i-Imtiaz and the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, respectively.

Dr Bina Siddiqui had done her PhD from the university under the supervision of the late Prof Salimuzzaman Siddiqui. She is internationally recognized for her researches in natural product chemistry and has also been given a DSc degree by the university.

In the last decade, her researches have been centred more on the agricultural and medicinal requirements of the country and the region. She had received the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz earlier and was also given the Al-Khwarizmi award by the president of Iran in 2001.

Dr Khalid M. Khan has authored or co-authored over 70 research papers published in the journals of international repute. An important facet of Dr Khan's scientific work is the development of new synthetic methodologies and facile organic transformations.

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The KU's Institute of Clinical Psychology has brought out its latest biannual issue of the Pakistan Journal of Psychology. The journal is meant to promote creativity in the field of psychology and it carries experimental, clinical and theoretical articles, social surveys and comments by psychological researchers.

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In line with a decision of the Sindh government, the Sindh Medical College, a constituent unit of the Dow University of Health Sciences, has issued NOCs to 24 expelled students of the college for admission to private medical institutions, where they can pursue their remaining MBBS studies. So far 40 students have applied for NOCs.

However, students claim that private medical education institutions, including a couple of those in the city, are exploiting the situation and demanding donations of Rs400,000 to Rs500,000 in addition to exorbitant tuition fees.

They further say that the government had decided to provide them relief after a long struggle, but now the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council is objecting to their education at private colleges.

About one-and-a-half years back, admission of about 133 students of the SMC were questioned by a government inspection team, following which their admissions and enrolments with the University of Karachi, alleged to be fake, were cancelled.