KU announces BCom, BA, MBBS results

BCom results
Karachi, Aug 11: The controller of examinations, University of Karachi (KU), on Wednesday declared the result of BCom Part- I (Regular) Annual Examinations-2010. The gazette shows that 16,666 students registered and 15,932 candidates appeared in the exams while 4,973 were declared passed. The pass percentage was 31.21.

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BA Part-I external annual exams results
Karachi: The controller of examinations, University of Karachi (KU), on Wednesday declared the result of BA (Part-I) External Annual Examination-2010. According to the statistics of the result, 6,740 candidates appeared in the exams while 7,246 students were registered for the examinations. Of which, 1,575 students passed their exams, while 5,165 candidates were declared failed. The pass percentage was 23.37. At least the results of 42 students were withheld for an unauthorised change of subject and 24 students were found involved in unfair means cases. Meanwhile, the results of 410 other candidates were also withheld. The news

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MBBS Final prof result
Karachi: The KU also announced the results of MBBS Final Professional Annual Examination 2011. According to statistics, 197 candidates appeared in the examination, of these 167 were declared successful with a pass percentage of 84.77. The candidates have been asked to collect marks certificates from their colleges. app

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SPLA voices concern over teachers' transfers
Karachi: The central committee of the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA) has expressed concern over the presence of "incompetent" employees at the Education Department.

"Despite the fact that the Finance Department has upgraded the posts in the colleges from 1989 to 2004, at least 2,016 posts of Grade-18 and 1,045 posts of Grade-19 were still not included in the budget book owing to the lethargy of certain employees at the Education Department," the committee said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

The teachers were being transferred without taking into consideration the ground realities, and as a result various colleges had been facing a dearth of teachers, it said.

The SPLA alleged that Coordinator to Education Minister Naveed Zubari had been misusing powers for such transfers and postings.

The SPLA's central committee appealed to the education minister and the secretary education to save the Education Department from the "black sheep" for the cause of promoting education in the province.

The meeting, chaired by Professor Ather Hussain Mirza at the DJ Science College, decided to complete the college unit elections-2011-12 by September 30.

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'Custodians of morality' active on KU campus
Karachi: Summer break is over, and additions to the Karachi University campus have been made. This involves a brand new building by the Administration Block, completion of the Business Administration Department and "un-greasing" of the raised platform that connects the Sociology Department to the Arts Lobby.

People who visit the campus regularly narrate that a certain right-wing student group regularly applies gracious amounts of grease to this particular shady spot, which attracts lots of students; boys, girls and couples to seek refuge from the scorching summers. The idea behind the activity is to prevent people from sitting there, thus preventing free mingling of both sexes.

The phenomenon called "moral policing" is common on the campus and students can narrate often funny and sometimes horrific and violent scenes that they have witnessed in their university lives.

Fatima Ali, a second year student at the university, recalls a time when one of her male friends came to visit her at the Department of Mass Communication. They were sitting on one of the leather couches at the department, when a worker from a right-wing student group came and asked him to stand up. Without further questions he began slapping him on the face. People present at the spot say that he got slapped seven times in a single minute.

The pretext the right-winger gave for his physical roughing up was the fact that Fatima Ali's friend was not sitting "in the right position". She shares that she remained distressed, scared and depressed for the next couple of days. "I try to stay away from these political parties now."

However, despite such strict measures taken by right-wing student groups against the free mingling of sexes there exists a place called "Prem Gali" (love lane) on the campus. The name caught on over the years by the number of dates which sat under the stone-arched lane covered by trees and green vines. However, over the years places for couples seeking a quiet moment or two have spread out on the campus, and a favourite spot is the spacious Valika cricket stadium, which remains empty most of the year round.

Zeeshan Ahmed, another student at the university, speaks about an incident when a boy from his class got beaten up for holding hands with his girlfriend at the Prem Gali. He thinks it is unfair. "They act like they are the guardians of our moral code; if it is anyone who is responsible for us it is our parents," he protests.

There are students who believe that the right-wing group workers use such opportunities to settle scores of the past. A common incident which happens is when a girl a student group activist likes dates another guy. "In such cases the poor guy who gets the girl is beaten up," smirks a student, choosing not to be named.

Mariam Naeem, an Economics student at the university, feels strongly against the practice. "It is none of their business to poke nose in other people's business."

However, a senior worker at one such right-wing group claims that they had been doing the "campus service" by monitoring moral conduct. "The Rangers and neutral students appreciate our efforts. Many a time we pull out a couple from the Valika ground stairs. If we don't, God knows where matters will reach," he says.

He adds that while only parliament can do anything about co-education at Karachi University, they can only help matters by controlling free mingling.

"It is a modern world. Islam is a liberal religion, but we cannot be too liberal," he exclaims.

"Democracy provides personal freedom to everyone, but that personal freedom should not disturb any other person. A student who is not studying and engaging in immoral activities distresses people in the surroundings, and thus needs to be disciplined," he says.

He believes that beating up students who do not heed initial warnings is though a drastic measure, it serves the greater cause of protecting society and its moral code.

-Names have been changed to protect privacy.

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Urdu quarterly raises important issues
Karachi: The role of Pakistani writers has been lacking with regards to creating awareness related to the humanities such as literature, poetry, philosophy, linguistics, and history in present times, but the latest issue of the Urdu quarterly, Ijra, published by Beyond Time Publications Karachi has successfully raised important questions about knowledge as well as education in humanities in relation to the role of writers and civil society in this regard.

In his editorial note titled 'Khayaban-e-Khial', Ijra's patron-in-chief Shaheen Niazi, commented on society's elite and wrote that this social class was more focused on material gains compared to the humanities. Niazi regretted the fact that Pakistani authors played a weak role in spreading knowledge about the humanities in present times. Referring to 'The Christmas Carroll' by Charles Dickens, 'Vanity Fair' by W M Thachery as well as books by Mark Twain, he said that western authors better understood emerging issues of their times and through their writings they set out to educate people in this regard.

According to him, 'Gone with the wind' by American novelist Margrate Mitchell was not only exemplary in its portrayal of the United States' Civil War in the 19th century, it also documented the changing trends of society which followed the industrial revolution. Niazi was of the opinion that writers and opinion makers in any civil society have an obligation to educate people in humanities and about humanism.

In Pakistan, however, the literary world has painted a very different picture. To some extent the authors' treatment of the humanities in books such as 'Nadar Log' and 'Bagh' by Abdullah Hussain, 'Khuda Ki Basti' by Shaukat Siddiqui and 'Moth Smoke' by Mohsin Ahmed were noteworthy but not quite satisfactory, Niazi observed. He mentioned the recently published book, 'Beyond the crises stake', published under the editorship of Maleeha Lodhi and said that this underlined the issue of education as a solution to social crisis, but not much was written about the role of the humanities.

He emphasised on the need for the literary community, civil society as well as the government to take this issue more seriously. Niazi concluded that in the latest publication of Ijra, Editor Ahsan Saleem has taken up the issue of 'literature for change' which aimed to promote education in the humanities as a trigger great social change.

Saleem presented his Urdu poem, 'Ik dia jalaaun ga', as his editorial note as it took stock of the current situation and portrayed a desire to change society through the representation of the collective consciousness.

Ijra boasts a sound team of writers including honourary editors Mumtaz Rafique and Qudsia Nadeem Lali, members of the supervisory board Dr Anwar Sajjad, Shakeel A'adilzada, Taj Joyo and Sabir Zafar, and members of the advisory Syed Ayaz Mehmood, Waqar Anjum Rao, Naseem Syed, Yaseem Khalid, Amjad Javed Hashmi as well as Dr A'ashiq Hussain Al-badvi.

Ijra's latest quarterly has also presented the fourth chapter of William James Durant's 'The Story of Civilization' in Urdu. The translation has been provided by Shaheen Niazi who has previously translated other works by Durant and his translations stay true to the original text's insight on history, sociology, politics, psychology and philosophy. Other writer's have contributed to the quarterly with respect to literature for change, translations, and linguistics. These include Dr Anwar Sadeed, Rauf Niazi, Abbas Rizvi, Dr Aashiq Hussain Al-badvi and Nasir Shamsi.

The issue has also published noteworthy translations from English to Urdu by the likes of Samina Shaheen, Khursheed Rizvi, Asad Muhammad Khan, Abul Farah Himayun, Afzal Ahmed Syed and Tanveer Ahmed. Poetry also took its rightful place within the pages of Ijra through works like 'Hamd', 'Na'at','Ghazal', 'Doha', and 'Geet'. The poets include Zafar Iqbal, Anwar Shaoor, Riaz Majeed, Attaur Rehman Qazi, Riaz Nadeem Niazi, Ilm Saba Navidi, Firasat Rizvi, Kirshan Kumar Taur, Zia Shabnami, Sabir Zafar, Aleemullah Hali, Saleem Kausar, Shahida Tabasum, Das Ahmed Umer Sharif, Dr Tahir Saeed Haroon, Ishtiaq Talib, Gulnar Afreen, Syed Zahid Haider, Syed Ayaz Mehmood, Danial Tareer and Hameed Anjum.

Literary works on fiction (novelette and short stories) were contributed by prominent writers such as Mansha Yaad, A Khayyam, Tahir Naqvi, Qadeer Ghausi, Saleem Agha Qazalbash, Muhammad Aminuddin, Shafique Anjum and Iqbal Khursheed. Other contributors included Parto Rohaila, Dr Mirza Hamid Beg, Dr Kausar Mehmood, Musharraf Alam Zoqi, Rehman Nishat, Syed Afzal Qadir and many others. Their articles contained crucial discussions that helped the reader better understand the world of Urdu literature. The news

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