He was speaking at a meeting regarding teacher-recruitment. Sheikh said teachers would be inducted for posts in grades 14-17. He said Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had approved the recruitment drive. Sheikh said this would enable the Tevta to overcome paucity of teachers at its institutes. He said staff would be inducted on merit.

Sheikh said a maximum score of 65 marks would be awarded for qualification, 10 for higher qualification, 20 for points scored in a general exam conducted by the National Testing System (NTS) and five for the final interview.

He said the introduction of fresh talent would help raise standards of technical education and vocational training imparted by the authority. He said the initiative would also help in reducing unemployment in the Punjab.

COO Jawad Ahmed Qureshi said the test would be conducted at district headquarters and tehsils across the province. He said applications in this regard would be submitted directly to the NTS’s headquarters in Islamabad.

Qureshi said the last day for submission of applications is January 30. He said only those domiciled in the Punjab would be eligible to vie for the openings.

Operations General Manager Hamid Ghani Anjum, Academics General Manager Azhar Iqbal Shad, Human Resource Management General Manager Ijaz Hamid and Service Centres General Manager Akhtar Abbas Bharwana were also present on the occasion.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2015.

Two unidentified persons on a motorbike opened fire in Liaquat Colony and left two dead, Express News reported Saturday.

Initial reports have not yet stated who the men on the motorbike were or what their intention was for firing.

As they drove through Liaquat Colony, they opened fire in broad daylight and two persons died immediately.

Security officials attempted to chase the perpetrators but were unsuccessful as they rode away.

Further fear has been instilled in locals following the suicide attack outside Imambargah Aun Muhammad Rizvi in Rawalpindi Friday night which killed five and left 18 others wounded.

LAHORE: Three Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists, including the alleged mastermind of the Wagah border bombing last year, were killed in an operation conducted by security forces in Lahore on Saturday, sources confirmed to The Express Tribune. 

The joint operation was carried out by the police and intelligence and law enforcement agencies at a house in the Burki area of the city on a tip-off regarding the presence of  TTP Lahore Commander Asadullah alias Roohullah alias Qureshi, the alleged mastermind.

Police officials said when the raiding team reached the area, Asadullah and his two accomplices opened fire at the raiding party after which the police fired back in retaliation. The exchange of fire continued for at least half-an-hour.

When the firing stopped from the other side, the policemen entered the house and recovered the bodies of three alleged terrorists.

A senior police official confirmed to The Express Tribune that a huge cache of arms, explosives, suicide vests, detonators, militant literature and other equipment was recovered from the house.

Police claimed that all three militants killed hailed from Bajaur and belonged to TTP’s Mullah Fazlullah group. Their bodies have been shifted to a morgue.

The other two alleged militants were identified as Miraj Khan, Asadullah’s brother, and one Umar Farooq.

Intelligence agencies had been trying to track down the alleged mastermind of the Wagah attack since the November 2 bombing that killed at least 60 people — nearly half of whom were women and children. A suicide bomber struck near the Wagah border crossing between Pakistan and India just after a ritual flag-lowering ceremony.

Previously, officials had said that the attack had been carefully planned. The bomber had stood just far enough from a picket to avoid a body search.

It was learnt that the attackers had brought two suicide jackets to Wagah Border; one claimed the lives of 60 people, while the other was found undetonated near the site of the explosion the next day. Police suspected that the vests were transported in one of the trucks arriving at the NLC Yard.

A TTP spokesperson had claimed the attack, calling it the first in a series of attacks in retaliation for the military operation – Operation Zarb-e-Azb — in North Waziristan.

LAHORE: Former Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) presidents Asma Jehangir and Hamid Khan on Saturday assailed the 21st Amendment to the Constitution.

They were speaking at the sessions court complex after arriving there to support candidates fielded by the Friends’ Group and the Professional Group respectively in the Lahore Bar Association (LBA) elections on Saturday. They said the amendment constituted ‘a suicide attack on the parliament.’

Jehangir said the nation could not be rid of terrorism by setting up military courts. She said lawyers had not let military courts to be established during the tenure of former president Pervez Musharraf but a popularly-elected parliament had given the green light to their constitution.

She said the notion of trying to check terrorism by setting up military courts deserved to be censured. Jehangir said the phenomenon should have been debated in the National Assembly to ascertain the founts of terrorism and finalise a strategy to eradicate it from the nation. She deplored ‘the imposition of 17 men over the parliament.’

Khan denounced the amendment saying that the setting up of military courts had given nothing to the nation. “Did the establishment of military courts during the tenure of former presidents Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan and Ziaul Haq deliver anything?,” he said. He said military courts had been used to convict suspects without evidence. Khan said existing structures of investigation and prosecution should be strengthened to dispense justice to suspects following their arrest instead of setting up military courts. He said military courts could be used to further vested political interests.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 11^th, 2015.

They discussed the political situation in the country, including the passage of the 21st Amendment.

Zardari said politicians should act sagaciously in the current situation. “We supported the 21st Amendment. Despite our differences, we back the government’s stance against terrorism. Our party wants the elimination of terrorism,” he said. He said that it was the government’s responsibility to address the objections raised by Maulana Fazlur Rehman about the amendment.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2015.

LAHORE: Chaudhry Ishtiaq A Khan of Hamid Khan’s Professional Group has won the presidential slot in the Lahore Bar Association (LBA) polls with 20 votes, defeating Asma Jehangir’s Friends’ Group. Ishtiaq Khan secured 2,110 votes while Arshad Jehangir Jhoja of the Friends’ Group got 2,090 votes.  

During the first count, Ishtiaq Khan won with a lead of 53 votes. During the second count, Jhoja won with one vote; but Ishtiaq Khan was declared winner after the third vote count. Jhoja said he was not worried about his defeat as he had given Ishtiaq Khan a tough time.

Six candidates contested the two seats of vice president. Jahangir Bhatti became senior vice president with 2,310 and Malik Sultan became vice president with 1,360 votes.

There were three contenders for the seat of vice president from Model Town. Syed Haidar Shah won by securing 1,739 votes. Adeeb Bhindar and Jawad Malik became secretaries with 2,673 and 1,348 votes, respectively.  There were two contenders for the seat of joint secretary. Rana Ahsan Ali secured 3,037 votes and won. There were three contenders for the post of finance secretary and Chaudhry Fazahir Jutt won with 1,700 votes. More than 14,600 lawyers were expected to exercise their right to vote at the district and sessions court on January 10, but only 4,297 votes were cast.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2015.

LAHORE: Activist Raza Naeem said on Sunday that Urdu writer Saadat Hasan Manto’s work had inspired him to become a social activist and work for the oppressed.

He was speaking at an event organised at The Knowledge Factory to mark Manto’s death anniversary. Speakers shed light on Manto’s life, times and work on the occasion. Naeem, who also teaches at the Punjab University, was the main speaker on the occasion.  He has extensively researched on Manto and his translations of the writer’s non-fiction essays are currently in the pipeline.

Naeem told the audience about his affiliation with Manto. He said it was the renegade nature of Manto’s work that had drawn him to the writer’s work in his adolescence.  “It was after coming across his work that I decided to become a social activist and commit myself to working for the rights of the downtrodden,” Naeem said.

He said he had concentrated on the final seven years of Manto’s life in his research. Naeem said these years were extremely tumultuous as Manto’s standard of life had markedly deteriorated. He said his personal life had also started suffering as friends and acquaintances had started maintaining a distance from him due to the controversial nature of his work.

“But these years were also prolific for Manto as he authored some gems during this timeframe including Toba Tek Singh.” He said Manto had been persecuted because he had mercilessly exposed social contradictions. Poet Javeria Khan spoke about Manto’s persecution. Comparing him to Oscar Wilde, an Irish writer and poet, Khan said individuals who had the ability to think out of the box had always been persecuted by society. She also read out an excerpt from Indian writer Ismat Chughtai’s essay on Manto. “Talking to Manto was akin to sharpening your intellect,” Chughtai had written. The event concluded with a reading of Manto’s short stories and a discussion regarding the prophetic nature of his work.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2015.

The students gathered in front of the college entrance on Sunday at around noon, carrying placards and posters. They chanted slogans against the principal, urging the chief minister and the district coordination officer to direct her to distribute the promised laptops.

Asma Urooj, one of the protesters, told The Express Tribune that the Punjab government had sent laptops for 86 students of the college in September after results for intermediate exams were announced.

She said the principal had distributed 60 laptops and had told the remaining students that they had been disqualified from the list issued by the government.

She said first the students had approached the principal and when she had not agreed to give them the laptops, they had sent their parents to meet her. Sabina Javed said several applications had been moved with the district government to take notice of the situation but to no avail.

Javed Iqbal, her father, said a group of parents had tried to meet with the principal several times to discuss the matter but she was either too busy to meet them or told them that she was not authorised to distribute the laptops. He said she also misbehaved with parents and students who broached the subject.

He said parents had also written to Dera Ghazi Khan commissioner and Degree College Dera Ghazi Khan director about the issue.

He said the principal had wrongfully disqualified students from a list issued from the government.

“We don’t know what she wants to do with the laptops that do not belong to her,” he said.

The protesters dispersed from the college after a few hours, saying they would return every day until the laptops were handed out.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Dera Ghazi Khan Degree College Principal Nighat Tahir said laptops of students with poor attendance had been withheld.

She said several students had not enrolled for college after intermediate examinations.

She said they had been disqualified according to a criteria issued by the government.

“If they want the laptops, they can write to the director or the commissioner,” she said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2015.

A Rescue 1122 spokesman said the tank exploded at a wedding in Chak Fateh Shah, critically injuring seven children who were standing near it.

The injured included Mehtab, Hameeda, Hussain, Ali, Muhammad Nawaz, Urooj and Kiran. They said the tank operator, Muhammad Azam.

After the explosion, panic ensued at the wedding, with many people thinking that a bomb had exploded.

The children were taken to Lahore in a critical condition. Parents of the children complained that there were no hospitals in Mandi Bahauddin with a proper burn unit. A team from Saddar Cantt police station reached the spot and started investigations. They said a case had been registered and the cause of the blast was being investigated.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2015.

The current black and khaki uniform would be replaced by pastel colours in light of warm weather conditions prevalent across the province for most part of the year under the proposal. A senior police official cognisant of the development told The Express Tribune that IGP Mushtaq Ahmad Sukhera had decided to take the initiative in light of the fact that most junior officials had to discharge their duties outdoors in scorching temperatures in the summer.  He had directed all RPOs, DPOs, CCPOs and officials at the central police office to submit suggestions in their regard in December.

The official said a final decision on the proposal would be taken at the RPO’s conference slated to take place on Monday (today) at the Central Police Office. He said a majority of the officials were keen on adopting a uniform akin to that of the police in Canada. The official said the colour of the uniforms for commandos and officials was sky blue and that of community police was light sky blue.

CCPO Amin Wains confirmed the development. He said suggestions regarding the proposal had been submitted.

Constable Sher Ali (who has been in the force for ten years and is presently working for the operations wing) said the proposed change would go a long way in making life simpler for junior officials manning pickets for hours at a stretch in the heat.

Saira Faisal, a fashion designer, said the implementation of the proposal might improve performance standards. “The present uniform is ill-suited to weather conditions. The black shirt absorbs heat that compounds their problems and prevents them from effectively discharging their duties. If the force wants to change uniforms due to this it should select light colours. Sky or light blue would be ideal in this regard,” she said.

Another police official told The Express Tribune that the force had also been considering a proposal to pay junior officials Rs4,800 yearly instead of providing them with ready-to-wear uniforms to enable them to get uniforms tailored to set standards. He said officials between SIs and constables are provided three uniforms by the central police office and inspectors to IGs have the uniform-allowance added to their salaries. The official said junior officials were rarely provided with uniforms due to paucity of funds.

A constable deployed in the Rang Mahal area told The Express Tribune that he had not received a new uniform in two years. He said the condition of his set of uniforms was deplorable.

While most people have responded favourably to the proposed change in the colour of the uniform others have voiced their reservations regarding it. Constable Rana Liaqat Ali said the present uniform struck terror in the hearts of anti-state elements. “There faces go pale at the sight of a policeman.” This helps us in identifying and nabbing suspicious elements,” he said. Ali said a policeman attired in a different uniform would not be able to command the same respect among citizens.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2015.

MULTAN: Scores of parents of students at public schools on Sunday staged a demonstration, urging the provincial government to guarantee their children’s safety at campuses.

Rallies were held at Multan Press Club, Bosan Road and Chungi 9 with nearly 400 participants.

The parents, mostly of primary school children, said many private schools had upgraded their security arrangements according to the guidelines issued by the government.

Rashida Naureen, a mother of two girls, told The Express Tribune that deputing one security guard lacking firearms training was not enough to protect hundreds of young children studying at public schools.

“The government should assure us that our children will be safe at schools,” she said. She said the government had decided to reopen schools under pressure from the private schools’ lobby.

Rakhshanda Hussain said the government should only re-open schools after parents were satisfied with the security arrangements.

“Our government officials have dozens of guards around their housing colonies and at their service,” she said. “Why aren’t those resources used to protect the real assets of the country?”

She said there should be a centralised system to monitor schools security.

The demonstrators were carrying posters and banners against demanding guarantees and assurances from the provincial government.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Education EDO Shamsher Khan said Multan was ready to reopen schools.

He said watchmen had been hired for 1,406 schools in the district.

He said 145 schools had been included in the A-plus category, which had been declared most sensitive. He said security had been heightened at their campuses.

He said 818 schools had been provided metal detectors.

He said the district government had also approved provision of weapons licenses to private schools if they applied for it. He said schools that had not met the security checklist would not be allowed to open – whether private or public. He said the government was taking the security threat very seriously and would not jeopardise lives of students.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2015.

DERA GHAZI KHAN: As many as 1,500 private and public schools in Dera Ghazi Khan will remain closed on Monday (today) after being advised by the government not to reopen until security at the campus has been improved, said All Pakistan Private Schools Association Vice President Ziaul Islam.

He said that prices of security equipment had increased since the government issued guidelines for schools security.

Addressing a press conference, he urged the government to set up price control committees to monitor prices of security equipment for schools.

He was accompanied by APPSA district president Ghulam Rasool Hajjana and secretary Abdul Karim Malik.

“If schools cannot afford to purchase essential equipment, how can they meet the security checklist?” he said.

He said those selling CCTV cameras and walkthrough gates had told administrations of hundreds of schools that equipment had run short.

He said they were also unwilling to negotiate prices. “It is tragic that some people are profiteering off peoples’ fear,” he said.

He urged the chief minister and the district coordination officer to take notice of the situation and take steps to address these grievances.

“We have been advised to not reopen schools until the government is satisfied with the security arrangements,” he said. “Now that equipment has run short and what little that is available is being sold for exorbitant prices, we have been forced to defer reopening,” he added.

He said ensuring availability of security monitoring equipment was the responsibility of the government.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2015.

Haq had been sentenced to death for murdering Nayyar Abbas Qureshi in 2001.

On January 7, Judicial Magistrate Imran Ishaq suspended the black warrants issued for Haq’s execution, half-an-hour before he was to be sent to the gallows.

The matter was then referred to the Anti-Terrorism Court in Faisalabad.

ATC Judge Parvaiz Akhtar recorded the statements of brother and sister of deceased Qureshi, and Altaf Hussain, his employer and the complainant in the FIR, regarding their agreement.

The case against Lahori was registered under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA). In several cases, the Lahore High Court (LHC) has declared that no compromise can be made in cases registered under Section 7 of the ATA.

Death row convict Zahid Hussain, who murdered Lance Naek Tariq Mahmood in Nankana Sahib, moved a similar application in the LHC.

On January 7, the same day when execution of Lahori was stayed, LHC Chief Justice Khawaja Imtiaz Ahmed dismissed the petition, stating that no settlement could be reached in cases registered under Section 7 of ATA.

Labour courts

Last week, the LHC made three district labour courts functional by appointing their presiding officers.

On January 6, the LHC placed services of three district and sessions judges, Chaudhry Muhammad Ahmad Shakir, Muhammad Aslam Pervez and Nussar Ali Naseem, on the disposal of Punjab government for their posting as judges of labour courts of Faisalabad, Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan, respectively.

LHCBA criticises military courts:

On January 8, a lawyers’ convention was hosted by the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA). The lawyers criticised the 21st Amendment and resolved to challenge the establishment of military courts in the Supreme Court. The convention also called for observing a black day to mark the amendment’s introduction in the parliament.

Former president of Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Hamid Khan, former SCBA secretary Raja Zulqarnain, former LHCBA president Ahmad Awais, LHCBA president Shafqat Mahmood Chohan and its secretary Mian Ahmad Chhachhar spoke at the convention.

They regretted that Pakistan Bar Council and Supreme Court Bar Association had accepted the establishment of military courts. They said that the lawyers had faced similar courts in the regimes of Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan and Ziaul Haq. “Politicians should learn a lesson from history. The 21st Amendment is a negation of the supremacy of Constitution and independence of the judiciary,” they said. They claimed that the Peshawar school attack was a result of the failure of law enforcement agencies.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2015.

Rafique was speaking to reporters after presenting the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute Trust chairman Saeed Akhtar with a cheque for Rs300 million on behalf of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. He said the foundation-stone laying ceremony of the institute would be organised later this month. Rafique said that the government had allotted 50 acres to build the institute on Bedian Road. He said the government would fund the construction of the institute.

Rafique said that six billion rupees would be needed annually to run the institute. He said the government would provide 25 per cent of the total amount. Rafique said the rest of the expenses would be met by the trust through philanthropic institutions and private donors. He said legislation in this regard had already been carried out by the Punjab Assembly.

Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute Trust chairman Akhtar told reporters that over 100 liver transplants had been successfully carried out at Islamabad’s Al-Shifa International.

He said that he had also been working on liver and kidney transplants in the United States of America for some time. Akhtar said the institute would be a centre-of-excellence where transplants of international standards would be carried out. He said this would eliminate the need for patients to travel abroad for the procedure. Akhtar said underprivileged patients would be treated for free at the institute.

He said erstwhile, the government had been spending billions of rupees on getting underprivileged patients treated abroad. Akhtar said the establishment of the institute would save precious foreign exchange by putting an end to this. He said the institute would also function as a research centre and have a facility to impart training to doctors in this field. Akhtar said that consultants of international standing would be hired to work at the institute. He said the establishment of the institute would provide thousands of people with jobs. Health Services Secretary Jawad Rafique Malik, Finance Department Special Secretary Ahmed Raza Sarwar, Health Services Director General Zahid Pervaiz and several members of the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute Trust were also present on the occasion.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2015.

LAHORE: Police received on Sunday the autopsy report of three Tahreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists who were killed in a shootout with law-enforcement agencies on Saturday.

Quoting the autopsy report, a senior police officer told The Express Tribune that TTP Lahore chief Roohullah alias Asadullah, the mastermind of the Wagah bombing last year, had died in the explosion.

Mairaj Khan and Umar Farooq, the other two TTP men, had died receiving six and seven bullets, respectively, the officer said.

Earlier, law-enforcement agencies had taken the bodies to Mayo Hospital where doctors from Mian Munshi Hospital carried out the autopsy.

“We will wait for a few days and bury them if nobody claims the bodies.”

Investigation has suggested that Khan had wanted to attack a school in Lahore using a suicide bomber. All three hailed from Bajaur Agency.

The officer said Asadullah had convinced Hanifullah to carry out a suicide attack at the border. Nearly 60 people were killed in the bombing, he said.

The officer said Asadullah had been planning to attack schools in Lahore.

Farooq was wanted for several terrorist attacks, the officer said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2015.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2015.

LAHORE: A team of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) National Response Centre for Cyber Crimes (NR3C) on Sunday arrested three Nigerian nationals Chibuke Afaamu Ohaka, Donatus Maduabuchi Ogbuagu, Emeka Obowu and a Zambian John Chongo alias Kasmir for defrauding people.

FIA Punjab Director Usman Anwar told a press conference that they would send emails to people telling them that a rich old man or a woman was about to die and wanted to donate money to the poor in Pakistan.

“They would then obtain money saying that some legal charges were needed to transfer the donation from abroad,” Anwar said. He said Kasmir had arrived in Pakistan on July 7, 2010. He said being a Zambian national, Kasmir did not need a visa for Pakistan although he could not stay in the country for more than three months.

He had overstayed in Pakistan, Anwar said. He said Obowu had failed to produce documents justifying his stay in Pakistan.

He told the FIA that he had lost his passport.

Ogbuagu came to Pakistan in August 2014 from India on a visit visa. “Now his passport carries a fresh visa allowing him to stay for 360 days in Pakistan. The visa is suspect,” the director said.

Anwar said Ohaka had produced a National Aliens Registration Authority (NARA) card for refugees but that, too, required verification.

Two laptops and seven cell phones have been recovered from the arrested people. He said a crackdown had been launched against such scammers and more people would be arrested soon. He cautioned people against falling for such scams in the future.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2015.

FAISALABAD: Scores of residents of Chak 228-RB staged a protest demonstration on Monday against the police for failing to stop donkey disappearances in their area.

The protesters gathered at Khannuana Bypass Road and blocked it for traffic near Makkoana. As a result, traffic in the area was suspended for several hours.

Taking to newsmen, Abdul Qudoos, one of the protesters, said some people had been stealing donkeys from farms and had been selling their meat and hides.

“Some villagers have come across carcasses of donkeys in sugarcane fields where they were left behind by the ‘butchers’,” he said.

Chaudhary Abdul Hameed, another protester, said as many as 15 donkeys had been stolen from the village over two weeks.

“We complained about the incident to Saddar police but they did not take us seriously,” he said.

Muhammad Arshad Chaudhary, another protester, said on Monday morning, some fa++rmers had spotted pools of blood at five spots in sugarcane fields.

He said villagers feared that the donkeys were being stolen from them, taken to sugarcane fields and butchered their. He said police should investigate whether donkey meat was being sold in the market. The protestors chanted slogans against police and demanded arrest of those stealing and killing donkeys.

They also urged the Food Department to launch a crackdown on the sale of donkey meat.

Later, a police contingent headed by the Saddar SHO reached the scene and assured the protesters that those responsible would be taken to task according to law.

The villagers then called off their protest and dispersed peacefully.

Talking to The Express Tribune, the Saddar SHO said earlier, complaints of donkey theft had been ignored because priority was being given to investigation of heinous crimes.

“However, the situation has become serious and a team has been formed to investigate the complaints,” he said.

He said a team had been formed to trace out the men responsible. He said if pools of blood had been found, it was likely that the donkeys had been transported to other places.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2015.

LAHORE: Punjab Emergency Service Director General Rizwan Naseer said on Monday Rescue 1122 was working to build socially responsible, healthy, safer and more resilient communities in the province through Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM).

He said the Rescue 1122 was working with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to devise a programme for the prevention of emergencies.

Naseer was speaking at the opening ceremony of a weeklong training course for emergency officers and rescue and safety officers from various tehsils in the province.

The programme aims to reduce vulnerabilities and strengthen people’s capacity to cope with various disaster risks.

The direct involvement of community members in undertaking local level risk reduction measures is integral for the establishment of safer communities, the director general said.

He said the core objective of the training was to initiate, formalise and develop community emergency response teams to ensure that a trained human resource was available to mitigate disasters.

Naseer said Rescue 1122 and the NDMA planned to implement the programme at grassroots.

He said the training dealt with risk and hazard assessment, vulnerability assessment and capacity development; formation of disaster risk management plans at the community level, community based multi-hazard early warning and dissemination mechanisms, school evacuation plans and a community evacuation plan. He urged rescue safety officers to transfer these skills at the community level to raise awareness on engagement.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2015.

LAHORE: “Problems faced by Pakistanis living abroad should be addressed on priority… they strengthen our economy by sending remittances,” Punjab University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran said on Monday.

He was addressing a seminar organised by the Overseas Pakistanis Commission, the provincial government and the PU Directorate of Students Affairs at Al Raazi Hall. Kamran welcomed the government’s initiative to set up the Overseas Pakistanis Commission (OPC).

He said most of the Pakistanis living abroad were labourers. He said they faced a variety of problems living in a foreign country. The OPC aims to address these problems, he said.

“We are in a state of war and must not be afraid of terrorists because all life belongs to God… Nonetheless we must remain vigilant,” the vice chancellor said.

He stressed the need to counter propaganda that placed the responsibility for terrorist activities on Muslims. “The NATO is responsible for all terrorist attacks in the world,” Kamran said.

OPC Commissioner Afzaal Bhatti said action would be taken and anti-corruption proceedings would be initiated against public servants who were negligent in solving problems faced by overseas Pakistanis.  He said there would be an Advisery Council comprising overseas Pakistanis living in various countries. Committees would also be set up in each district in Pakistan, he said.

Bhatti said the bureaucracy, the police, the prosecutor general and officials of other departments would work together to address the grievance of overseas Pakistanis.

OPC Vice Chairman Khalid Shaheen Butt said Pakistanis residing abroad were worried about their country and their interests were associated with Pakistan.

Butt said the chief minister’s initiative in setting up the commission had greatly empowered overseas Pakistanis. He said they were a great asset for the country and did not deserve to suffer at the hands of negligent officials and bureaucratic institutions.

Exams Schedule

The Punjab University Examinations Department has issued the schedule for submission of admission fees and forms for BSc Medical Laboratory Technology (MLT) (Four Year Programme) Part-I and II 2nd Annual Examination 2013 and Annual Examination 2014.

The last dates to submit admission forms for the exams at regular fees are January 23 and January 16, respectively. The forms can be submitted with double fees till January 29 and January 19 respectively.

Exams will commence on February 10 and January 29 respectively. The detailed schedule is available on the PU website www.pu.edu.pk.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2015.