Notice for students not to enter public garden
Warning for students not to enter public garden
Lahore, Oct 11: A bizarre notice, worded in Urdu and installed at the Bagh-e-Jinnah in
Lahore, warns students that they are not allowed to enter the public
garden, unless they are on an educational trip. For this they must
bring a letter from the head of their institution. It is assumed the
purpose behind the directive is to prevent young men and women from
meeting at the city's largest garden or taking a stroll beneath its
leafy trees. The bar on students amounts to a restriction on their
right, as equal citizens, to free movement. It also deprives them of
space to enjoy a picnic or to study in a pleasant, relatively
noise-free environment. Dozens of students can be seen in the park at
exam time poring over their books on a bench or revising lessons as a
group. No one should be deprived of these simple pleasures of life. It
is also a fact that many students lack a conducive study environment at
home. As for the idea of 'morality', the restriction simply
means that couples seeking to spend time together will go elsewhere. If
they do enter the sprawling gardens they presumably face harassment
from police, often present there. We must also ask who has authorized
the sign? No law exists to prevent students either skipping classes or
from meeting those of the opposite gender. The kind of misguided
morality we see behind this notice has already inflicted grave damage
on our society. The Punjab government needs to take note of it, and
adopt measures to ensure no one's rights are curtailed. Arbitrary
measures such as those at the Bagh-e-Jinnah act to stifle life, add
unnecessarily to the suffocating atmosphere we live in and encourage
extremists who have in the past attempted to impose their own brand of
morality on all of us, in some cases by using bombs and other means of
violence.
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Student refused to receive medal from governor
Lahore: A LAW graduate of the Punjab University on Saturday refused to
receive a gold medal from Governor/Chancellor Salman Taseer,
registering his protest against the silence of the PPP government over
the May 12, 2007, incident in Karachi. The top position holder
of session 2004-07 of LLB programme, Muhammad Shahid, went onto the
stage but did not receive medal from the governor. He asked the
governor why no action was being taken against those responsible for
the 12 May incident although the PPP government knew that the Muttahida
Qaumi Movement was behind for it. "The lawyers were burnt
alive and people were killed publicly," he said, questioning the
governor that why those responsible were not being brought to justice. After
registering his protest, the student left the stage and did not receive
the medal although he was offered the medal twice by the governor. The
unexpected move of the student stunned everyone present. Talking
to the media, the student said the purpose of his protest was to make
the government realise its duties. He said: "I asked the governor why
the PPP government was silent over the issue as the MQM was part of the
government."
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Nephrology Dept working in KEMU
Lahore: King Edward Medical University (KEMU) Vice Chancellor Prof Zafarullah
Khan has claimed that Nephrology Department is working up to the
international standards in the university. The VC, in a
statement in response to the complaint of absence of Nephrology
Department raised by Young Doctors Association, said that Dr Muhammad
Anees, Associate Professor, was the head of the Nephrology Department. He
said that a total of 21 dialysis machines were working in this unit and
almost 14,000 patients were being treated for dialysis per year. As
far as admission is concerned, he said these patients were admitted or
kept under observation in two units of the Urology Department. He
said that Nephrology Department was also performing key role
in renal transplant surgery being done in Mayo Hospital. Besides,
he said that the administration was waiting for completion of surgical
tower. As soon as this project is completed, a number of beds will be
available for Nephrology Ward. The news
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