Madaris Regulatory Authority formation
Formation of Madaris Regulatory Authority
Islamabad, Jan 29: The government and the Ulema have unanimously approved formation of
the Madaris Regulatory Authority (MRA) besides declaring registration of foreign
students as mandatory in connection with their enrolment in the country's
Madaris. The second round of talks between the government and the
Ittehad-Tanzeem-ul-Madaris (ITM) concluded on Thursday.Talking to the media, the
interior minister said Ulema had agreed on the formation of the MRA and had
proposed three names for the chairman of the authority. The prime minister will
give final approval, he added. This authority will function under the federal
education ministry, the minister said. Malik said five separate boards
would be set up for five schools of thought and a uniform syllabus would be
introduced in these boards. Audit of the Madaris would be conducted on a regular
basis, he pointed out. Responding to a question, Rehman Malik said no
foreign student would be able to seek admission in Pakistani Madaris without
registration and if any Madrassa was found involved in terror-related
activities, action would be initiated against it. He said
Lashkar-e-Tayyaba was totally banned and it was not allowed to indulge in any
activity. Literature aimed at fanning extremism would not be allowed to be
brought into Madaris and stern action would be taken against those found
involved in distributing such literature, he warned. Malik asked the
British authorities not to discriminate against the Pakistani students,
businessmen and visitors while processing their visa cases. On this occasion,
the visiting dignitary appreciated Pakistan for its success in the war on terror
and said Britain will continue supporting Pakistan. He also assured the minister
to consider the issue of UK visas for Pakistani applicants and to address the
complaints in an appropriate way. The news
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Foreign medical graduates demanded house jobs
Islamabad: Foreign medical graduates on Thursday staged a protest
demonstration in front of Supreme Court and Parliament House for not giving them
the opportunity to get house jobs in hospitals. The protesters have got
their medical degrees from, among others, Latin America, Russia, Sri Lanka,
Philippines, Bangladesh and China. They said despite spending millions of rupees
on their degrees they were being denied to get the jobs in the country's
hospitals. The medical graduates demanded that the Higher Education
Commission (HEC) should conduct their examination. They boycotted the test taken
by the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC), saying the council was only
authorised to registration and accreditation of medical colleges. Later,
speaking at a news conference at Islamabad Press Club, they said the PMDC had
conducted their test on January 17 in Islamabad and due to power cut in the
examination hall for more than 40 minutes, the graduates could not solve their
papers properly. "We ask the HEC to conduct our test and not the PMDC.
How a student can solve a paper of 25 subjects in three hours," Dr Jamil
queried. Graduates, on the occasion appealed to President Asif
Ali Zardari and Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammed Chaudhry to take notice of their
plight, saying that their careers were at stake. "Why the PMDC does not
warn the students not to go abroad for medical education? Why it has
acknowledged foreign medical graduates? When we have done our degrees from
abroad, then why we are not entertained here," another medical graduate asked
the concerned authorities. They warned to stage a sit-in in front of
Parliament House by calling all medical graduates from the country if they were
not accommodated in local hospitals. "It seems odd to conduct test of medical
graduates who have completed six years of education," Dr Jamil said. Dawn
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Transport service for students
Islamabad: Residents of the federal capital would soon be provided
transport facilities during school hours. The spokesman for
the chief commissioner's office said on Thursday that the ICT
administration was working on a number of phase-wise initiatives for providing
transport facilities to students and other people by introducing a decent public
transport system in the capital. Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani has
issued special directives for launching a transport service to facilitate people
and necessary consultations with stakeholders of the project were underway.
He said that Chief Commissioner (Islamabad) Shahid Mahmood, in his
recent meeting with a delegation of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(ICCI), had assured the business community of launching a transport service in
the city. The chief commissioner said that a bus
service for students of schools and colleges, including private academic
institutions will be launched for providing pick and drop services to students.
In this regard, necessary consultations with stakeholders were underway.
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Kidnapping of KUST VC
Peshawar: A series of actions taken by the political administration of the
Frontier Region Kohat against the Akhorwal tribe of Darra Adamkhel for recovery
of kidnapped vice-chancellor of Kohat University of Science and Technology Prof
Dr Lutfullah Kakakhel has failed to bear any positive results except multiplying
the miseries of the tribesmen. The kidnapped senior academician is about
to complete three months in captivity, but the authorities have failed to s
recover him despite what they claim making their best efforts. Soon after the
kidnapping of the vice-chancellor on November 6, 2009 from Akhorwal area in the
gun-manufacturing Darra Adamkhel town, the political administration started a
crackdown against the Akhorwal tribesmen under the collective responsibility
clause of the Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR). Scores of tribal people
have so far been arrested and their properties in the semi-tribal region as well
as settled areas of the country have been sealed. Tribal sources informed
that 55 tribesmen had been detained. Seven among them were released after they
allegedly bribed the officials in the political administration, the sources
said. Two days ago, three noted elders of the tribe, Malik Abdullah Jan,
Malik Nadir Khan and Malik Hoora Jan, were arrested from Peshawar. When they
were shifted to the prison on the premises of the office of assistant political
agent, one of them Malik Abdullah Jan suffered a cardiac arrest and breathed his
last. He was 90. The tribal people were of the opinion that the
government was well aware about the kidnappers of the vice-chancellor and even
then action was being taken against the innocent tribesmen. They said the action
would serve no purpose but multiply their miseries. There is fear among
the Akhorwal tribesmen. They have been confined to their houses. The time of
students is going waste, the government and other employees have not been able
to attend their duties and their business has come to a complete standstill
because the authorities have sealed their business centres in the semi-tribal
area as well as in Peshawar. Even if some centres have not been sealed, the
tribesmen are unable to run their business for the fear of arrest. The
teachers, students and administration of different universities of the province
have criticised the NWFP governor/chancellor of the public sector universities
for his failure to recover the vice-chancellor. "If the chancellor cannot
recover the head of a university, he has no right to remain in office. He should
better resign as governor," said a senior academician of the University of
Peshawar while requesting anonymity. The university teachers are of the
opinion that the government was in the know of the kidnappers of Dr Lutfullah,
but it had not been able to take steps in the right direction and ensure his
safe release. They say the authorities also know it very well that the common
tribesmen are helpless against the still powerful militants. According to
sources, the vice-chancellor is in the captivity of Commander Tariq Afridi, who
is based in Orakzai Agency. There were reports that he wanted to swap the
academician for some of his fellow militants detained in Kohat prison.
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FGCW 39th convocation
Islamabad: Some 540 graduates and postgraduates were conferred upon degrees
while seven students received the Roll of Honour for their outstanding
performance at the 39th convocation of Federal Government College for Women
(FGCW), F-7/2 on Thursday. Advisor to Prime Minister on Education Sardar
Aseff Ahmad Ali was the chief guest. Federal Directorate of Education (FDE)
Director General Shehnaz A Riaz and principals of colleges were also present on
this occasion. Ali emphasized upon the need to make concrete efforts for
removing disparity in education system. "Though English is a world language and
every child must start learning it from initial stage to cope with the modern
day challenges, the importance of national language could not be ignored," he
added. Principal of FGWC, F-7/2, Tayyaba Siddiqui, highlighted the
achievements of the college. She demanded that the college should be
given an autonomous status of a degree awarding institution. On this
occasion, Misbah Qadeer was awarded the best Qaria prize, Fatima Imdad the best
Naat Khwan prize and Maliha Javed the best English debater prize. Bisma Hayat
got prize for the best flower arrangement, Sundas Matloob got the best artist
prize, Saleha Zaman got the best singer prize and Huda Hassan got prize for
excelling in quiz competition. Later, students of Communication Sciences Department presented a
puppet show at the Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) here on Thursday.
The show, put up by the students of 'Media for Children' - a course
offered by well-known puppeteer Farooq Qaiser - had diversity in characters that
beautifully depicted different social service themes in the form of three skits.
Farooq Qaiser termed the show an excellent effort and praised the
performance of students. "Besides puppet-making, the students are very good in
poetry and script-writing as well," he added. The response of the
faculty as well as students to the show was positive, as they enjoyed and
appreciated the creative effort. The students themselves were energised and
excited about their performance in front of the audience. FJWU Vice
Chancellor Professor Dr. Saeeda Asadullah Khan, speaking as chief guest on the
occasion, appreciated the creative abilities and the nice presentation of the
show, and applauded the efforts of Farooq Qaiser and the Communication Sciences
Department for making the event a success. She said that the FJWU is the
first university to have introduced the art of puppetry as a subject and medium
of communication. She added that the course is innovative and puppets are
life-like. "The FJWU students are very lucky to get the chance to learn from the
legendary Farooq Qaiser," she said.
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ICU students scholarships
Peshawar: The Upper Fata Livelihood Development Programme (Fata-LDP) has awarded
53 scholarships to tribal students of Islamia College University Peshawar (ICUP)
for tertiary and masters degree levels, during a ceremony on
Thursday. Director Education Nazir Ahmed, Manager Scholarship and
Literacy Sameer Khan and Assistant Scholarship Coordinator Sajjadul Haq,
representing Upper Fata-LDP, awarded grants to the students. Dr Naushad
Khan, Dean Faculty of Social Sciences, Abaseen Yusufzai, Chief Organiser and
Director Student Affairs ICUP Sikandar Khan were also present on the occasion,.
Addressing the beneficiaries of the scholarship grant, Nazir Ahmad said they
were the future leaders who would steer the country towards peace and
prosperity. He informed that at present the Upper Fata LDP was awarding
scholarships to the students of tribal belt in Masters Degree Programme,
Intermediate, Vocational/Technical and at the school level (7th to 10th grade)
in various institutions of the NWFP. The news
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