National Internship Programme graduates letters

NIP graduates waiting for induction letters
Islamabad, Jan 8: The third batch of the National Internship Programme (NIP) has not been started yet, as intending graduates are still waiting for their induction letters.

The NIP administration had earlier assured the graduates that their placement letters would be issued within one week.

Minister For Youth Affairs Shahid Hassain Bhutto, when contacted for explaining the reasons of delay in the issuance of the placement letters, said that the verification of degrees and other documents from HEC and Nadra have not been completed and as soon as the process is completed, induction letters would be issued to the eligible graduates under the programme. The minister said that 12,000 placement letters have been distributed in all the four provinces and the process of issuing the letters would continue till the end of this month.

He said the NIP management had received about 65,000 applications for the third batch of the programme and due to this positive response of the youth, the ministry decided to increase the number of inductions from 30,000 to 50,000 internees. He said the decision was aimed at providing relief to a maximum number of youth in the country.

The minister also said that the Ministry for Youth Affairs has announced 10,000 seats for the youth of Balochistan in the upcoming phase of NIP. Keeping in mind the literacy rate in the area, the ministry announced relaxation in the conditions of age and years of education for Baloch applicants. "The age limit was increased from 25 to 28 and the years of education were also decreased from 16 to 14 years as compared to the candidates of other areas."

He mentioned that the ministry has already increased the number of NIP seats from 30,000 to 50,000, adding that the additional number would be adjusted in the funds that have already been released for the project's second phase.

"The evaluation revealed that more seats could easily be adjusted in the same fund, as the total fund amount is released for one year and a major part of the year is utilised in the application, verification and deployment process of the project. "This makes plenty of room to include more internees to be paid from the same fund," he pointed out.

To a question he informed that his ministry has initiated many other projects for the welfare of the youth like youth funds, activity centres, girls youth hostels, skill training programmes, etc. "Recently, we are starting a skill training programme all over the country in collaboration with NCHD, which will provide training to young girls and boys for volunteering under the umbrella of the National Volunteer Movement (NVM) and Ministry of Youth Affairs." Trained people would go to the required areas and give training to other young people, he said.

Post your comments

Government to reconstruct schools in Buner
Peshawar: The NWFP government will reconstruct and repair damaged schools and colleges in Malakand division on modern and scientific lines, an official said on Thursday.

A high level meeting was held here and reviewed the measures taken for renovation, repair and re-construction of the damaged schools in the militancy-affected areas of the NWFP.

Salim Akhtar of the World Food Programme said during 2009, 200 million food items were distributed in 90 schools under housing 50,000 persons.

Post your comments

Protest campaign for recovery of kidnapped VC
Peshawar: The Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) Thursday announced schedule for protest campaign to mount pressure on the authorities for the early and safe recovery of vice-chancellor of the Kohat University for Science & Technology Prof Dr Lutfullah Kakakhel, who could not be recovered despite a passage of two months.

A meeting of FAPUASA was held here with its provincial president Dr Johar Ali in the chair. Representatives from all the public sector universities from across the province attended the meeting.

The meeting unanimously adopted a resolution asking the government to ensure safe recovery of Prof Dr Lutfullah at the earliest.

The meeting decided that all the public sector universities in the province would hold general body meetings wherein strategy for protest drive for the release of the kidnapped vice-chancellor would be worked out. Protest walks would follow the general body meetings.

According to the schedule given for the general body meetings, Kohat University of Science and Technology would hold the meeting and protest walk on January 13, Gomal University DI Khan January 20, Agricultural University Peshawar, January 27, University of Peshawar, February 3, Engineering University Peshawar, February 10, Islamia College University, February 17 and Khyber Medical University February 24.

Prof Dr Luftullah, a leading professor of computer science and information technology, was kidnapped from Akhurwal area of the semi tribal region of Darra Adamkhel on November 6 last when he was on his way to the university from Peshawar.

According to sources, the abducted vice-chancellor is in the captivity of Commander Tariq Afridi, a Darra Adamkhel-based Tehrik Taliban Pakistan commander, who wants release of some of his fighters to swap the vice chancellor. The meeting also discussed the election for central executive body of FAPUASA.

Post your comments

UoP professors appointment
Peshawar: Lawyer of a female lecturer has served a legal notice on the University of Peshawar (UoP), asking for withdrawal of notification of appointment of 16 assistant professors issued on November 15, 2006.

The notice sent by Barrister Adnan Saboor Rohaila stated that his client Mamoona Noman, lecturer at the Department of Mathematics at the university, had filed a writ petition in the Peshawar High Court (PHC), challenging the university's notification on the appointment eligibility criteria and subsequent advertisement for appointment.

He said that the PHC allowed her petition on December 15, 2009, directing the university administration to consider Mamoona Noman for the post of assistant professor. He reminded that the court had declared null and void the issuance of the notification and changing the eligibility criteria and termed it discriminatory.

Rohaila stated that since the notification and subsequent advertisements were challenged successfully by his client, the appointments under the head of assistant professors would also hold no field, as the effect of the judgment would take things back to November 15, 2006.

The lawyer said that after the verdict of the PHC, the university issued the notification of appointment of 16 assistant professors against the spirit of the judgment of the PHC. He said the university also advertised post of his client afresh which was an attempt to frustrate outcome of the writ petition and judgment of the PHC, "as the posts should have been advertised as corrigendum/addendum to the advertisement and the notification of appointment of 16 assistant professors should not have been issued."

He said in the fresh advertisement, the eligibility criteria for the post advertised for his client incorporated both the old and the new criteria while the judgment of the PHC conspicuously directed that it should be under the un-amended statute according to the old eligibility criteria.

The counsel said in an advertisement that appeared in a section of press on August 2, 2008 the university advertised old eligibility criteria for a post of assistant professor in Home Economic College, "which speaks loud of the discrimination caused to my client."

He said that the judgment of the PHC was detailed and candid which should be implemented in its true spirit and character and any deviation would be considered as intentional obstruction in the way of legal right. He urged the university administration to comply with the verdict of the PHC immediately, failing which it would have to face contempt of court proceedings at its own risk and cost. Meanwhile, the annual prize-distribution ceremony for the best performance in curricular and co-curricular activities was held at the Khyber Law College, University of Peshawar (UoP). UoP Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Azmat Hayat Khan was the chief guest on the occasion. Girls outshined boys in both curricular and extra-curricular activities.

In the LLB Part I Maryam Khalid won a gold medal by securing 486 marks in the session 2007-08 while Faiza Ambreen and Huma Sharif Afridi stood first in LLB Part II and Part III, respectively. Special prizes were given to organizers of various events and camps at college.

Dr Azmat Hayat said the most of the world and national leaders were law graduates because they were mindful of the constitution and legal matters. He said that students came to colleges and universities to learn and consequently take a degree but it was the outside environment that built personality.

He said self-confidence and personality was the key to success and UoP provided students with good institutions and a very good on-campus environment to build personalities. Prof Dr Naeem Khattak and Prof Dr Adnan Sarwar also spoke on the occasion. Students and faculty members of the college attended the function.

Post your comments

NUST organized seminar
Islamabad: The NUST School of Civil and Environmental Engineering organized a seminar on Ideology of Pakistan Thursday where in eminent scholar Zaid Hamid and Rector, International Islamic University Islamabad Professor Fateh Muhammad Malik delivered lectures on the subject topic, says a press release.

The faculty members and large number of students attended the seminar in which speakers highlighted the Ideology of Pakistan and explained the reasons and circumstances that led to the creation of Pakistan.

They stressed upon the audience particularly belonging to the younger generation to adopt ideas of Iqbal and Quaid-i-Azam and dedicate themselves selflessly towards building a prosperous Pakistan.

Post your comments

FJWU Group show
Rawalpindi: The work of art should never stop; instead it should flourish and nurture even when the society is faced with multiple challenges.

These views were expressed by MNA Ahsan Iqbal, who as the chief guest inaugurated a group show by the students of Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) at Rawalpindi Arts Council (RAC) here Thursday.

He further said, "Artists should keep on dreaming and must express their dreams through art and paintings to the society to help it flourish and become a hub for cultural heritage."

We are facing various challenges where the forces of destruction and those of construction are working simultaneously, the MNA said and added that we should favour the forces of construction, so that our youth could become expressive and fearless of any outside forces.

The chief guest appreciated the students' work, terming it creative and pointing out the good choice of colour schemes in their paintings. The exhibition by Rabia Kiyani, Samia Arshad, Dhoufishan Raza and Faiza Ashraf was attended by art lovers, guests and the students of RAC.

Samia Arshad painted droplets in different styles, such as sometimes the splashes of drops took on figurative shapes while in other places, they became intense, hence changing with the changing self-mood. "These drops depict my own personality, as sometimes I am depressed with anxiety and feel more intense, while at other times, I am in a jovial mode and full of hope from life. Being quite introvert in nature, I want to change myself and I see that change in colours," she said.

Samia also experimented in mono prints by treating colours on acrylic sheets and doing more detailed work on them. She was of the view that there is a dearth of art institutes in Rawalpindi, as art students have to go to Lahore to pursue their Masters degree.

Dhoufishan Raza depicted her own self in changing moods through her eight figurative portrait paintings, in which she showed herself in different phases. Be it depression, joy and anger through darkness, or hope of finding a path and joy through brightness, the amalgamation of the two extremes seemed the key to her absolute thoughts. In one of her works, she had depicted herself doing yoga with her thoughts flowing and reflecting through rhythm, fluency and inner peace that encompassed her, while in another, she had painted with her fingers instead of the brushes.

She said the identity and intricacies of life as well as thoughts are blurred and couldn't be figured out in an instant. She tried to portray her own ambiguities of life in her paintings, and also used foreshortening and marble techniques in her work.

Faiza Ashraf's theme of paintings was 'Bloom & Destruction' in which she showed destruction as well as life protruding through it simultaneously. She depicted life as a womb that could be seen coming out through cracked walls and devastated buildings. "Life flows simultaneously with fatality and destruction and that hope for life is necessary for nature to flourish," Faiza said. In another painting, she has shown wombs flowing with bricks, depicting the same idea.

Rabia Kiyani in all her seven paintings showed the different phases of women called 'Silence Through Perception'. The atrocities on her being, depression, mood swings during pregnancy, strengths and the limitations on women were aptly depicted in her abstract paintings. The right choice of colours, cubism, abstract and depth gives her paintings an edge of creative aesthetics. "When a woman is alone in the room with her depressed and stray thoughts, the only companion in the room is the fan that keeps on moving and flowing with continuity and life.

I have depicted life and continuity with a fan and the woman is holding the fan tightly, as it is the only companion she is left with," she said. The news

Post your comments