Balochistan University professor's killing in Quetta

Teachers slam BU professor's killing in Quetta
Lahore, Apr 29: The teaching community of the city on Wednesday condemned the brutal killing of Balochistan University (BU) Mass Communication Department Professor Dr Nazima Talib Mehdi, who was murdered on Tuesday.

Due to her killing, the BU was closed for three days. On Wednesday, teachers from different institutions expressed their concerns on the incident and demanded the government to arrest her killers as soon as possible. Educationists, belonging to different institutions, termed her murder a conspiracy to discourage female teachers from performing their duties. Dr Anjum Zia, Lahore College For Women University (LCWU) Mass Communication Department chairperson, condemned Nazima's murder and termed her an asset of the country, who was bravely performing her duties in Quetta.

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NCSW, QAU condemn murder of Nazma Talib
Islamabad: National Commission on Status of Women (NCSW) in its 40th Board of Directors' meeting strongly condemned the murder of Nazma Talib, an associate professor at University of Balochistan, who was killed by unknown assailants on April 27 while going to the university.

NCSW expressed concern on the continuing incidents of target killings of settlers in Balochistan.

"We are appalled at the impunity with which the perpetrators of these heinous crimes move around. We demand that the criminals be apprehended and security be provided to all people of all sects including minorities. Violence against innocent citizens is not the way of resolving political conflicts," said a statement issued by NCSW.

Tasneem Ahmar, a friend of Nazma Talib, expressed her extreme grief and shock over her murder.

"Leaving Karachi and moving to Quetta to impart education to students of Baluchistan University, Nazima had joined the department since its inception in 1987. Her only fault could be her passion to continue teaching in a university under most threatening environment as she thought students needed her," recalled Ahmar.

"Will I be able to see my various friends and colleagues from the media, the newspaper offices that I visited late in the nights so that I could talk to the desk people and discuss issues of gender-sensitive reporting? Will I be able to walk freely and fearlessly in the markets I enjoyed visiting, specially the shopping in Shabnam Market. Will I be able to travel by road to Naseerabad, Jaffarabad, Sibbi and many other places for media trainings? Sad but the truth is that I won't," an emotional Ahmar said.

On the other hand, the Academic Staff Association (ASA) of Quaid-i-Azam University has also strongly condemned the killing of a Nazma Talib.

In a statement issued by Dr Eatzaz Ahmad, president, and Dr Gulraiz Akhter, secretary of ASA, they expressed their dismay and frustration at the attitude of authorities which miserably fail to take action on the earlier incidents of violence against teachers in the width and breadth of the country.

The QAU ASA office-bearers said that academicians are performing a noble cause and to assassinate them in broad daylight without any reason was against the values and norms of any province including Baloch traditions.

They urged the authorities to make necessary arrangements to ensure security of the teaching community in vulnerable areas. They supported the action of ASA of Balochistan University in this respect. The QAU ASA demanded that the persons responsible for the incident must be taken to task and given exemplary punishment. They also requested the Governor, Chief Minister of Balochistan and the interior Minister to take strict action against the culprits. Daily times

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PUASA President condemns murder
Lahore: Punjab University Academic Staff Association (PUASA) President Prof Dr Mahr Muhammad Saeed Akhtar and General Secretary Prof Javed Sami have expressed heartfelt grief and sorrow over the brutal murder of Balochistan University Professor Nazima Talib Mahdi in a firing incident.

Prof Mahr Saeed Akhtar and Prof Javed Sami, condemning the tragic incident, said that they fully shared the grief of the bereaved family. In civilised societies, no one can even think or imagine about the assassination of teachers who are regarded as the architects of the nation.

They also demanded the Balochistan government apprehend the culprits responsible for the killing of Prof Nazima Talib and award them exemplary punishment. They also prayed that may the Almighty Allah grant courage to the members of the bereaved family to bear this irreparable loss with fortitude and the departed soul may rest in eternal peace. The news

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Teachers reject separate cadre proposal
Rawalpindi: The Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association (PPLA) has rejected the Pay and Pension Commission's recommendations about separating college teachers from the rest of the government employees.

Addressing a news conference, PPLA Rawalpindi chapter President Mohammad Ilyas Qureshi said they rejected the recommendations and had conveyed their concerns to the prime minister and the Pay and Pension Commission chairman in this regard.

The representative of the college teachers said the government should not treat teachers as untouchables and refrain from detaching them from other government employees.

They warned of protest if a separate cadre was established for college teachers as they had been working as government servants for the last 60 years. Dawn

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Nursing crisis at PIMS turns ugly
Islamabad: Two student nurses of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) on Wednesday lodged an FIR against the hospital's acting executive director Professor Dr. Ghazala Mehmood and her driver, allegedly for willfully harming them on the second day of a peaceful protest organised by the nurses to demand an increase in their monthly stipend.

The nurses - Salma Sattar and Nageena - have lodged an FIR at the Margalla Police Station under sections 279 and 337. These sections of the law pertain to rash and negligent driving on a public way in a manner that would endanger human life or be likely to cause hurt or injury to a person.

If the protesting nurses are to be believed, Dr. Ghazala allegedly instructed her driver to run the nurses down after they refused to clear the main northern gate of the hospital, thereby preventing her car from entering the hospital premises. Three nurses are stated to have been injured by the acting ED's car.

"Go Ghazala, go," the nurses chanted, demanding immediate termination of the acting ED. "Until yesterday, we were demanding an increase in our stipend so that it becomes compatible with what our counterparts in the Punjab are drawing. Today, we have a one-point agenda i.e. Dr. Ghazala must go," the protesting nurses categorically stated. Later, the nurses marched up to the Parliament House for a sit-in, which continued till late in the evening.

Meanwhile, the nurses started the day by blocking the Emergency Gate of the hospital for a good three hours, thereby spelling inconvenience for patients. Both the additional secretary for health, as well as the hospital administration, lent a patient ear to the nurses and assured them that all their genuine demands would be sorted out.

Aside from an increase in their stipend, the nurses were also demanding immediate evacuation of doctors from hostels reserved for the nursing staff. They also demanded that around 30 nurses be sent for postgraduation on deputation. The news

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Urdu primer with 54 alphabets published
Islamabad: The new primer Maiyaree Urdu Qaida published by the Nation-al Language Authority (NLA) is a scientific work based on rules of linguistics and sounds. It has increased alphabets to 54.

Edited by a panel of linguists, including Dr Moeenudd-in Aqeel, Dr Rauf Parrekh, Dr Mujiba Aarif and Mohammad Islam Nishtar, the book was launched on Wednesday.

International Islamic University Rector Prof Fateh Mohammad Malik praised it as a work produced under the guidance of Moeenuddin Aqeel, an authority over spoken Urdu and a sound linguist."We need books of this kind to refresh our mooring in the heritage because we have seen efforts made overseas recommending that Urdu should be written in Roman or Devnagri characters," he said.

Prof Malik, however, observed that those who made these recommendations misguided us, adding: "It would increase readership of Urdu but if we acceded to their suggestion Urdu would not remain the language as it is now; it would change to something else."

Chairman NLA Iftikhar Arif narrated one of his trips to an assembly of Muslim poets at a convention in Kashgar. These poets from several lands could converse in Persian and also understood his spoken Persian but could not read the same text because the scripts of their languages had been changed to the Russian. Dawn

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