Students condemn Sialkot's killing

Students strongly condemn Sialkot's brutal killing incident
Rawalpindi, Aug 28: Students of different schools strongly condemn the brutal killing of two brothers in Sialkot at a talk held at Jack and Jill Montessori and High School here on Friday.

The students vent out their emotions and feelings and talked about the apathy, lack of injustices and drastic behavioral changes of the society. This apathy that is prevalent in our society talks a lot about the negation of basic human rights of Pakistani citizen.

While speaking on the occasion, Principal Jack and Jill Montessori and High School Tahmeena Mailk said that why are we so insensitive, why are the members of civil society so silent, why the police so callous and indifferent and why has this behavioral change come about?

"As a citizen of a just and peaceful nation we must speak up. Change always come to a nation when we say no to injustice, say no to Human Rights, say no to corruption and say no to what unbecoming of a Muslim. A crowd stood there as silent spectators and saw two innocent brothers mercilessly beaten to death. Even if they were guilty, is it fair to take the law in their own hands. It was the law enforcing agencies responsibility to take up the matter, instead of leaving the boys at the mercy of culprits.

The culprits must to brought to book and exemplary punishment should be meted out to them. If they are set free then this act of barbarism would be repeated again and again and lawlessness would prevail," she said.

Tahmeena Mailk asked the students to exercise restraint and patience first at home, then finally in the society you live in.

The students of SLS, Grammar, Silver Oaks and Happydale said that every time such incidents appear on the media, commissions are made for the inquiry but after sometime the matters are hushed up. The students urged the higher authorities to come out of their air-conditioned rooms and give justice to them. It's the students we're talking about not habitual culprits.

Director SLS School Asiya Talha said that this matter came into limelight through media by someone who made a video on his cell phone. Everyday so many incidents occur but we don't get the slightest idea of the atrocities being meted out on innocent lives due to 'karo kari', child abuse, 'haq bakshish' etc. "We must stand now against the corruption of the government and cruelty of feudal lords. I fail to understand why no other Mukhtara Mai is coming and why we don't have any other Edhi.

Maria Haroom explained the Islamic perspective of peace and tolerance to the students in detail. "We are witnessing the same atrocities that were prevalent before Islam. It is because we don't understand the teachings of Quran, we don't open the Holy Quran and understand its meaning," she said.

National Programme Manager SPARC Mohammad Imtiaz Ahmed said that it was a shame that the people of Sialkot were making movie as if it was a wedding or a function they're attending. Even the law states that they are innocent until proven guilty. He urged the students to write letters to parliamentarians strongly condemning the incident. The news

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NUML students, faculty flay police's role
Islamabad: The students of National University of Modern Languages (NUML), Friday, staged a protest demonstration on the campus against lynching of two brothers in Sialkot and torture of female students of Quaid-i-Azam Medical College, Bahawalpur.

Around 350 students of different departments of the university gathered at the parking area of the campus and shouted slogans " We Want Justice" and "Justice Denied is Justice Delayed".

Faculty members of the university also joined them. They carried placards and banners inscribed with slogans against the perpetrators of Sialkot incident and the Bahawalpur police for torturing female students of the medical college.

Terming the Sialkot incident "shameful" and "act of barbarianism" which had further tarnished the image of the country, they demanded that the perpetrators must be apprehended and awarded punishment. They also condemned the Punjab police for its role as silent spectator during the killing of the brothers by the mob. On the media reports that the two brothers were robbers, they said the issue must not be politicised and even if they were burglars street justice should not be prevailed and people should not take law into their hands.

The students also condemned the baton charge of female doctors by police personnel at the campus. They demanded registration of an FIR under the Anti-Terrorism Act against the DPO who ordered the policemen to baton-charge female students and doctors.

The students said the "brutal" treatment meted out to the medical students by the Punjab police was an "inhumane act" and the height of highhandedness on the part of police officials.

They demanded of the federal and provincial governments to look into both the matters and provide justice to the bereaved family and QAMC students.

They sought from the Punjab government to overhaul and reform the police force which instead of protecting human lives lowering sanctity of female students and remain silent spectator if such barbaric Sialkot incidents occur. The nation

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Still waiting for a technical college
Rawalpindi: The slow pace in which the provincial government is pursuing the establishment of a technical college/institute in Rawalpindi is depriving youth in the city - and in the district - access to quality technical education.

The PC-1 of a Rs500 million-technical college project in Rawalpindi was recently rejected by the chairman of the Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority (Tevta).

According to the zonal manager of Tevta, Mohammad Rashid, the project was rejected because of its site: it was away from the city centre and the locality lacked basic facilities.

The rejection of the PC-I has delayed the effort to establish a polytechnic institute in the city offering technical education courses like Diploma of Associate Engineering (DAE) and Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech).

Rawalpindi has been deprived of a public technical institute ever since the Government Rawalpindi Polytechnic College was closed down in 1984 and the building taken over by the army-run College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, previously based in Quetta.

While Tevta – formed in 1999 through a provincial ordinance -- has established and is running a string of technical institutes and colleges in Punjab, it has yet to do so in Rawalpindi city and district.

There are some 24 institutes in the province which offer the DAE programme, including four in Lahore alone. The other cities which already have technical institutes include Sialkot, Faisalabad, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Jhelum, Mianwali, Attock, Sargodha, Sahiwal, Multan, Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, D.G. Khan, Burewala, Layyah and Jaranwala.

B.Tech programme is available in five of these institutes, as well as in the Government College of Technology in Rasul, District Mandi Bahauddin.

The dearth of a government technical college in Rawalpindi has left youth wanting to pursue technical education at the hands of private institutions which charge high fees yet have no proper facilities.

A private technical student, Aqeel Ahmad said: "Students here are bearing the heavy burden of fees in private technical institutions. They are also facing difficulties in getting admission in government technical colleges in other cities. Even when they do get admission there, they have to face problems of accommodation and transportation."

Another private student, Mohammad Usman, said: "Every government has been harping on enhancing global competitiveness in Pakistan without recognising the importance of technical education. The students of the fourth largest city in the country are being deprived of a proper technical college." "How can we achieve our goals with such a fragile educational infrastructure," he lamented.

Another private technical student, Rehan Ali, an engineer, had this to say: "A mega city like Rawalpindi without a government technical college testifies to the sincerity of our leaders and city managers in building the future of our country".

These youth, like many others in Rawalpindi, hope that Tevta will be able to resolve the land problem and establish a technical college in the city as soon as possible. Dawn

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FJWU sends relief goods to flood-hit areas
Rawalpindi: Vice Chancellor Fatima Jinnah Women University Prof. Dr .Saeeda Asadullah Khan launched a campaign for flood relief at FJWU.

The campaign was aimed at helping all destitute and displaced; affected by the natural calamity and university administration encouraged active participation from all the faculty and staff to donate generously in cash or kind. The university administration decided to help people of flood-affected areas by supplying articles of everyday usage every week.

Last week the first truck loaded with relief good including medicines, clothing, beddings, food items along with water purifying tablets was sent to Nowshera Kalah (Doaba) and Mohib Banday. A team of eight people went along with the first flood relief truck of Fatima Jinnah Women University.

On Saturday (28 Aug) another truck would be dispatched to Eeysa Khel inside Mianwali. Two-days salary of faculty and staff above 17 grades and one-day salary of staff 5-16 grades is being donated for Chief Minister Fund for Flood Relief and Rehabilitation with Bank of Punjab. Fatima Jinnah Women University is playing an active role in fund raising campaign for the flood-affected people.

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Female teachers seek exemption from special duty
Peshawar: Female teachers who have been assigned with the special duty of looking after flood affectees have asked the government to review the decision as they are faced with numerous difficulties.

One of the teachers said that they were staying at their schools from dawn to dusk waiting for the flood affectees in the month of Ramazan, but they have yet to receive any affectee so far.

She said none of the women affectees were living in any camps alone as they were staying along with their male family members at various schools, but the female teachers have to stay at the empty girls' schools all the day long and wait for the affectees to come there.

"We also stay at our empty schools late in the evening, which is tiring. We are not looking for an excuse to shirk our duties, but staying at school late in the evening does not serve any purpose," she added.

"We want the government to review the decision. The female teachers at the schools, where the affectees are not staying, should be exempted from the special duty," she said. The news

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