Nazims should act to minimize fears of Talibanization: Dr Ishrat ul Ebad

Sindh Governor Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan has stressed upon the town Nazims to play their active role in apprising the international media about the dangers of Talibanization and acts of terrorism.
He said fears of Talibanization are being continuously presented in international media and said by being Town Nazims this fear of Taliban and terrorism at grass root level could be minimized.
This he stated while addressing the Town Nazims of the cities of Sindh. The city Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal also attended the meeting and appraised the development made in Karachi.(NC)

‘Need for proper utilization of biotechnology’

KARACHI: Information Minister Shazia Marri has said that today Pakistan is on path of economic, political and technological progress.
She was addressing a workshop entitled “Commercial Importance of Biotechnology”, organized by the Dr. AQ Khan Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (KIBGE), University of Karachi, yesterday.
Information Minister said we should produce expert scientists who could lead the world in future and brighten the name of the country.
She was of view that proper utilization of biotechnology would convert this world a better place to live. Biotechnology has brought revolution in the field of health, agriculture, industry and other sectors, she said.
Pakistan is an agricultural country and the government is striving to bring development in this important sector, Marri said.
“Government is focusing on all sectors, particularly on research”, she said and added that young talent is being groomed with the assistance of educationalists and experts.

War Against Rape (WAR)

War Against Rape (WAR) is a group of committed women and men dedicated to building a sensitized society free from gender-based oppression, discrimination, exploitation and violence. WAR aims to raise awareness about the issues of sexual violence and rape; help the survivors legally, psychologically and medically; punish the perpetrators and improve the laws relating to rape and other forms of sexual abuse and violence.

In 1989 WAR was established by a group of highly motivated volunteers and functioned as a pressure group working to ‘break the silence’ surrounding the issue of rape. WAR has since then grown into a formal organization having a blend of professional salaried staff and volunteers. The WAR office is open from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm except for Saturdays and Sundays.

Over the years WAR has come to realize the widespread prevalence in our society of sexually abusive relationships within the home such as incest, marital rape and child sexual abuse. Experience has also highlighted the far-reaching traumatic effects of verbal, emotional and physical abuse that women are subjected to in the home, in the work place and in society in general.

This has lead to WAR extending its sphere to include all cases of sexual abuse ranging from sexual harassment to the absolute aggravated cases of rape. With successes in the legal field, the establishment of Women’s Police cells and several awareness and para-legal workshops behind it, WAR has launched a new Awareness Program and hopes to continue it’s momentum of growth and effectiveness

MQM re-organizes party’s Central Information Department

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Rabita Committee yesterday announced the re-organizing of party’s Central Information Department and its sub committees. This was announced by MQM leader, Anees Ahmed Qaimkhani at Khursheed Begum Memorial Hall, Azizabad, said a statement issued by MQM.
Earlier, a joint meeting of members of MQM’s media, news, video, cam-zone and photo sections was also held at Khursheed Begum Memorial Hall.
According to the announcement, member of the Rabita Committee, Syed Qasim Raza will be the Incharge while Syed Saif Abbas will be Joint Incharge of a 10-member Central Information Department of the MQM.

Tappedar’s plea to President for justice

FAVOURITISM CROSSes LIMIT IN SINDH REVENUE DEPARTMENT

By Mirza M Jodat Baig

KARACHI: An unrest has developed in the Sindh Revenue Department following the unjust treatment by the authorities against their staff particularly the ‘Tapedars’ belonging to Karachi.
A protest is feared soon as these employees reportedly have decided to take up the matter to President Asif Ali Zardari for justice.
According to the reports and survey conducted by National Courier as many as 12 ‘Tapedars’ belonging to the city have resigned in protest while the rest of the 20 were thrown out in the far flung areas of the province. On the other hand the persons who are close to the authorities and related to some ministers of other top brass of the ruling government have been posted in the city due to the reasons ‘known’ to everybody.
Over fifty ‘Tapedars’ from other parts of the province have been posted in the city limits which would only create problems as the working of land mafia is likely to strengthen further.
Sources said that the right of remaining in the town is of those employees who are residing in the city but they have been replaced by the persons of choice from interior Sindh.
It is feared that corruption would certainly rise in the already ill famed department due to the postings of outsiders while the local people would suffer as they would be made sandwich between the internal tussle of the department.
These employees are running from pillar to post as neither the City Nazim, nor any elected representatives are in a position to provide justice to these persons.
They have appealed to President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and Governor Ishrat-ul-Ebad to take immediate notice of the situation and action against Sindh Revenue Department which is involved in this grave injustice.
All of the 32 tapedars have claimed that they are the residence of the city and belong to the families of those who sacrificed their lives for the Pakistan People’s Party leadership, but regretted that they are being punished during their own party’s government.
The Tapedars themselves, of the PPP, are said to have complained that they did not deserve such a mistreatment by the Revenue Department despite the sacrifices and loyalty of the Tapedars to the party. (NC Report)

Chief Justice approached for taking note of PCB irregularities

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary, has been approached for taking suo motto action against the former officials of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) having been found guilty of massive financial irregularities by the Auditor General of Pakistan.

Razaullah Khan, the longest serving council member of the PCB, who has been known and feared for calling a spade a spade, has once more taken the initiative of bringing to book the people having been engaged in malpractices of the highest order.

“Yes I have submitted a request to the Chief Justice for taking a suo motto action against Dr Nasim Ashraf, Shafqat Naghmi and others who have been found involved in the embezzlement of funds to the tune of Rupees seven billion,” Razaullah Khan remarked in an interview recently.

“Alongwith my application to the Chief Justice I have submitted a copy of the report of the Auditor General of Pakistan that details the corrupt practices of the PCB officials. I have also brought the matter to the notice of Chaudhary Nisar Ali, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, by sending him a copy of the same report,” he added.

Razaullah Khan, who has been associated with the game of cricket in various capacities for nearly half a century now, did not mince words in stating that he has had to approach the Chief Justice after having failed to get any response from the government agencies.

“I have communicated to the Chief Justice that I have approached him after having knocked at the various doors without any response. The people in the government have their own reasons of not initiating action against the former PCB officials even though the report of the Auditor General of Pakistan has found them guilty,” Razaullah Khan said.

“The Auditor General of Pakistan has compiled the report after they had been assigned the task by the President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, who is also the Patron of the Pakistan Cricket Board,” the former PCB Council member revealed.

“Now when the report has come out and it has been very clearly pointed out that the former officials of the PCB were guilty of financial embezzlement there is no reason why they should not taken to task. I have appealed to the Chief Justice to take suo motto action and register a case against them,” Razaullah Khan stated.
“Exemplary punishment must be given to the PCB officials for having misused the public money and having derived huge personal benefits besides having obliged their near and dear ones,” he pleaded.

“It was a common belief that Dr Nasim Ashraf and Shafqat Naghmi were running the affairs of the PCB at their whims. The recent report by the Auditor General of Pakistan has only confirmed that they have deprived the nation of billions of rupees,” Razaullah Khan believed.

He didn’t expect the present officials of the PCB to move against their predecessors because in his opinion there still were quite a few employees in the Board having sympathy with their former masters.

Four elephants for Karachi zoo arrive from Tanzania

Four elephants from Tanzania have arrived here for Karachi zoo, Geo news said on Monday.

According to Geon news correspondent, two couples of elephants have landed at old terminal of Jinnah international airport after months of delay as Karachi zoo had turned deserted following death of cow Anarkali.

People were long demanding elephants for children’s amusement in zoo and now it is a great sigh of happiness for them, he added.

KBCA demolishes illegal structures

On the directives of Karachi Building Control Authority (KBCA) chief controller Manzoor Qadir, a demolition squad took action against some illegal constructions in Liaquatabad Town and razed third floor roof, partition walls and columns at plot No.1, Block 3-D and Plot No 19/20, Block 3-D. It also demolished third floor parts, walls, columns and shuttering at plot No.17/6, Block 3-F. KBCA team also demolished a portion of second floor roof at plot No.6/9, Block 2-K, Nazimabad.

Minister orders inquiry against hospital staff

Sindh Minister for Health Dr. Sagheer Ahmed has constituted a four-member inquiry committee to inquire alleged negligence by the staff of a private hospital in PECHS, resulting in brain paralysis of a 20-year old boy Raheel Naeem and directed the committee to submit its report within three days after thorough inquiry in the matter.
The committee will be headed by Special Secretary Health while Director General Health Services, EDO Health and THO Jamshed Town will be the members of the committee.
Minister Health said that if negligence and carelessness in the treatment of Raheel Naeem is proved in the inquiry report, stern action would be initiated against the responsible staff of the hospital. He further said that to regulate and monitor private hospitals in the province, a bill would soon be presented before the provincial assembly.
Meanwhile, Dr. Sagheer Ahmed assured Abdul Naeem, father of Raheel that the person responsible for the present condition of Raheel would not be spared. He further said that few private hospitals were continuously violating the code of ethics and are bent upon to malign a noble profession like medicines which will not be tolerated at any cost.

Rain, KESC and KWSB add to miseries of citizens

No electricity and filth bubbling out of gutters and spilling on the roads making life difficult for pedestrians - just a few drops of rainwater are enough to reveal the shortcomings in the electricity and sewerage systems of the city.

Citizens were deprived of electricity as soon as the rain started. Most of the localities falling within the jurisdiction of Malir, Gadap, Federal B Area, SITE, Landhi and Banaras have yet to get their power supply back.

Ijaz Alam, a resident of Keamari, told Daily Times, “There was a power breakdown in the area soon after it started raining and power has not been restored since the last six hours.”

The rain which otherwise proves to be a blessing of God, also failed to impress Zulfiqar Jan, a resident of Landhi, who told this scribe that he has been waiting for the resumption of power supply for the last 11 hours. “We are calling up the KESC help line but not getting any positive response,” said Jan in despair as he spoke with this scribe over the phone.

Not only has the electricity situation caused problems for the citizens but also the sewerage system. Office goers had to face extreme problems as gutters in most parts of the city were overflowing. Streets in Saddar and Pakistan Chowk area from where a large number of office goers pass by were full of sewage water. While the sewage water on streets was in abundance, Muhammad Rizwan a resident of Pakistan Chowk area, claimed that the supply of drinking water had been stopped since morning and there wasn’t any water to drink.

Most of the people who wanted to go to mosques for Friday prayers could not do so. “One should go to prayers wearing clean clothes,” Muhammad Imran, a resident of Pakistan Chowk area, adding that it was not possible to cross roads keeping one’s clothes clean. However The Karachi Electricity Supply Company (KESC) and the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) have their own version of story to tell.

The KESC said that because of the preparedness of the utility, the advent of monsoon had caused much less harm to the power distribution system than was anticipated and the repair work has been carried out at a fast pace. “As a matter of fact, only 266 out of over 1,150 feeders had tripped between Thursday evening and 2 PM on Friday. They have been fixed within a couple of hours,” claimed KESC’s Chief Operating Officer Distribution Jan Abbas Zaidi.

However, he admitted that some grid stations had developed faults including Malir, Civil Aviation and Gadap, and added that the first two grids were fixed while work on the Gadap grid was still underway. “The KDA-Malir 132 KV circuit where the cable had fallen down was also being repaired. Work on the Garden-Jacob Lines circuit, Federal B Area Block 10, SITE and Dr. Zubair sub-station is also being carried out,” the KESC official said.

Meanwhile, The KWSB held the KESC responsible for the situation. A spokesman of the KWSB said that 100 million gallon water could not be supplied to the city owing to the four-hour long power disconnection to the Dhabeji Pump Station. (DT Report)