High line losses a big challenge for Pesco

PESHAWAR: Containing high line losses has turned out to be a big challenge for the Peshawar Electric Supply Company.

Recently, state minister for water and power Abid Sher Ali threatened suspension of electric supply from 11 feeders in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over high line losses.

A senior Pesco official told Dawn that the federal government should conduct a survey to know why the people were illegally using hooks for electricity.

KP still unwilling to allow launch of Malala’s book

PESHAWAR: The Taliban militants’ fear continues to hinder the launch of girls education campaigner Malala Yousafzai’s book in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The government had stopped the launch of ‘I am Malala’ in Peshawar two and half months ago in the wake of the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan’s threat of attacks against bookshops selling the book.

“We’d reached the relevant people in Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government for permission to launch the book, but to no avail. PTI chairman Imran Khan had tweeted he was at a loss to understand why the book’s launch had been stopped in Peshawar. However, the PTI government in the province isn’t ready to allow us to launch the book,” Khadim Hussain, director at the Bacha Khan Education Foundation, told Dawn on Tuesday.

Abuse of power: NAB gets 10-day custody of Mardan DSP

PESHAWAR:  The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa obtained a 10-day physical remand of a serving DSP in Mardan for allegedly possessing assets worth millions of rupees.

DSP Rajab Ali, a former Hayatabad police station SHO, was produced before Accountability Court Judge Tariq Yousafzai for obtaining a physical remand amid tight security.

NAB Special Prosecutor Lajbar Khan told the court the former SHO accumulated millions of rupees by violating his authority. The Peshawar High Court (PHC) had earlier ordered an enquiry against the officer as many complaints of misuse of power had been received against him.

Plan is run under NEAP in consultation with provincial govts

Peshawar: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department Friday clarifying the news of handing over of the polio eradication campaign to the Army, said that in the meeting held at GHQ, no such decision of handing over of the polio eradication campaign to army was made. 

Technical Focal Person Chief Minister’s Monitoring Cell Chief Minister Secretariat Peshawar Dr Imtiaz Ali Shah said the press has misquoted the press release of ISPR. 

He said polio eradication has been declared a national emergency. The programme is being run under National Emergency Action Plan (NEAP) for Polio Eradication developed in consultation with all Provincial Governments. 

People panic as drones fly over Hangu

HANGU: The low flight of the US drones created panic among the residents of Hangu district in southern part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday.

The spy planes were seen flying in the area of Doaba and Thall tehsil of the district early in the day.

It was the first flight of drone in the Hangu district after a break that was apparently due to the peace talks that led to the ceasefire between the Taliban and government negotiations teams.

The CIA-operated spy planes had carried out an attack in Thall tehsil of Hangu district in November 2013 and hit amadrassa leaving nine people dead. Those killed were mostly Afghan refugees.

One of those killed in the drone strike was Maulvi Ahmad Jan of the Haqqani network.

Attack on Hamid Mir condemned

PESHAWAR: The journalists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday condemned the attack on Hamid Mir and announced to stage protest today. The Khyber Union of Journalists and Peshawar Press Club would hold demonstration today to condemn the incident. The Crimes and Terrorism Journalists Forum (CTJF) has also condemned the attack. Through a statement, CTJF president Javed Aziz Khan and condemned the attack on Hamid Mir and asked the government to unearth the attackers involved in the incident. The CTJF also demanded the government to provide security to the journalists as well as media houses.

Meanwhile, the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) also condemned the firing attack on senior anchorperson of Geo News Hamid Mir in Karachi. In a joint statement, QWP head Aftab Sherpao and party’s parliamentary leader in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Sikandar Sherpao expressed deep sorrow over the cowardly attack on Hamid Mir. They prayed for the speedy recovery of the senior newsman and extended sympathy to his family.

KP governor to cut Fata House cost by Rs200m

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s new Governor Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan has said he was planning to reduce by at least Rs200 million the cost of the Fata House in Islamabad by making changes in its design and facilities.

Talking to The News, he said he had asked the concerned officials to reconsider the plan for the Fata House to keep the project small and reduce the construction costs. “We need to scale down the project as the money should be spent on the people of the tribal areas instead of grand buildings,” he argued.

Transporters want end to convoy system

MANSEHRA: The bus and coach owners union of Kohistan has threatened to go on wheel jam strike from April 24 if the government does not end daytime convoy system in the district and ensure 24-hour traffic from Kohistan to Gilgit-Baltistan (GB).

“The passenger transport is not allowed to move ahead from Kohistan to GB from 4:00pm till next morning and this routine has been causing huge financial and time loss to us,” said Gul Khan, president of the transporters union, while talking to mediapersons here on Friday.

Army to help govt eradicate polio virus in conflict zone

PESHAWAR: The recurring polio cases in North Waziristan and no vaccination there since 2012 has prompted the Pakistan Army to extend a helping hand to the government in eradication of the deadly poliovirus from North and South Waziristan agencies and Bara tehsil of Khyber Agency, relevant officials said.

The army personnel will provide security to health workers to ensure administration of oral polio vaccine to children in the militancy-stricken areas of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. The officials said that this would put brakes on the virus circulation and safeguard children in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from infection with virus from Fata.

Abid urged to refrain from making allegations

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Information Shah Farman asks the State Minister for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali to refrain from baseless allegations and passing derogatory remarks against the people of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, otherwise they would opt to move the apex court. 

While talking to media persons on Friday here at Peshawar Press Club, the Minister Shah Farman said the State Minister by giving wrong statements, try to show his efficiency instead of taking stern action against corrupt elements in PESCO and bringing improvement in the system. He informed that in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa about 2,000 cases of electricity theft were registered in which more than 1,100 accused were arrested, while in Punjab only 1,800 persons were arrested in the total 87,000 registered power theft cases.

KPCCI demands action against extortion mafia

Members of business community have asked the police to take effective steps for maintaining law and order, preventing incidents of kidnapping for ransom, especially strict action against extortion mafia. The demand was made during a visit of Chief Capital Police Officer (CCPO) Ejaz Ahmad in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Friday. DIG Mohammad Alam Shinwari, SSP operations Najeebur Rehman, SSP traffic Khalid Humdani, SP City Faisal Mukhtar were present on the occasion. 

KPK to give Rs2,000 unemployment allowance

PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will start giving Rs2,000 monthly unemployment allowance to the jobless masters degree holding youth until they get employment. This token financial assistance will be provided to all the youth who have acquired 16-year education whether modern or religious, KPK Higher Education Minister Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani said on Saturday while addressing as chief guest to the 21st convocation of Jinnah College for Women University of Peshawar.

The ‘stipend’ to the jobless youth would be given on merit. The provincial government was fully committed to provide funds for the purpose, he added. The PTI-led government, he informed, had already established an endowment fund of Rs500 million for the financial assistance of the poor and needy students. “We believe in brining positive change through imparting quality education”.

PTI breaching rules in KP, Aitzaz claims in SC

ISLAMABAD: The ruling party in Khyber Pukhtoonkhawa Pakistan Tehreek Insaf of Imran Khan, who challenged the appointment of Qamar Zaman Chaudhry as chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB), has allegedly appointed a civil servant in the province in violation of rules.

Aitzaz Ahsan Thursday told a three-member bench of the Supreme Court that PTI appointed Azmat Hanif Orakzai as member Right to Public Service Commission (RPSC) in violation of the KPK RPSC Rules, which say that a retired civil servant would be appointed a member of the Commission.

KP police faced with shortage of senior officers

PESHAWAR: The acute shortage of senior police officers in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could be gauged from the fact that only two senior superintendents of police (SSPs) in grade-19 are presently posted as district police officers (DPOs) while in six districts the police force is headed by officers in grade-17 who are too junior to head any district, a source told The News.

Senior police officers argued they had requested the federal and provincial governments time and again to hand over the services of senior policemen to the province to head important ranges and districts. However, the number of senior officers in the province was further reduced after many retired or managed their transfer to other provinces.

Pinpointing shortcomings: Opposition dissects PTI’s ‘education emergency’

PESHAWAR: The government’s educational policies came under scrutiny in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Friday as opposition members discussed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led government’s ‘education emergency’.

The opposition was discussing an 11-point agenda submitted at the requisition of the current session.

Starting the debate, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s parliamentary leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman said the government announced an educational emergency in this fiscal year’s budget, however, measures to tackle that emergency were yet to be seen on ground. He said education was an important sector and it was the government’s duty to improve its standards throughout the province.

Youth of tribal areas to join KP police

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Secretary Interior Akhtar Ali Shah said that the provincial government has decided to recruit the youth of tribal areas in KP Police, a private news channel reported on Saturday.

Briefing a key meeting on law and order situation in the province, Akhtar Ali Shah said that 50 platoons of Frontier Corps (FC) have been called back to perform duties in the province and improve the law and order situation in the province.

Akhtar Ali Shah also said that an act has been enforced for the surrender of illegal arms. He added that the license of 157 of arms dealers and factories have been suspended for not keeping record.

“Youth of tribal areas will be recruited in Police force in order to end poverty and the federal government has also been contacted for achieving this objective”, he said.

TCKP arranges Basant Festival in Nowshera today

PESHAWAR: In a bid to promote tourism and provide entertainment opportunities to people, the Tourism Corporation Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (TCKP) has arranged Basant Festival in Nowshera district today.

No doubt, holding festivals and creating the opportunities of entertainment are direly needed especially at a time when the society is passing through the environment of fear and anxiety as such an event reduces tension. Though TCKP other activities such as holding indigenous games, crafts fair and water sports, etc. could be adjudged the best events, holding Basant festival is something irrelevant for the corporation. Basant is not part of our culture. It is believed to have been adopted from the Indians. Many risks are also associated with the festival that has been banned in Punjab.

The festival was much popular in Punjab, especially in Lahore, and was being celebrated regularly but the Punjab government was compelled to ban it because of increasing number of causalities caused by the use of class-coated strings. Holding Basant is still banned in Punjab despite the fact that holding the festival used to generate billions of rupees revenue.

Public vs government: Open kutcheries to be held across K-P to dispense quick justice

ABBOTABAD: The office of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s (K-P) ombudsman plans to host open kutcheries across the province, starting from Mansehra.

This was stated by K-P Ombudsman Badshah Gul Wazir at the Abbottabad Deputy Commissioner’s office on Friday. He was sharing the progress of his department with officers of different government departments, representatives of civil society and the media on day two of his visit to Hazara.

According to Wazir, his office resolved some 1,000 complaints out of 2,131 received against government’s mismanagement over the last three years. Another 1,000 complaints could not be dealt with by his office as they were not under its direct purview. Currently, 103 complaints are being processed, he added.

“The people have shown confidence in this office, the purpose of which is to dispense quick and free relief to complainants,” said the provincial ombudsman. “There are plans to host kutcheries across K-P and one will be held in Mansehra soon.”

Responding to a question, Wazir said any party unhappy with the ombudsman’s verdict can file an appeal before the governor within 30 days of the said decision.

The Terrorists not going unpunished in KPK

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police during the last fortnight of March was able to secure conviction for seven militants involved in various cases of terrorism through the anti-terrorism courts (ATCs) across the province. Organisational reforms undertaken in the KP Police Investigation Wing in the recent past provided a breakthrough in making good cases for convictions of terrorists, a statement from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police said on Friday.

“Due to scientific reformation of the investigation wing, significant improvement in rate of conviction in terrorism cases has been achieved,” it said. During the said period, seven militants involved in suicide blasts, transportation of explosives, kidnapping for ransom, extortion and sectarian crimes were awarded different punishment.

PPP seeks explanation on KP governor’s amnesty remarks

ISLAMABAD: The main opposition PPP has sought an explanation from the federal government over a statement by the newly appointed governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa calling for granting general amnesty to the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

“The federal government must come out clean on the reported statement of the governor. Either it should distance itself from it or take the nation into confidence over this shift in policy,” said Farhatullah Babar while speaking during Zero Hour in the Senate on Thursday.

Soon after taking oath of the office on Wednesday, KP Governor Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan said there was no harm in granting amnesty to militants if they submitted to the Constitution and “the government should grant a general pardon”.