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Jamia Hafsa to be to rebuild | HEC Biological Safety Association
Jamia Hafsa to rise again
Islamabad, Aug 06, 2008: The government has decided to rebuild the Jamia Hafsa
girls seminary which was demolished last year after the bloody military
operation against the militants ensconced in Lal Masjid.
"Construction
work will start shortly on a piece of land smaller than the original site in
compliance with the Supreme Court order," a senior official of the local
administration said on condition of anonymity on Tuesday.
"We are
just following a clear directive from the Supreme Court to rebuild the seminary.
The seminary will be constructed by the Capital Development Authority (CDA)," he
said.
A high-level meeting held in the interior ministry on Tuesday took
the decision that the Supreme Court's order be implemented immediately. However,
the new building of Jamia Hafsa would occupy only 250 square yards and not the
vast area it did previously.
Students of the demolished Jamia Hafsa and
their supporters had raised the demand for rebuilding the seminary on the
occasion of the first anniversary of the Lal Masjid episode which turned into a
campaign with the resumption of classes in the open at the demolished site by
the management of the seminary headed by Umm-i-Hassan, wife of the incarcerated
former Imam of Lal Masjid Maulana Abdul Aziz.
Last Friday the seminary's
management pitched tents at the site to give semi-permanent look to the classes
and to increase pressure on the government to rebuild their
seminary.
Although the government will reconstruct the seminary, the
sources said it will have no hostel facilities for students from other
cities.
In its heydays, Jamia Hafsa had 4,000 girls on its rolls, of whom
2,500, mostly hailing from northern parts of Pakistan, were provided boarding
and lodging at the seminary.
Umme Hassan, the principal of the seminary,
had put forward three demands at the Shuhada-i-Lal Masjid Conference last month:
release of Maulana Abdul Aziz, her husband and former Khateeb of Lal Masjid,
resumption of classes in Jamia Faridia, a boys seminary of Lal Masjid located in
Sector E-7, and reconstruction of Jamia Hafsa.
It has become a routine
for hundreds of burqa-clad women to demonstrate every Friday outside the Lal
Masjid to press those demands.
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Body formed to provide knowledge: Biosafety, biosecurity
Islamabad: The National Core Group in Life Sciences (NCGLS) of the
Higher Education Commission in collaboration with OIC Committee on Scientific
and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH) has launched Biological Safety
Association (PBSA) here Tuesday.
The association will provide a
comprehensive knowledge related to bio-safety issues in
Pakistan.
Speaking on the occasion, convener of the association Dr Anwar
Nasim gave a brief of the initiatives taken by the NCGLS, since its joining the
International Council for Life Sciences (ICLS), regarding the issues of
biosafety and biosecurity. His speech was followed by a presentation by Dr Erum
Khan, Assistant Professor, Aga Khan University, Karachi on 'National Biosafety
our Concern'.
The participants were informed that the main objectives of
PBSA was establishment of a core group of people trained in the biological
safety, utilising the expertise to address national biosafety issues and
formulate framework for promotion of best practices, standards and codes of
conduct in life sciences.
The association will act as an advocating body
for biological risks, develop national biosafety guidelines, capacity building
in terms of developing expertise in legal, scientific and technical areas,
development of national databases for issues related to biosafety, web
management for information dissemination, conduct research to propagate
biosafety, introducing biosafety as part of national curriculum at graduate,
diploma and postgraduate levels, develop networking with various national and
international institutes and agencies including ICLS, HEC, Comstech, IBEP and
CRDF, she added.
Thirty participants attended the meeting from various
organisations including AFIP, Global Marketing Services, Strategic Plans
Division (SPD), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, DESTO, Ministry of Environment,
Shifa International Hospital, Nust, NARC, PAEC, Quaid-i-Azam University, Aga
Khan University, University of Karachi, Indus Hospital, NIH, and Comstech
attended the meeting. Dawn
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PAL announces literary awards
Islamabad: Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) on Tuesday announced Kamal-e-Fun Award worth Rs 0.5 million for 2007,
nominating prominent writer Ajmal Khattak for the honour.
The PAL also
announced national literary awards, each worth Rs 0.1 million, on the best
literary books written in 2007 in Urdu, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pushto, Balochi,
Seraiki and Brahvi languages and best translation work in English
language.
A jury, comprising Mazharul Haq Siddiqui, Shahzad Ahmad,
Zaitoon Bano, Muhammad Mansha Yaad, Prof Dr Pirzada Qasim Raza Siddiqui, Prof
Alamger Hashmi, Hafeez Khan, Prof Wahid Bux Buzdar and Prof Dr Salma Shaheen,
decided winners of the national literary awards.
Siddiqui presided over
the meeting held to name winner of Kamal-e-Fun Award that is the highest
literary award in the country and acknowledges one's lifetime achievement in
creative and research work.
According to the jury, Dr Allama Muhammad
Iqbal Award in Urdu poetry was given to Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi on his book
"Arz-o-Sama", Baba-i-Urdu Maulvi Abdul Haq Award in Urdu prose to Hassan Manzar
on his book "Khak Ka Rutba" and Syed Waris Shah Award in Punjabi literature to
Siddique Taseer on his book "Rubaiyat-e-Taseer".
Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai
Award in Sindhi language was given to Altaf Sheikh on his book "New Hala Khan
New York", Khushal Khan Khattak Award in Pashto to Darwesh Durrani on his book
"Pashto Arooz", Must Tawakli Award in Balochi to Mir Muhammad Hussain Anqa
Baloch on his book "Rokeen Pul" and Ghulam Farid Award in Seraiki to Saleem
Shahzad on his book "Pairen Turda Shaher".
Taj Muhammad Tajal Award in
Brahvi language was presented to Arif Zia on his book "Brahui Jadeed Nazm",
Pitras Bukhari Award in English to Feryal Ali Gohar on her book "No Space for
Further Burials" and Muhammad Hassan Askari Award in the best translation work
to Amna Azfar on her book "The Dust of The Road". Daily Times
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