Universities demand budget increase

Source: The News

Date: July 29, 2010

ISLAMABAD: Making it hard to complete the ongoing projects due to the massive budget cut, vice chancellors of public sector universities on Wednesday held an urgent meeting in which they urged the government to restore the budget to its original level of Rs 28 billion recurring budget and Rs 30 billion development budget as was agreed by the Ministry of Finance for fiscal year 2010-11.

As many as 52 vice chancellors of public sector universities attended the meeting. Addressing a press conference after the meeting, the VCs said that under the current circumstances it would not be possible for the universities to provide the 50 percent ad hoc increase in salaries, 15 percent increase in medical allowance and 15 percent to 20 percent increase in pension to its employees. They called on the government to provide a supplementary recurring grant of Rs7 billion to give salary increase to employees. The VCs expressed the fear that the massive development made by the universities during the last five years would collapse if the government did not increase the budget allocation for the higher education sector. “The budget for the ongoing projects was approved during the last few years but now when these projects are nearing completion and only 10 to 15 percent of their work is remaining, the government is not willing to provide the required amount,” said Fatima Jinnah Woman University (FJWU) VC Syeda Asadullah.

For more information: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=253627

 

2.7m Afghan refugees in Pakistan

Source: Dawn

Date: 28 Jul, 2010

ISLAMABAD, July 27: The Senate was informed on Tuesday that around 2.7 million Afghan displaced persons were still living in Pakistan out of whom only 1.7 million were registered.

Responding to queries during the question hour, the minister for states and frontier regions said all the Afghan refugees would be repatriated to their country by 2012. A tripartite commission set up under an agreement between the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan and the UNHCR is working for return of the refugees.

 In response to another question, the house was informed that 786 persons were appointed in BPS-1 to BPS-20 in the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on the basis of provincial quotas between 2007 and 2009. Of these, 145 were appointed on regular and the remaining on contractual basis.

The appointments were: 459 from Punjab, 149 from Sindh, 112 from Balochistan, 58 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and eight from other areas.
The house was also informed that Nadra had foiled 90,000 attempts by applicants to make dual or fake identity cards during the last 10 years. As many as

153 officials were also arrested in this connection.

For details view the link: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/local/islamabad/2.7m-afghan-refugees-in-pakistan-870

 

43 public organisations incorporate code of conduct

Source: The News

Date: July 27, 2010

The number of public sector organisations that have complied with the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act and incorporated the code of conduct into their policies have reached 43, said Adviser to the Prime Minister on Women Development Yasmeen Rehman.

She was chairing awareness raising seminar on ‘Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplaces’ held at the Planning and Development Division. She was certain that in a few months, a considerable number of organisations would have a sound mechanism for addressing grievances about sexual harassment. She also appreciated the fact that more than 300 private sector organisations had adopted this act even before its enforcement.

Yasmeen Rehman announced that one day training of the members of the inquiry committees will be organised within a period of thirty days. “Under the directives of the prime minister, an implementation watch committee has also been constituted to facilitate and monitor the implementation of recently passed legislation against sexual harassment of women.” Through this law, she said that a positive approach would flourish as far as resolution of such cases is concerned. “Previously, the only solution in the place was to sack the victim,” she added.

For details: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=253079

 

 

Concern voiced over pregnancy-related deaths

Source: The News

Dated: July 26, 2010

Family planning department’s role questioned

PESHAWAR: Expressing concern over growing number of deaths of women in pregnancy-related complications, speakers at a seminar here Sunday stressed the need for taking practical measures to improve the situation.

The seminar was arranged by the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Pakistan (SOGP) to sensitize the people about maternal health issues.

A noted gynaecologist and head of gynaecology department, Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC), Prof Dr Lubna Hasan, was elected as president SOGP for the next three years.

Awami National Party Senator Haji Mohammad Adeel was the chief guest. Former SOGP president Dr Shershah Syed, Dr Omar Ayub, director of the Health Foundation Prof Dr Nasreen Rubi, head of gynaecology department, Lady Reading Hospital, Dr Sadia Rizwan and others talked about the lack of health facilities at the public sector hospitals for women.

For more information: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=252903

 

 

 

Cut in budget likely to force HEC to drop 80% of students

Source: The News

Date: July 24, 2010

A drastic cut in the annual budget is likely to force Higher Education Commission (HEC) to drop 80 per cent of students for foreign scholarships due to non-availability of required funds, sources told ‘The News’ here on Friday.

The data showed that HEC set a target to select 800 students for foreign scholarships in MS, MPhil leading to PhD in universities of US, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, Singapore, Germany, France and Cuba.

The annual PSDP budget for the HEC has been reduced from Rs22.5 billion to Rs15.7 billion and now it is finding it difficult to provide required funds to 640 students for foreign scholarships.

Sources said that the HEC has now approached top government functionaries for provision of funds otherwise it would have no option except to deprive hundreds of students of their foreign scholarships.

An official said the scheme of foreign scholarships was initiated to supplement HEC’s efforts for provision of adequate number of trained PhD manpower that would ultimately help support technology upgrading, develop high standards of science and technology and meet growing challenges for national economy.

Link: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=252532

 

 

Provinces call for additional funds for federal projects

Source: Dawn

Date: July 21, 2010

ISLAMABAD, July 21: With the federal government introducing reformed general sales tax on October 1 to meet foreign obligations, provincial governments have asked it to provide additional funds, over and above NFC allocations, if they are to implement federal development projects in provincial domains.

A senior finance ministry official told Dawn that after the ministry’s recent meetings with the prime minister, chief ministers and the IMF mission, it had become clear that the government had no choice but to implement the reformed GST on Oct 1, originally announced by Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh in his budget speech and approved by parliament.

Under the reformed GST, exemptions given in the old sales tax regime on five or six major sectors will stand withdrawn to yield Rs50 billion. These may include withdrawal of exemptions on major sectors like fertilisers, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, tractors, carpets, leather, sports goods, surgical goods, plant machinery and equipment, apparel, textile and footwear.

The centre will also collect GST on all taxable services in Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and let Sindh to collect the tax on telecommunication and some other services like doctors, architects, lawyers and housing.

Link: http://epaper.dawn.com/ArticleText.aspx?article=22_07_2010_005_001

 

Recreation of risks

This Article by “Aziz Ali Dad” is related to “Socio-Anthropological Dimension of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)”.

Attabad disaster of last January was the tip of the iceberg. There are numerous locations in Gilgit-Baltistan which for ages have remained exposed to natural disasters. The foremost question that arises is: why local communities recreate risks? To understand this phenomenon it is important to understand the interface among the social factors that contributes to the creation and recreation of risks in the particular geographical setting of Gilgit-Baltistan. 
In their interaction with local environment, the people of Gilgit-Baltistan have been able to acquire knowledge that was embedded in the geography. It is this knowledge which enabled local communities to survive in the harshest climate and terrain of the world with meager resources. The indigenous knowledge pervades every sphere of life in the traditional society. Isolated from knowledge of the outside world, the inhabitants had to rely on indigenous knowledge, gained through experience, and perfected through trial and error. 

 

For details:http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/local/islamabad/recreation-of-risks-in-gilgitbaltistan-870

Acid Crime Prevention Bill to be tabled in NA in September

Source: The News

Date: July 23, 2010

Bill suggests life sentence or Rs500,000 fine for criminals

Suggesting life imprisonment or fine, which may not be less than five hundred thousand rupees or both, the landmark ‘Acid Control and Acid Crime Prevention Bill’ will be tabled in the National Assembly in September.

The commitment was made by Advisor to Prime Minister on Women Development Yasmeen Rehman at a national consultation on the draft bill organised by Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF) on Thursday. The final consultation on draft bill was attended by a large number of lawyers, civil society activists and government officials.

Yasmeen Rehman said that the ASF plans to submit final draft of the bill to the Ministry of Women Development (MoWD) in first week of August and after that the bill will go for vetting in the Law ministry. “If things remain according to schedule, the ministry will table the bill in the National Assembly in September after due process,” she said.

She said that the ministry will also recommend that cases of acid burn survivors should be dealt under special Ombudsperson that will be created in near future to deal with harassment cases. “Treatment of acid burn takes months and sometimes years and such victims are not able to attend normal court proceedings,” she said adding that going to Ombudsperson for speedy justice can be a great help for them.

For more information: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=252393

 

Prompt govt action needed: report

Source: The News

Date: July 22, 2010

Tehsil and District Headquarters Hospitals are backbone of state-run healthcare infrastructure, but lack of doctors and nurses, patients’ dissatisfaction about the services and attitude of hospital staff, poor infrastructure and sanitation at some hospitals warrant prompt government interventions to put the public sector healthcare system back on track, said a report compiled by Fafen’s Health Institution Monitor.
Fafen’s Governance Monitors visited 107 hospitals (61 DHQs and 46 THQs) in 81 districts and two Fata agencies across Pakistan during June 2010. Monitored facilities included 44 hospitals in 31 districts of Punjab (19 THQs and 25 DHQs), 23 hospitals in 20 districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (9 THQs and 14 DHQs), 8 hospitals in similar number of districts of Balochistan (seven DHQs and one THQ), 30 hospitals in 21 districts of Sindh (14 DHQs and 16 THQs) and two hospitals in two Fata agencies (one DHQ and THQ each).

Link: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=252120

 

Pakistan's depressing human rights scenario

Source: The News

Date: July 22, 2010

If the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s suicide, honour killing and sexual assault numbers are anything to go by, then the human rights situation in the country is alarmingly grim.

 Maybe unbelievable for many, the nationwide figures gathered mostly from regional and national newspapers and obtained by ‘The News’ show suicide of 264 people, including 79 women, between May 26 and June 26, murder of 38 people, including 23 women in the name of honour, between May 25 and June 28, and sexual assault on 46 people, including 29 girls or women, between May 26 and June 26.

A glance at suicide cases reveals family disputes or quarrels forced 134 people mostly married ones to end their life, while 34 killed themselves due to poverty. Others committed suicide to relieve them of the distress caused by failure to marry loved one, prolonged unemployment and physical or mental disability.

For details: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=252134

 

British Petroleum plans to divest upstream operations in Pakistan, retains Castrol

Source: The News

Date: July 21, 2010

Employees’ transfer will be part of deal with new buyer

KARACHI: British Petroleum (BP) Plc, shaken by the massive oil spill in Gulf of Mexico, has informed the government about its decision to divest exploration and production operations in Pakistan by the year-end, company spokesperson said on Tuesday.

“You will see actual transaction taking place anytime around December,” said Sabeen Jatoi, spokesperson of the British Petroleum.

British Petroleum’s decision to pullout from Pakistan remains in line with its plan to sell global assets to help raise funds to compensate for the worst oil spill in the US history, which underlined the risks associated with the deep-sea drilling.

BP unveiled plans last month for around $10 billion in asset sales following the oil spill, which has caused an economic and environmental disaster in five US states along the Gulf Coast. The company said that it had already spent $3.95 billion on efforts to cap the well and clean up the spill. Jatoi said that the company will retain Castrol, which remains in the downstream business of oil and lubricants in Pakistan.

The company resolves to ensure that all employees are transferred to the new buyer and their jobs made secured for at least a couple of years, she said.
“A lot of employees working with us joined much before when we acquired operations in 2000 so they will be retained like it happened in the past,” Jatoi said.

British Petroleum acquired Pakistan’s operations of ARCO (Atlantic Richfield Company) in 2000, which purchased assets of Union Texas in 1990. The company was originally formed in late 70s and started production in early 80s.

For details: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=251849

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

19 mineral water brands unsafe: analysis

Source: The News

Date: July 21, 2010

ISLAMABAD: As many as 19 brands of bottled/mineral water out of a total 66 available in the market have been found unsafe by a government agency for human consumption as these contain chemicals.

The Ministry of Science and Technology’s Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) announced its findings after conducting a scientific analysis of samples of bottled water collected from 11 major cities, a copy of the analysis available with The News revealed.

The scientific analysis was conducted by ISO-17025 accredited National Water Quality Laboratory (NWQL) in Islamabad for physico-chemicals and microbiological parameters.

In all, 47 brands were safe, the percentage was 71, 19 unsafe brands formed 29 percentage, 48 brands were chemically safe, 18 were chemically unsafe, 65 were microbiologically safe, 01 was microbiologically unsafe, while 30 brands were found consistent in market.

PCRWR Chairman Dr Muhammad Aslam Tahir, when contacted, pointed out that quite interestingly, as many as 33 brands disappeared from the market after they were identified as unsafe earlier. “It is not clear whether they have come up with a new name and improved quality or not. Moreover, 36 new brands have surfaced,” he noted.

Samples of 66 commercially available brands were collected from 11 cities of the four provinces of Pakistan. These samples were collected by the PCRWR head office and regional offices from April to June 2010. A set of four bottles of each brand was collected and sealed on site. Identification codes were allotted to all the brands according to the PCRWR Bottled Water Classification System.

The brands that were found unsafe (chemically) are: Coozy, So Safe, Alfa, Golden, Pak Crystal, Light Water, Nation, Taiba, Fairmount, Omni, Niamat, Aqua National, Pacific, Lock, Pan Pura, Clear, Fine Soul and Unique water, whereas Hunza bottled water was found chemically safe but was unsafe microbiologically.

For more information : http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=30204

 

Poverty on the rise, concedes Finance Ministry

Source: The News

Date: July 20, 2010

The Ministry of Finance on Monday conceded that poverty was on the rise in the country after increased prices of POL products and food commodities in international market since 2008, although no official survey was done in last three years rule of the PPP-led regime on the issue.
“We do hope that the macroeconomic stability has been reversed on path of prosperity that will now help dent the increasing prevalence of poverty,” Sajjad Ahmed Sheikh, National Project Manager of Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) Secretariat, Ministry of Finance, said on the occasion of launching annual progress report of PRSP-II for 2008-09 during a dissemination workshop here.

Participants of the workshop raised questions that despite increase in poverty related expenditure in recent years the number of people living below the poverty line increased to the range of around 40 to 50 million out of the total 170 million population.

 There is lag between expenditure in the name of poor and its actual outcome and there is need to come up with accurate answers, they said.

The PRSP Secretariat of the Ministry of Finance along with Ministry of Education has decided to conduct analysis by approaching people at grassroots level to determine the reasons for declining trend in primary enrolment rate from 56 percent to around 55 percent in latest Pakistan Social and Living Standard Measurement (PSLM) survey. The same exercise will be done to determine facts related to health indicators.

For details: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=251681

 

Can the role of middleman be eliminated?

Source : Dawn News

Date: July 19, 2010

THE role of middleman in the commodity trade is back in focus. The Sindh Assembly has enacted the Wholesale Agricultural Produce Marketing Development and Regulation which empowers the provincial government to eliminate the middleman’s role.

The act has come after Punjab’s continuous maligning of the middleman for more than a decade and repeated attempts to reduce his role. But Punjab has not been able to even reduce, leave alone to eliminate, the middleman’s role. Can Sindh succeed where Punjab has failed?

Punjab failed to throw the middleman out of the commodity trade (especially wheat) because it treated him as an ‘outsider,’ who jumps in at the time of trading, exploits farmers, makes money and gets out of market. The reality, however, is different. The middleman is very much part of the production process.

In rural economy, the farmer uses land and his labour power and the middleman provides money to facilitate production. Without middleman’s credit, over 80 per cent farmers would not be able to buy seed and fertiliser. They will not even be able to prepare their fields for sowing if the middleman does not provide money for the diesel. That is how ground realities define the role of the middleman and make him an essential part of the crop cycle.

The financial role of middleman can be gauged from the fact that of the total loan requirement of around Rs1,000 billion, the formal sector (banks) provides around Rs275 billion. The government banks hardly provide Rs80 billion.

Link: http://epaper.dawn.com/ArticleText.aspx?article=19_07_2010_603_002

 

Balochistan bleeds

The following article  " Balochistan bleeds" by Harris Khalique , source "The News-July 16, 2010”.

The murder of Habib Jalib Baloch, a seasoned lawyer, former parliamentarian and secretary general of the Balochistan National Party (Mengal), is the most high-profile murder of a politician after Sardar Akbar Khan Bugti in recent years. This came a couple of days after another veteran political leader, Maula Bakhsh Dashti, a Central Committee member of the National Party and former Nazim of Kech district, was shot down in Turbat. Already sizzling separatist sentiments in Balochistan will gain more heat in days to come. Islamabad shows its concern, sends condolences to the traumatised and aggrieved family and party-mates instruct the provincial government to institute a judicial inquiry.

For details: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=251052

 

 

 

Gilani cautioned on state of economy

Source: Dawn

Date: 13 Jul, 2010

ISLAMABAD: While the rest of the country was fixated on the face-off between the media and the PML-N, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was provided a reality check last week about the precarious economic situation in the country.

 He was warned by the finance ministry that with the fiscal deficit touching 6.2 per cent of GDP (Rs925 billion) last year, the government ran the risk of IMF backing out unless it earned Rs500 billion through additional revenue or reduce its expenditures drastically during the current fiscal year.

More serious still, he was informed that the only way of controlling expenditures was to ask the provinces not to exercise their powers to raise additional funds under the new NFC award.

This was the gist of the message hammered home during a presentation by Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and his team to the prime minister during his visit to the ministry.

For details : http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/govt-must-contain-expenses-pm-cautioned-on-state-of-economy-370

 

Punjab-Sindh water issue

Source: The News

Date: July 13, 2010

 

ISLAMABAD: The Punjab will today (Tuesday) adopt an aggressive posture and take on the Federal and Sindh governments by floating three interlinked questions pertaining to the Chashma-Jhelum Link Canal and shall also seek expansion of the Indus River System Authority, arguing that the existing faulty composition of Isra had rendered it unable to ensure equitable water distribution between the four federating units, a top functionary of the Punjab government, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The News.

This stance is to be presented in the meeting of Punjab and Sindh chief ministers, convened by Prime Minister Gilani today (Tuesday), to resolve the water disputes, including opening of the Chashma-Jehlum Link Canal and reconstitution and expansion of the Indus River System Authority.

The official said the Punjab will initially seek the appointment of Federal member in Irsa from the federal government and not from Sindh to make the Irsa operational based on equal representation of all the provinces. “Moreover, the Punjab will also seek the expansion of Irsa, seeking inclusion of two more members each from Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir. Since Gilgit-Baltistan shares water of Indus River, as it runs through the said area, and likewise the AJK also shares Jehlum river water and other than that Mangla dam is built in the AJK, so they also need to get membership in Irsa.”

Punjab will also seek, the official claimed, that the chairman of Irsa should not be less than a retired Supreme Court judge with strong credibility and his appointment should be for three years to depoliticise the entity as currently the slot of chairmanship of Irsa rotates between the provinces due to which water regulator body has become highly politicized.

Link: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=250498

 

'Climate change may cause food insecurity'

Source: Dawn

Date: 12 Jul, 2010

KARACHI, July 11: A UK-based environmentalist expecting exceptional implications of climate change for the coastal city of Karachi and other parts of the province in socio-economic sectors has suggested certain measures to the government to prevent drought, water shortages, rising sea levels and infrastructure disruption.

In his report submitted for a climate change project funded by the Deputy British High Commission in Karachi, climate change expert Matthew Savage said that the climate change could result in food insecurity with the erosion of coastal and agricultural lands.

 He added that the Upper Indus Basin, which meets much of the water demand for Karachi and Sindh province, might experience reduced flows due to melting glaciers after 2050.

He said Karachi was likely to experience an average increase in temperature of up to 3.9 degrees centigrade by the end of this century. While the country’s overall climate would become warmer than the global average, the increase in temperature in the north would be somewhat higher than in the south. This

increase was expected more in winter than that in summer.

Mr Savage added: “Changes in precipitation will not be as significant. However, the monsoon is likely to become more variable, with some projections

stating a later onset, characterised by more intense downpours.”

For more information : http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/local/climate-change-may-cause-food-insecurity-270

 

New nikahnama law makes medical checkup compulsory

Source: Express Tribune

July 08, 2010

The Punjab Government made eight amendments to the nikahnama Law

A circular was issued by the Local Government and Community Development Department and sent to all DCOs in Punjab, describing the Punjab specific amendments. The new amendments make it necessary for both the bride and bridegroom to undergo a blood test, which is made compulsory to prevent disabled and handicapped births.

The amendments also make it mandatory for parents/guardians of both bride and bridegroom to sign the nikahnama document as witnesses. Mention of the bride and bridegroom’s date-of-birth has also been declared binding.

Link : http://tribune.com.pk/story/26497/new-nikkahnama-law-makes-medical-checkup-compulsory/

 

Education, health to get bulk of US aid: PM

Source: Express Tribune

Dated: July 09, 2010

 

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has said the bulk of the aid money Pakistan is to receive from the US under the Kerry-Lugar Act would be spent for the development of social sector like education and health.

Chairing a meeting here on Thursday, Gilani directed the authorities concerned not to ‘lose sight of the welfare and benefits to the people at large’.

Pakistan has been promised $1.5 billion every year for coming half a decade under the act that was initially criticized by the political opposition and the powerful military. But the government managed to cool tempers later.

The premier said the government considers social sector development as its top priority. “It is a significant area requiring concerted efforts and appropriate allocations both through our own sources as well as assistance from friendly countries,” he added. The national education policy, the prime minister said, comprehensively covers various aspects, which would help achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The health policy and women empowerment initiatives, he stressed, also have to be holistic to meet the growing needs of the society.

For more details: http://tribune.com.pk/story/26599/education-health-to-get-bulk-of-us-aid-pm/

 

 

IMPLEMENTATION OF ANTI-SEXUAL HARASSMENT LAW

Source: The News
Dated: July 06, 2010

40 federal ministries, departments form committees

Showing steady progress in effective implementation of anti-sexual harassment law, around 40 federal ministries and departments have formed committees to deal with harassment cases and have complied and incorporated the code of conduct into their policies.

The information was shared with the media persons at a press conference organised by the Implementation Watch Committee that met for the first time after its constitution under the platform of National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW). The committee was established by Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani with an aim to facilitate, monitor and oversee the implementation process of the Protection Against Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2010 in the country.

For more details please visit website:http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=249130

Factory preparing fake beverages sealed

Source: The News

Date: July 05, 2010

District Health Department has sealed another factory preparing, packing and selling fake clod drinks of known brands, which are being supplied to different markets of Rawalpindi.

A team of District Health Department in a joint operation with police sealed the factory in Jamilabad, Taxila, on Saturday and took into custody hundreds of bottles of 1.5 litres filled with fake clod drinks of renowned brands. During past four weeks, it is second factory that the team of District Health Department has sealed for preparing fake drinks.

The team headed by District Food Inspector Rana Ghulam Murtaza comprising Sanitary Patrols Riasat Ali, Muhammad Abbas and Sajid Mehmood stayed in Taxila Friday night to collect information about the factory and raided it Saturday afternoon. The police arrested owners of the factory including Muhammad Jehangir, Shaukat, Zahid Jehangir and Qasim and lodged FIR against the accused under sections 420, 468, 471, 482, 483, 485, 272, 273 and 278 PPC and 23-1-C of Pure Food Ordinance 1960.

Ghulam Murtaza told ‘The News’ Sunday that the factory was preparing fake drinks in highly unhygienic conditions posing a serious threat to public health. “We have taken into custody the bottles filled with fake drinks along with filling machine, gas cylinder and a pump machine for filling water into bottles,” he said and added that the factory was using chemicals for preparing these fake clod drinks.

Ghulam Murtaza said that his team raided the factory on the directives of District Health Officer Dr. Khalid Randhawa, who first received information about the malpractice. To a query, Ghulam Murtaza said that the factory had been supplying fake brands in different markets of Rawalpindi for many months. He, however, admitted that many other such factories are also operating business of fake drinks in the town. “We are busy gathering information about them and soon we will launch an effective operation against the factories selling fake drinks,” he claimed.

Link: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=248903

 

 

Focusing on the primary

The following article  "Focusing on the primary" by Aziz Ali Dad , source “The News July 03, 2010"

In Pakistan we are always bogged down in secondary issues, because we ignore the basic questions of which of these issues are merely by-products of the primary one. That is why we are constantly entangled in futile discourses and hair-splitting arguments which lead to no conclusions. The controversy surrounding the appointment of Maulana Sherani, a rural cleric from Balochistan who is said to possess no academic qualifications, as chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology, is a case in point.
After the establishment of Pakistan, the religious right succeeded in pushing progressive forces into a position where they have to confront their opponents on secondary issues. The primary question is: should the Council of Islamic Ideology be there, in the first place? Established in 1962, the council is entrusted with the task of advising government and legislative bodies on laws that are arguably repugnant to Islam. This has given the council an overriding status, the right to issue rulings on decisions of sovereign institution, including parliament.

For more details: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=248577

 

1,300 juveniles in jails: report

Source: Dawn News

Dated: 02 Jul, 2010

ISLAMABAD, July 1: Pakistani jails hold at least 1,300 juvenile prisoners and an up to 10,000 children are facing criminal litigation and appearing in courts.
These statistics come from a report launched by the Society for Protection of the Rights of the Child (Sparc) here Thursday on the 10th anniversary of the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance (JJSO).

According to the report, there were 1,357 juvenile prisoners in jails in December 2009, and the number dropped to 1,300 by the end June.

Speaking at the report launch, National Manager Juvenile Justice Abdullah Khoso said the noticeable decline in the number of juvenile prisoners was an achievement of the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, which was promulgated in 2000 when the figure was anything over 5,000.

“Sparc commemorates 10 years of the JJSO in the hope that this figure will further decline and there will come a time when children will not be detained

in cells, at least not for petty crimes,” Khoso noted.

For more details: http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/local/islamabad/1,300-juveniles-in-jails-report-270

 

 

Chicken waste being used to prepare protein & soap

Source: The News

Date: July 01, 2010

Health department looking into legal aspects

There are factories in town preparing protein and an oil to be used in soap industry from chicken waste including chicken’s intestines and wings, however the District Health Department is not clear as yet on whether the business is legal or not.

‘The News’ has learnt that a number of parties in town purchase chicken waste from poultry shops located in town on daily basis. The chicken waste is transported to factories in different areas of the district in the night where protein is prepared from the waste. The protein being used from chicken waste is used in poultry feed to be consumed by chickens in poultry farms.

The factories are also preparing oil from the chicken waste which is used in preparing a type of soap to be used for washing kitchen utensils.

“We are working on checking legality of the business,” said District Food Inspector (DFI) Rana Ghulam Murtaza while confirmed to ‘The News’ here on Wednesday that factories in different areas of town prepare protein and oil from the chicken waste.

On Tuesday, a District Health Department’s team under supervision of the DFI inspected a factory, Sheikh Poultry and Oil, located in Rawat Industrial Area, which has been preparing protein and oil from the chicken waste. “We witnessed there at the factory that chicken waste is heated up in huge cookers to extract protein and oil from it.”

For more details: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=248166