In Pictures: FC hospital Inaugurated by Dr Abdul Malik Baloch

QUETTA, Aug 14: A well-equipped hospital has been set up by the Frontier Corps here which will not only cater to the needs of the FC personnel but also that of the public.

Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch inaugurated the newly constructed medical facility . The hospital was constructed at a cost of Rs900 million. This includes the cost of equipment and other machinery:

Balochistan sees highest turnout of voters

Except for the two National Assembly seats where results have been withheld, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued results of the other 13 constituencies that went for by-polls on Thursday.
The commission has also compiled the voter turnout for the National and provincial assembly seats separately.

According to ECP statistics, only 22% voters came out to cast ballots for the two National Assembly seats NA-1 Peshawar and NA-13 Swabi in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) against 45% in the May general elections.

The turnout of voters for NA-48 Islamabad was second lowest after K-P’s two seats. It was only 32%. During the general elections in May this year, 62% voters came out to cast ballots.

For the six NA seats in Punjab province, NA-68, NA-71, NA-83, NA-103 and NA-177 overall turnout of voters remained 42% against 60% in general elections.

In Sindh province, 39.18% voters came out to cast votes for the three National Assembly seats of NA-235 Sanghar, NA-237 Thatta and NA-254 Karachi as compared with 54% in the general elections.
The NA-262-Killa Abdullah, the only national assembly seat of Balochistan that went for by-polls, turnout was 35.2% against 42% in general elections.

Provincial assembly seats
Interestingly, for the provincial assembly constituencies that went for by-polls, Balochistan had highest turnout of 49.42%. By-polls were held in three Balochistan assembly constituencies PB-29 Nasirababd, PB-32 Kachhi, PB-44 Lasbela. In the 2013 general elections overall turnout in Balochistan for provincial assembly seats was only 40%.

For the 15 provincial assembly seats of Punjab the overall turnout of voters was 36.75%  — much lower than the general elections in May when it was 58.52%.

In the four Sindh assembly constituencies where the by-polls were held, only 37.94% voters used their right while it was 36.63% for K-P assembly’s four seats.

Three months back in the 2013 general elections overall turnout for Sindh Assembly was 54.62% while for K-P it was 44.74%.

Among the provincial assembly seats that were contested on Thursday the highest turnout was in PB-32 Kachhi which was 70% as per the statistics put together by ECP. The lowest turnout was witnessed in Punjab Assembly seat PP-123 Sialkot at 18.33%.

< Express Tribune >

HEC task force to promote higher education in Balochistan

Islamabad: On the proposal of Chief Minister Balochistan Dr Abdul Malik Baluch, Higher Education Commission (HEC) Chairman Dr. Javaid R. Laghari agreed to establish a Special Task Force to evaluate and promote higher education in Balochistan so that it can keep pace with national standards.

The proposal was made during a meeting between HEC Chairman Dr. Javaid R. Laghari and Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baluch on Thursday. Balochistan chief minister appreciated the contribution of HEC in the higher education sector in Baluchistan.

He lauded the HEC’s initiatives of local and foreign scholarships for students from Balochistan, implementation of federal quota policy, establishment of new universities or campuses and opening of HEC regional Centre Quetta, fee waiver scheme for higher education and other initiatives. He hoped that these initiatives would help encourage youth from the province for pursuing higher education studies.

Dr. Javaid R. Laghari congratulated Dr. Abdul Malik Baloch on his election as chief minister as per wishes of people of Balochistan. He apprised the chief minister about working, functions of HEC and its initiatives for promotion of higher education in Balochistan.

He informed that as result of these reforms for Balochistan, number of universities has been increased from 2 to 8, student enrolment increased from thirty thousand to more than seventy-six thousands and impressive increase has been witnessed in international publications from 6 in 2002 to 338 in 2011. He also assured cooperation in addressing human resource related problems in the province.

< The News >

In Pictures: Pakistan 67th Independence Day in Balochistan

UNDP Focus On Balochistan

QUETTA - “UNDP is committed to protect valued forests and species of Balochistan as Juniper forests and wildlife in the province are very precious to the whole world and they must be protected”, this was stated by Country Director of United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Pakistan Marc-Andre Franche addressing a gathering at Serena Hotel Quetta on Tuesday.

Marc was briefed on the achievements in the recently completed projects named Biodiversity Conservation and Juniper Forest Ecosystem and Conservation of Habitat & Species of Global Significance in Arid & Semi-arid Ecosystem of Balochistan.

Marc-Andre appreciated the project’s encouraging outcomes and assured their support in future for same initiatives. He said that Balochistan is a rich province in biodiversity saying that natural resources, local wisdom and knowledge were also very crucial for its sustainable management.

The five year projects had been completed jointly by UNDP, IUCN, GEF and Government of Balochistan in Ziarat and Nushki districts of Balochistan.

Officials of UNDP Faiz Muhammad Kakar and Tahir Rasheed briefed the audience about the projects and their success in carrying them. Tahir Rasheed told the gathering that his team along with the cooperation of the Forest Department of Balochistan had proposed some changes in the legal framework of the department and suggested addition of an act that would help in protecting the endangered species in the province.
The Act would soon be presented in the provincial assembly for formal legislation. He said that the Act would eliminate illegal trade and hunting of wild animals which were amongst the biggest threats to wild life in Balochistan.

They said that through the two projects sustainable initiatives had been launched which included promoting awareness amongst people, training public staff and building infrastructure for encouraging the people to avoid consuming the precious assets. The gathering was also informed that the efforts of UNDP and its partners the Juniper Forests of Ziarat had been included in the World Network of Biospheres by UNESCO.

At the occasion the Secretary Forests Government of Balochistan Khudai Rahim Ejbani thanked UNDP and donors of the project for their efforts in protecting the valuable assets of Balochistan. “The technical and financial assistance provided in the projects have been very useful for the province” he said adding that such support would be required in future ensure protection to the forests and wild life in Balochistan.

Also present at the seminar were Secretary Planning and Development Zeeshan ul Haq, Chief Conservators of Forest Department, Syed Ghulam Muhammad  and Taj Muhammad, Local leaders Nawabzada Mehboob Jogezai and Sardar Naseer Tareen and members of beneficiary communities.

< The Nation >

Baloch Militants Killed 13 labourers in Bolan district

They were going home to celebrate Eid with their families. Little did they know that their lives would be snuffed out by cold-blooded murderers. Thirteen people – mostly day-labourers from Punjab – were pulled out of passenger buses and shot at pointblank range in an ethnically-motivated attack in Bolan district on Tuesday.

The Baloch Liberation Army, one of several proscribed groups responsible for most separatist and ethnic violence in Balochistan, claimed credit for the grisly killings in the Machh area of Bolan, some 80 kilometres away from Quetta.

The assault was carried out by 150-200 insurgents, who were dressed in the uniforms of paramilitary Frontier Corps and Balochistan Levies.

“The militants stopped five to six passenger coaches at two fake checkpoints on the main highway and snatched 13 passengers from Punjab after checking their national identity cards,” Bolan Deputy Commissioner Abdul Waheed Shah said. “The militants took them to the nearby mountains and shot them dead.”

Two of the slain passengers belonged to the security agencies: one was from Pakistan Army and the other from Kalat Scouts. The militants spared two Seraiki-speaking passengers.

Machh Assistant Commissioner Khasif Muhamamd Shai confirmed the incident and said the bullet-riddled bodies had been recovered.

The bodies were shifted to Quetta’s Civil Hospital in the afternoon. All the victims were shot in the head. They were identified as Ahmed Ali, Shakeel Ahmed, Muhammad Bakhsh, Muhammad Asif, Muhamamd Aslam, Saqib Ali, Hawaldar Arshad, Shahid, Shakeel Ahmed, Abdul Malik, Muhamamd Ashraf, Shaukat Ali, Lans Naik Safeer Ahmed. All of them hailed from different regions of Punjab.

Muhammad Yousaf, who lost a relative in the attack, said that most of the men were day-labourers who had gone over to Iran in search of work. “I was also scheduled to travel to Alipur in Punjab – but now this tragedy happened,” Yousaf told The Express Tribune at the Civil Hospital’s mortuary.

Another man who lost his brother and a nephew told journalists that they belonged to the impoverished Rahim Yar Khan district of Punjab and worked at an optician’s shop here. “Four of my relatives were travelling to Rahim Yar Khan. The militants killed my brother and nephew and spared the two others,” he added.

BLA spokesman Meerak Baloch claimed responsibility for the killings. “These 13 people were either employees of the army or of other security institutions,” he told AFP by telephone from an undisclosed location.

The spokesman said the insurgents kidnapped 25 people, but later let seven passengers and five security personnel go. “An FC patrol party tried to follow us, so we killed two of them while another two were injured,” he added.

Governor Muhammad Khan Achakzai and Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch condemned the incident and ordered the arrest of the killers

< Express Tribune >

IIUI to accord priority to Balochistan students

ISLAMABAD: International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) is the leading institution, which has always enrolled maximum students from Balochistan in comparison of other universities of Pakistan.

These views were expressed by university’s acting President Dr Mumtaz Ahmed during 15th Islamic training programme for the students of Balochistan organised by Children’ Literature Department of Dawah Academy and Iqbal Institute for Research and Dialogue on Thursday. Balochistan was ignored since emergence of the country but now special measures taken by the present government show that it really desires to improve the situation of province on priority basis.

Dr Mumtaz Ahmed said it was quite unfortunate that after 1972 no representative government was formed in the province due to that the situation of Balochistan could not improve.

On the occasion, he assured that IIUI would not only accommodate the students from Balochistan on priority basis, but would also provide financial assistance.

“He stressed upon the Baloch students that they should work hard for development of the country. An organised, lawful and constitutional struggle for the achievement of prerogatives becomes successful,” Mumtaz said. Earlier, IIUI Vice President and Dawah Academy Director General Sahibzada Sajid-ur-Rehman while addressing the ceremony said that Balochistan is that remarkable part of the country, which has valuable contribution in Pakistan movement. online

< Daily Times >