UET Peshawar student killing

Steps in place to keep peace in UET
Peshawar, May 13: More police and private security guards have been posted at the University of Engineering and Technology to ensure peace on the campus following the killing of a student, Adnan Khan, in March.

A provost and wardens of three hostels of the university were replaced in the aftermath of the murder and the new deployment of police and 18 security guards is mostly to keep peace in the hostels.

The UET administration has also obtained undertaking from the guardians of its 6,000 students that the students will abide by the rules and regulations and will not take part in any kind of strikes, meetings, social, political, cultural or religious functions, events and gatherings organised by any group of students on the campus.

The affidavit given by the students' guardians also restrict the students from displaying any party badges, pamphlets and other printed materials and participation in any activity organised by student organisations.

New provost Prof Dr Saeedur Rehman said they had 1,623 students in six hostels, who had been issued computerised identification cards for entry to the hostels.

"A disciplinary committee of hostels has been formed and the wardens have been authorised to take action against students violating the new codes," he said.

He said the university and the hostels had been closed for one month after the death of the students due to which concrete measures were put in place on the directives of the governor, who is chancellor of the UET, to pre-empt any untoward incident in future.

"Even intra-hostel movement of the students has been banned. Three wardens have been replaced and the element of fear that had gripped the students is now fading away," he claimed.

"This has also enabled us to purge the hostels of the people who were residing in the hostels illegally. Now, there is a lot of space available," he said. Furthermore, he said, three senior wardens had been appointed, besides resident wardens who carry out inspection of the hostels to ensure implementation of the regulations.

Dr Rehman said the administration had started repair work and set up visitor and common rooms in the hostels.

"However, no guest will be allowed to stay in the hostels because we don't want to see replay of the March 20 incident in which a student was killed," he added. "Boundary walls of the hostels are being raised and gates installed with a view to give a peaceful atmosphere to students," he said.

Five students involved in the incident had been expelled from the university, he added.

The fresh undertaking disallow students to have unauthorised individuals in their rooms and possess any kind of daggers, sticks, arms or explosives or any lethal instruments. Violations of the rules will lead to serious disciplinary proceedings, including penalties and expulsion from the hostel.

The students have also been barred from playing loud music in hostels and have been made responsible for maintaining peace in hostels. They have been made bound to bring into the notice of the administration any illegal activity in their rooms. Dawn

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Intra-university science exhibition kicks off
Peshawar: The two-day intra-university mega science exhibition began here Wednesday at the University of Peshawar with around 30 stalls. The exhibition was organised at the PUTA Hall by the students' societies under the patronage of the Provost office. Stalls displayed showed students experiments and work on different research projects in the university. The event was inaugurated by University of Peshawar Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Azmat Hayat Khan while Provost Prof Dr Muhammad Bashir and acting Registrar Syed Fazli Hadi accompanied him. Addressing the ceremony, the vice-chancellor said he was deeply impressed by the work of young scientists. They needed to keep it up and strive for excellence in their endeavours, he added.

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Islamia Collegiate School teachers continue protest
Peshawar: The teachers of Islamia Collegiate School Wednesday declared that they would continue their protest drive till acceptance of their demands. "Our protest campaign continues. We observe two-hour class boycott every day and soon we will announce our next line of action," said Shaukat Ali, president, teaching staff association of the school while addressing a news conference here. He said with the establishment of Islamia College University last year, it had been declared that Islamia Collegiate School would be a constituent body of the university and its employees would be promoted like the university teachers as per the prime minister's directives. The news

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Two girls, 3 seminary students die in blasts
Peshawar: Three students of a seminary and two girls were killed in two bomb blasts in two suburbs of Peshawar on Wednesday.

According to police, in the first bombing in Faizullah Garhi area, some men planted a home-made bomb and detonated it through a remote control when students of a seminary were returning home.

Those killed in the incident were identified as Noor-ul-Wahab, Shakirullah and Saeed Khan whose ages ranged between 10 and 15. The blast also injured two men, Nazar Hussain and Abdul Wahab of Janay Kor village.

Those killed and injured in the incident were taken to the Lady Reading Hospital, where condition of the two injured was stated to be serious.

A bomb disposal officer said about eight kilograms of explosives had been used in the blast and parts of the device had been retrieved.

A police official of the Ormar police station said that the area was close to an Afghan refugees' camp and a police checkpoint.

In the second bomb blast, some unidentified people hurled a hand-grenade at the residence of Raees Khan in Muslimabad village, killing two girls and injuring two others.

The girls killed in the blast were identified as Kulsoom (11) and Sumaya 13, both cousins, while Nayaab (6) and Iqra, daughters of Raees, suffered injuries. The killing of the girls triggered a demonstration by hundreds of area people who blocked the main Charsadda-Peshawar Road.

According to Raees, some unidentified men had thrown a hand-grenade inside his hujra where the girls were playing, killing two girls.

SP Abdul Kalam Khan said that some accused, including Daud and Jahanzeb, had been arrested on the report of a complainant. The SP said organisers of the procession were at large.

The girls' father, he said, was the owner of a cattle pen and the accused by using fake names had allegedly sent messages and demanded Rs500,000 as extortion money, but he had refused to do so. Dawn

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Services of over 1,600 teachers terminated in Dera
Dera Ismail Khan: The Education Department in this underserved district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was dealt a crushing blow when services of around 1,613 teachers deputed at various schools were terminated suddenly.

Experts fear the move would prove detrimental to education sector in Dera Ismail Khan, where situation is coming to normalcy after years of unrest, string of suicide bombings, sectarian violence and target killings besides poverty and illiteracy.

Low literacy rate, poor infrastructure, scarcity of funds, high dropout ratio of students in the schools and unavailability of teachers is already bedeviling education in the district. The terminated teachers included PTC, CT, DM and TT serving in several high, middle and primary schools. They were appointed in 2007.

Human rights activists believe rendering people jobless on such a mass scale would lead to humanitarian crisis, especially in district, which is yet to see employment opportunities, development as well as other basic necessities of life.

A delegation of these teachers went to Islamabad where they told reporters on Wednesday they would appeal the government to help this issue resolved in line with its people-friendly policies.

The participants of delegation said though theirs was a provincial subject, they pinned high hopes on the federal government to convince ANP government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to adopt a lenient view given humanitarian nature of the issue.

Meanwhile, Anjuman-e-Ustazan Dera Ismail Khan expressed concern at the termination of services of 1,613 teachers and observed that apart from casting extremely adverse impact on overall poor education, it would also put in question the livelihood of 1,613 families.

Emotional scenes were witnessed during their interaction with media when many of the teachers burst into tears while revealing their already fledgling socioeconomic status. "I was hardly making both ends meet, and I am now perplexed as to how things would go on for me after losing job," said a terminated teacher, Muhammad Nadeem. He said majority of teachers were married and supporting children and families through the same job as the sole source of income. The news

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