LAHORE: Those who are criticising military courts should clarify whether they are with the nation or the Taliban, Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said on Monday.

Rafique was talking to reporters after a ceremony held to mark the induction of 10 new power vans in the railways operational network at the Cantonment Station. General Manager Javed Anwer was also present.

“During the All Parties Conference (APC), the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had agreed to the idea of establishing military courts to expedite the disposal of terrorism cases. A PTI leader, Hamid Khan, has now challenged the setting up of the courts,” Rafique said.

“All the political parties had declared the establishment of the military courts the need of the hour at the APC chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after the Peshawar tragedy,” Rafique said. He said that the courts had been established after the passage of the 21st Amendment. “PTI should clarify its position on the issue,” Rafique said.

Rafique said that the financial position of the railways was improving. “There is no plan to stop the operation of any train. The management is considering public-private partnership in the operation of trains,” he said.

“There is also no proposal to remove workers. However, action will be taken against any official involved in corruption or misuse of authority,” the minister said.

He said that the management wanted to provide facilities to passengers. “A number of steps are being taken to improve quality of services,” Rafique said. “It has been decided to bring a change in the freight trains,” Rafique said.

He said that the management had also decided to raise the salaries of railway police personnel from the next financial year.

Pakistan Railways now has 20 power vans. “Now, Pakistan Railways is in a position to operate 10 freight trains. The revenue from freight trains will increase,” Rafique said.

He said that the management had decided to discontinue the stops ordered on political basis. “Around 124 passenger coaches will be renovated for induction over the coming months,” Rafique said. He said that the railways had diesel for 10 days’ operations. “Efforts are being made to increase the stock to 30 days,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2015.

LAHORE: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Monday the newly established Counter Terrorism Force would play a frontline role in the country’s war against terrorism.

“Members of the force have been trained along modern lines. The unit will help fight terrorism, extremism and sectarianism,” he told a meeting.

Home Minister Col (r) Shuja Khanzada, Law Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman, government’s spokesman Zaeem Hussain Qadri, Chief Minister’s Special Assistant Rana Maqbool Ahmed, the chief secretary, the IGP, the home secretary and the information secretary attended the meeting.

Sharif congratulated the authorities concerned for setting up the force.

The chief minister said the government was doing its best to implement the National Action Plan against terrorism. He said laws against publication and distribution of provocative material and misuse of loudspeakers had been made effective and the ban on wall-chalking was being enforced.

Reception

Sharif addressed a reception in honour of the organising committee of the passing-out ceremony of the Counter Terrorism Force. He said the departments concerned had shown great commitment for the establishment of the force.

The passing-out ceremony was a splendid event, he said. He said the country’s war against terrorism would be won at all costs. “We will defeat our enemies… maximum resources will be provided for the purpose.”

The chief minister said the nation’s future was dependent on the outcome of the war. “We will spare no efforts to make the country a land of peace,” he said. He said victory was the only option in the war.

Separately, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif congratulated the chief minister and officers concerned on the establishment of Counter Terrorism Force.

He said he hoped the force would prove a step in the right direction.

The prime minister said establishing a special unit to fight terrorism was the need of the hour. He also praised the government for arranging what he said was an impressive passing-out ceremony.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2015.

LAHORE: Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday ordered the investigation officer of the Kot Radha Kishan incident to record the statements of six suspects who are in jail.

The court issued the directive while hearing a petition for bail. The court ordered Investigation Officer Maqsood Ahmed of Kot Radha Kishan police to present the record of the case before the court on February 10.

Haris Bashir, Waqas Bashir, Arsalan Latif, Usman Latif, Muhammad Hanif and another suspect have filed bail petitions after an anti-terrorism court hearing the case denied their requests.

Their counsel stated that his clients had been falsely implicated in the case. “Police did not even record their statements before sending them to jail under political pressure. They were just arrested and charged with the crime. They had not been present in the area on the day,” he said.

The court asked the investigation officer to present the statements of the suspects. He said the statements had not been recorded yet. The court directed him to record their statements before the next hearing.

Advocate Riaz Anjum, the counsel representing the children of the couple Shama and Shehzad, told the court that police had nominated in the FIR only those who had murdered the couple. A mob had beaten the Christian couple, Shama and Shehzad, to death and burnt their bodies at the brick kiln on November 4, 2014. A total of 59 nominated suspects were arrested in the case. Eleven people had filed bails before the trial court but they were dismissed. Another 12 suspects have filed bail applications before the trial court that are pending.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2015.

BAHAWALPUR: A fuel station owner was arrested and Rs 101,000 fines were imposed in a drive to ensure adherence with new fuel prices.

A spokesman of the district government told newsmen that Additional District Collector Syed Tariq Mehmood Bukhari had led a team that checked fuel prices being charged at petrol pumps.

He said that a fuel station owner from Sadiqabad was arrested for not displaying prices and overcharging. He said that Rs101,000 had been collected in fines.

The spokesman said that price control magistrates had been directed to ensure fuel rates were displayed at petrol pumps. He said that action would be taken against those found overcharging passengers.

Transport fares

Regional Transport Authority Secretary Riyasat Ali on Monday said met a delegation of goods transporters.

Addressing the meeting, Ali said that fares for air-conditioned coaches from Rahim Yar Khan to Sialkot, Gujranwala and Gujrat had been set at Rs930.

He said that fares for travel to Rawalpindi had been set at Rs1,100, for Lahore Rs840 and Rs750 for Faisalabad.

He said that fares for non-air conditioned coaches had been set at Rs0.79 per kilometre.

He said that transporters must display the new fares issued by the government.

He also directed Faisal Movers and Sammi Daewoo representatives to issue new fares.
He said that action would be taken against those found overcharging.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2015.

The protesters blocked Dhanola Road for traffic and chanted slogans against police.

Talking to newsmen, Adnan Rasheed, one of the protesters, said three robbers had broken into Mian Kaleem Karyana Store and tried to take away valuables.

He said the shopkeeper had raised alarm and with the help of other shopkeepers, caught them. He said the robbers had shot at people and injured five people – Ghulam Murtaza, Muhammad Iqbal, Muhammad Yaqoob, Zeeshan Ali and Nasir Ali.

He said the shopkeepers had beaten the robbers with sticks. He said the robbers had died soon afterwards.

“We called police several times when the robbers were shooting at shopkeepers and later when they were being beaten,” he said. The protesters demanded action against Millat Town police officials.

The Lyallpur SP visited the scene and pacified the protesters by assuring them that action would be taken against police officials who had failed to respond to the calls. On this assurance, the shopkeepers called off their protest and dispersed.

The Millat Town station house officer told The Express Tribune bodies of the alleged robbers had been taken into custody and sent to the mortuary of Allied Hospital for post mortem examination.

He said the deceased had not been identified. He denied that the police had been slow.

“A police team arrived on the scene within a few minutes of being informed,” he said. “But no one had called police until after the shopkeepers blocked the road.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2015.

LAHORE: Punjab Police plan to establish specialised homicide investigation units by the end of February to investigate murder cases under Section 302, 316, 319, 320 and 322 of the Pakistan Penal Code. The units will be part of district investigation branches in all districts, according to a statutory standing order issued by IGP Mushtaq Ahmad Sukehra.

The IGP issued the standing order in exercise of powers conferred on him under Article 10(3) of the Police Order 2002. It calls for instituting the separation of criminal investigation from the performance of police functions as required under Article 18 of the Police Order, 2002.

The IGP said an amendment to Article 18 envisages complete separation of investigation function to the extent that the district investigation branch, police intend to establish, shall not form part of any police station’s strength and shall consist of several specialised wings.

The district investigation branch shall investigate all cases registered in the district except the offences that may be notified by the IGP to be investigated by investigation officers at a police station under the supervision of SHO.

The standing order reads that the present security situation and resource constraints do not allow the desired complete separation in one go. “Therefore… specialised homicide investigation unit, [that] be an integral part of respective district investigation branches in all districts, shall be established to investigate all murder cases.”

Guiding principles

Investigation officers shall be carefully selected and shall remain posted in the unit for a minimum of two years, the order read. It says investigation officers for the new wing should be of the rank of inspectors or sub-inspectors.

No investigate officer of the unit shall investigate more than 20 cases a year, it says.

The standing order divides the Punjab districts in three categories. These are the capital city district (Lahore), city districts (Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Gujranwala and Multan) and the remaining districts.

The office of the SDPO shall act as headquarters of the specialised homicide investigation unit. The SDPOs shall supervise these units until the establishment of a separate hierarchy of district investigation branches.

“The SDPOs in their role as supervisors of specialised homicide investigation units shall be responsible to investigation SP of the district.”

In districts where there is no SP or where the role is being performed by a DSP or an ASP, they shall be responsible to the DPOs.

He said that in city districts the effective unit of police organisation above the police station level was the division, headed by an SP.

“In view of shortage of officers, these SP shall also be entrusted supervision of specialised homicide Investigation units of their respective divisions…”

He said that under every SP there should be an appropriate number of investigation officers. “The divisional superintendent shall be replaced by a divisional superintendent of investigation in due time. The divisional superintendent shall be assisted by a deputy or investigation assistant superintendent of police who will perform the supervisory role.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2015.

The Punjab Teachers Union says the security plan was not comprehensive. PTU general secretary Rana Liaquat Ali says the government plan caters only to Category A schools. This leaves out more than 50 per cent of the primary and middle schools, he adds.

Category A includes schools that have previously received threats of a possible terrorist attack and have a student population of over 500, according to the Schools Education Department.

PTU general secretary also complained that headmasters were being threatened with disciplinary action for their failure to comply with the security plan even though no funds had been released to them for the purpose. “Some headmasters have spent out of their pockets or borrowed money to avoid action against them,” he said.

In a statement released on Sunday, the PTU had also accused the government of victimising some teachers. It said the officials were using failure to comply with the security plan as a pretext to settle old scores. The statement was released after services of two Lahore-based headmasters were surrendered to the SED secretary for their failure to comply with the plan.

The executive district officer (Education) rejected the charge. He said funds for enhancement of security measures had already been released to the schools through the deputy district officers as well as the school councils.

Meanwhile, SED deputy secretary (planning and budgets) Qaiser Rasheed claimed to have spent Rs1.96 billion on enhancing security arrangement across schools in the province. He denied that the government was ignoring some schools altogether. “So far, we have released funds to more than 4, 100 schools,” he said. Though all of these are Category A schools, security concerns at the remaining are being taken care of under various other schemes. “We are raising boundary walls at more than 14,000 schools through various government schemes for providing missing facilities,” he says. He adds that the walls were now up to eight feet high at these schools.

Rasheed says the government is working with private school owners as well to ensure that security arrangement at their premises are in accordance with the standards set in the plan adopted following the Peshawar attack.

In a statement last week, the All Pakistan Private Schools Management Association had demanded financial assistance from the government for meeting the requirements of the plan. APPSMA  president Adeeb Jawedani had said that the government should provide funds to the private schools if it wants them to enhance security arrangements in accordance with the new plan. “Private schools can only provide nominal security on their own. They need financial assistance to make changes in accordance with the government’s plan,” he said.

The SED deputy secretary ruled out the possibility of security grant.

Under the new plan, schools are required to have the following facilities on their premises: Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras, barbed wires atop their boundary walls, and metal detectors at all entrances. The plan also mandates teachers’ training in the newly-introduced security measures.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2015.

FAISALABAD: Speakers at a consultation titled Preventing Hate Speech for Social Cohesion on Wednesday urged the government to take strict action against those misusing loudspeakers and circulating banned literature promoting hatred.

They said lists of banned organisations should be made public and awareness campaigns should urge people to stop giving charity to front organisations for these outfits. They said those financially supporting anti-peace activities in Pakistan should be identified.

The Association of Women for Awareness and Motivation (AWAM) and Rights of Expression, Assembly, Association and Thought (REAT) had organised the consultation.

AWAM Director Naseem Anthony said syllabus being taught in schools pointed to differences between various communities and promoted intolerance.

He said syllabus being taught at schools and seminaries must be purged of literature inciting hatred towards minority communities.

“The government should dedicate serious efforts to review literature being taught to students,” he said.

Awami Workers Party general secretary Arif Ayaz said, “Laws to combat hate speech must be carefully enforced so that excessive curtailing of legitimate free expression can be avoided. Public awareness about laws against hate speech should be increased through media.”

Peace and Human Development (PHD) Foundation Director Suneel Malik said, “Laws play an important role in addressing hate speech. They should be complemented by policy measures to bring genuine changes in social attitudes, perceptions and discourse.”

He said the government must invest in a fresh discourse.

“Such initiatives will combat inequality and structural discrimination from the grassroots,” he said.

Shahid Anwar, a rights activist, said “It is unfortunate that clerics misuse loudspeakers at places of worship against those practicing of various religions.”

He said seminaries spreading extremist ideologies should be closely monitored. He said religious scholars and clerics making hate speeches and drafting banned literature should be taken to task according to law. He said it was time the government became serious about it.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2015.

A police spokesman said Amina Bibi, her son Akhtar, Nazi Bibi and Muhammad Ashraf were spotted skinning the donkey of their neighbour Nazeer Hussain some distance from their house in Basti Adam Khan. He said some neighbours informed police. He said when the police team arrived, Nazia and Ashraf fled while Amina and her son Akhtar were arrested. Police also recovered the slaughtered donkey and equipment used for skinning.

Police took them to Bagh-o-Bahaar check post where some of their neighbours had gathered to protest against them.

Talking to newsmen, Malik Nazeer Hussain, one of the protesters, said some had people entered their houses disguised as beggars and mixed poison in the fodder.

He said when donkeys died, they took them to fields where they skinned the animal and sold its meat. He said several healthy donkeys had died mysteriously last month and their carcasses had been stolen.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2015.

He said new staff would be added on once the centre was upgraded. He said echo cardiography and ETT machines had been imported from Germany.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2015.

A police spokesman said the decapitated body of an 86-year-old woman was found from a field on Sunday. He said the woman was later identified as Sughraan Bibi, a retired school teacher. City SHO Akhtar Nawaz said the boy had told them that the woman had asked him for a ride when he was returning from a market. He said on the way, the two had an argument. The SHO said the woman apparently abused the boy.

He said the boy then beat her and decapitated her with a fodder cleaver. He said he had then left her body in the fields and fled.

The SHO said the boy had been arrested in a raid and had confessed to killing the woman. He said the cleaver was also seized by police in the raid. He said he would be presented before a judicial magistrate on Thursday (today).

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2015.

The federal ombudsman had ruled on April 23, 2013, that pension payment be doubled for retired employees over the age of 75.

The Finance Department has set up a complaints’ cell on the Supreme Court’s directive to redress the grievances of pensioners.

According to a Finance Department official, 275,000 retired employees qualified for double pension payment according to the directive. He said that the government required an additional Rs24 billion to meet this obligation.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2015.

LAHORE: Women constitute 52 per cent of the population in Pakistan and 26 per cent of them are in reproductive age. A majority of these women do not have access to safe sanitary practices, speakers at a seminar on Wednesday said.

The event titled: Breaking the Silence on Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) at Royal Palm Golf and Country Club.

“The time has come to promote MHM and to break the myths regarding menstruation to promote personal hygiene, empower women, and promote educational and professional development,” the speakers said.

Begum Zakia Shahnawaz, the population welfare minister, said: “Special days are a fact of life. It is a distinct biological female attribute that women should not be ashamed of. Girls should be encouraged to talk and discuss this in an informed and positive manner to prepare them for it emotionally and physically.”

Khalil Tahir Sindhu, the human rights minister, said that the government was focusing on health of young girls.

Siddiq Ahmad Khan, the WaterAid country representative, said: “MHM is not an issue that can be overlooked. It is important to recognise that this affects women and girls’ health, dignity and confidence, as well as their participation in education, the community and the economy.”

Shahnaz Rahat Kapadia, the Livelihood Employment and Enterprise Development (LEED) senior group head, said that MHM could have a strong impact on girls’ education.

“Besides the health problems due to poor hygiene during menstruation, the lack or un-affordability of facilities and appropriate sanitary products may push menstruating girls temporarily or sometimes permanently out of school,” he said.

Mubarak Ali Sarwar, the AGAHE CEO, said that the government, media, academia, legislators and civil society organisations should jointly work over the issue of MHM.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2015.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2015.

He was talking to reporters after visiting the Children’s Hospital on the eve of the World Cancer Day.

“Khan has dual policies. People and the media should hold such people accountable,” he said.

He said that all political parties would have to unite to win the war against terrorism. “The time has come to give a befitting reply to the enemy. There is no bigger challenge than purging the country of terrorism,” he said.

He said that the nation owed a lot to the martyrs who had laid down their lives for the country.

At the hospital, Hamza Shahbaz met children admitted at the cancer ward and presented them with gifts. He asked the parents of the children about the facilities being provided to them at the hospital.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2015.

LAHORE: The five-day Lahore International Book Fair is starting on Thursday (today) at the Expo Centre.

This year will mark the 29th edition of the book fair that will feature more than 280 stalls. The fair will open for public at 10am on Thursday morning.

Publishers from the US, England, Turkey and India are taking part in the event. Speaking to The Express Tribune, LIBF chairman Zubair Saeed said that 19 stalls were being set up by foreign publishers. “A large number of people are expected to attend the expo. The increase in the number of stalls this year is something which indicates greater success of the fair. There is always a huge attendance at the fair. The real indicator is the number of people showing interest in setting up stalls at a book fair. Last year, there were 265 stalls. This year that figure has gone up to 285,” he said.

Stalls of several publishers and other government institutions and departments will also be part of the fair. Book store Readings has taken up more than 25 stalls. Allied Book Company, famous for textbooks, will also be covering an area of over 20 stalls. Other stalls being set up at the book fair include those by the e-Learn initiative of Punjab Information and Technology Board, Iqbal Academy and the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board.

This year, Saeed says, the book fair will include activities along the sidelines of the fair to engage with students and children. Qudratullah Publishers, also participating in the book fair, will be holding a Holy Quran recitation competition for children below 14. Another publisher, Chaudhry Ghulam Rasool and Sons, will be holding a painting competition.

The book fair will continue till February 9 from 10:30am to 10pm at the Expo Centre. Provincial Education Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmad Khan is expected to inaugurate the book fair at 10am on Thursday (today).

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2015.

The women and their children, mostly residents of Bihar Colony, gathered at the road and blocked it for traffic by staging a sit-in. They burnt utility bills and chanted slogans against the government and the SNGPL. Traffic on Quetta Road was suspended for several hours as hundreds of vehicles were held up during the protest.

Talking to newsmen, Fareeda Bibi, one of the protesters, said “I don’t understand why I have gotten a Rs7,000 gas bill when we have been using firewood because of consistent gas load shedding last month.”

She said they had organised several protests against the SNGPL after no one had responded to hundreds of complaints against gas load shedding.

“At every protest, they sent someone who promised us that the problem was only temporary and would be resolved soon,” she said.

“We suffered harsh winters waiting for the SNGPL to fulfil their promise but in vain,” she said.  Shaheena Arshad, another protester, “The SNGPL has issued us bills running into thousands of rupees this month.”

“When I think of the time when my children were bathing in freezing water or when we didn’t have any gas to cook food, I don’t understand by what right does the SNGPL want this money?” she said.

She said hundreds of women from Bihar Colony had been enraged when they saw the bill for January. “Temperatures dipped below zero degrees Celsius in January and using gas for heating had not been an option for us. So why must we pay for gas we never used?”

She urged the prime minister to take notice of the situation. “People living in houses built on several acres will never understand the problems of the common man,” she said. The women appealed to Dera Ghazi Khan commissioner to ask the SNGPL to cancel their bills for January. The women dispersed after a police team promised them that the matter would be taken up by senior officials and addressed soon. The women threatened to return again if their demands were not heard.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2015.

LAHORE: Despite a direction by the Minimum Wages Board to ensure the payment of Rs888 per 1,000 bricks to kiln workers labourers are not being paid the requisite amount, The Express Tribune has learnt. 

Munir, who works at a kiln in Raiwind area, told The Express Tribune that a worker typically got around Rs400 per 1,000 bricks. He said they were paid even less in winter due to shorter working hours and reduced productivity. Munir said a family of three approximately produced 6,000 bricks per week during summer. He said this got halved to 3,000 bricks in the winter.

Workers said they had tried to raise their voice in this regard by forwarding complaints to District Vigilance Committees (DVC). Munir said he had attended a meeting six months ago to forward a complaint. He said nothing had come of it.

Syeda Ghulam Fatima of the Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF), a member of 21 DVCs, said the phenomenon was prevalent in kilns across the province. She said this was due to the absence of a mechanism to ensure the effective implementation of legislation. She said most of the committees had not been functioning.  Fatima told The Express Tribune that under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Rules 1995 committees were required to meet in the first week of every month. She said ensuring the holding of regular meetings was a task in itself.

Brick Kilns’ Owners Association general secretary Mehar Abdul Haq confirmed that workers were not paid in accordance with the wage set by the Minimum Wages Board. He said kiln owners had categorically told the government during consultation meetings that the amount fixed did not take ground realities in account. Haq said brick quality differed from area to area. Mehr said this accounted for price differentials. He said the association had decided to pay Rs750 in Lahore, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Kasur and Narowal. He said Rs550 was paid to workers in other areas of the Punjab.

Additionally the system of advance payment (peshgi) that had been declared illegal in the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act 1992 continues. Haq said no formal record of this had been kept as kiln owners were not allowed to conclude written contracts with workers.  He said the system continued informally and the workers remembered the money they owed to kiln owners. Kiln workers posited a different story altogether. They said they had no idea regarding  the interest charged. They said their loans were sometimes inflated after they switched employers. Workers said instead of asking owners for loans they preferred getting basic necessities from shopkeepers on deferred payment.

Integrated Programme for Elimination of Child Labour and Bonded Labour Director Jawed Iqbal Gill told The Express Tribune that the Labour Department did not have the manpower to ensure effective implementation of legislation by DVCs. He said this was exacerbated by the fact that bonded labour was not a priority for the district government as they had other pressing issues to deal with such as the recent fuel crisis.

Provincial Assembly Member (MPA) Saba Sadiq, a member of a DVC, said progress had been made on the issue of providing labourers with social security cards. She said a plan was in the offing to solve the payment issue by directing kiln owners to pay workers according to the number of workers in their family. Sadiq said efforts were underway to organise the next meeting of the committee at a kiln to get a grip of the situation. She said no date for the meeting had been set yet.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2015.

Rafique was addressing an event in connection with the World Cancer Day. The event marked the completion of the first year of a project by the Health Department to provide free medicines to leukaemia patients.

Rafique said the Health Department and Novartis Pharma had initiated the project last year. An agreement in this regard had been signed under which 1,800 registered leukaemia patients were given medicines free of cost, he said.

Speaking about the project, Professor Mehmood Shaukat said free medicines were being provided to 1,800 patients registered in various districts.

Shafiq Ahmed of Novartis Pharma said the company was spending billions of dollars to provide free medicines to poor patients each year throughout the world.

Rafique said that government was working on several projects in the health sector and had focused on the eradication of various diseases.

He said specialist doctors would be deputed at district headquarters hospitals in 120 days. He said labour rooms were open for expectant women 24 hours at 150 basic health units. He said the scope of the project would extend to 650 BHUs next year.

Seminar on breast cancer awareness

Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Oncology (INMOL) director Abu Bakr Shahid said on Wednesday that breast cancer was one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortalities among women.

He was speaking at a seminar organised by the INMOL in connection with the World Cancer Day. Shahid said the INMOL was a state-of-the-art institution of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC). He said the institution had been serving the nation for 30 years.

Shahid said Pakistan had the highest incidence of breast cancer in South Asia. He said 1 out of 9 women were at risk of developing breast cancer once in their lifetime. Shahid said 35 to 40 per cent of oncology workload was attributed to breast cancer. He said according to statistics from the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) and the World Health Report 2005 47 per cent of breast cancer cases in the nation were already in advanced stage by the time they had been detected.

He said women over 40 years should be screened by trained health workers annually for breast cancer. Shahid said women over 20 and under 40 should be screened for the disease once in three years. He said any signs or symptoms of the cancer should be probed further. Shahid said the mortality rate of people suffering from breast cancer had declined by 25 to 30 per cent in countries where mass screenings were routinely organised.

Rida Safdar spoke about the importance of marking the World Cancer Day. She said 8.2 million people died annually due to cancer. Safdar said four million of these were aged between 30 to 69 years at the time of their deaths. She said the day provided the best opportunity to raise public awareness regarding cancer.

Shaikh Zayed Medical Complex Chairman Farrukh Iqbal spoke about the importance of changing lifestyles to reduce the risk of developing cancer. He said it was easier said than done but a few simple tips in this regard could be helpful. Iqbal said overweight people should try not to gain more.

He said physical activity should be integrated in daily life. Iqbal said a diet rich in fruits, vegetables and whole grain should be taken. He said small portions should be eaten slowly. Iqbal said exposure of children to computers and televisions should be minimised. He said snacking on fruits and vegetables should be encouraged.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2015.

LAHORE: A man shot dead three women and injured another near Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Wednesday evening before he killed himself.

Police said the man, identified as Muhammad Bashir, was riding with the three women in a Suzuki Cultus. The women, identified as sisters Maira, Naila and their mother Khadija, stopped the car near a rather dark and deserted corner outside the cricket academy’s main gate.

Bashir, who was sitting in the passenger seat, first shot the driver Naila before turning to fire at Khadija and Maira, who were sitting in the back.

He later shot himself.

While Bashir, Naila and Maira died on the spot, Khadija was shifted to a nearby hospital where she succumbed to her injuries.

SSP Umer Virk told The Express Tribune that Bashir was a friend of the sisters’ father Younis.

“The motive behind the killings is unclear but the incident appears to be the result of a domestic dispute,” Virk said.

A guard at a nearby restaurant, Subhani, said, “I was helping a car, which had come to the restaurant, to get parked when the incident took place. The man in the car appeared to have a disagreement with the women when he opened fire on them before shooting himself as well.”

Police and forensic teams soon reached the site to collect evidences, and the bodies were shifted for a postmortem.

All four were residents of Baghbanpura area of Lahore.

Officials had not lodged an FIR of the incident till the filing of this report.