Day: April 19, 2011

By Asad Farooq

KARACHI: Chief Executive Officer of Dawood Capital Management Tara Uzra Dawood announced on Wednesday that the 3rd LADIESFUND Women’s Awards would be held at Mohatta Palace Museum on March 5.

Addressing a press conference at her office, she said that 150 of the most dynamic and inspiring women in Pakistan would attend the ceremony in which awards would be granted in five categories – Lifetime Achievement (with consultation of judges), Woman of the Year (people’s choice award), Momentum (judged), Trailblazer (judged) and Idol (judged).

Talking about the criteria of awards, she said that every person could nominate and vote any women if inspired by her struggle. Tara said that five judges’ panel comprised Amina Saeed, Shahida Jameel, Nelofer Saeed, Sumaira Raja and Shamine Farooqui. “Judges represent five walks of life, including education, law, entrepreneurship, art and culture, and hair & beauty,” she said.

“It is a people’s choice award that would be chosen by a nation-wide vote. The LADIESFUND Judges have shortlisted nominations to the following top five finalists: Pakistan Women’s Cricket Team (for winning World Cup), Sherry Rehman (for her contributions to media), Asma Jehangir (for becoming President of the Supreme Court Bar Association), Kamila Shamsie (for bringing international acclaim to Pakistan for “Burnt Shadows”) and Bilquis Edhi (for her protection to children),” she said.

Tara said, “The winner will be chosen by you, the people of Pakistan, based on on-air and online campaigns by CityFM89 and CIO Pakistan (ciopakistan.com/ladiesfund2011). Every one can vote through telephone, email or visiting our website. The role in the media for the people’s choice of woman of the year is very important, as each vote is a support of woman leaders and women development.”

“The award is first of its kind in Pakistani history for women, and is designed to acknowledge and celebrate the top female role models, particularly entrepreneurs in Pakistan,” she said.

It was revealed in the conference that all winners would receive a plaque, a top of the line high end Smartphone C7 Nokia cell phone, a spa gift basket from Blurain (LADIESFUND Entrepreneur in the Spotlight), a Karachi Snob.com membership card, as well as a LADIESFUND Investment Certificate, while the Idol Winner would also receive a Rs50,000 anonymous donation and a formal pair of Azmay Shahzada shoes and a formal Sania Maskatiya outfit.

Source: Daily Times

Date:4/19/2011

Karachi: The body of a teenage girl who was raped and strangled after being abducted was found packed in a gunny bag in the Eidgah police limits on Monday.

The body of 14-year-old unidentified victim with her hands and legs tied with a piece of rope was found near the Civil Hospital Karachi.

After some residents of the area spotted the gunny bag and informed the police, a mobile van of the police shifted the body to the hospital for legal formalities.

The woman MLO of the hospital said the girl was first raped and then strangled.

Police said unidentified people kidnapped the teenager and, after killing her at an unknown place, dumped her body.

Source: The News

Date:4/19/2011

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Monday directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to immediately vacate a girls` hostel of Rawalpindi Medical College (RMC).

The bureau has been provided accommodation in the offices vacated by the devolved Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education in Islamabad, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister House. The prime minister has directed the secretary Cabinet Division for implementing his orders on priority.

The bureau occupied the girls` hostel in 1999 to establish its offices and four accountability courts in Rawalpindi.

In the last 11 years, the RMC administration had repeatedly requested the Punjab governments to get the hostel vacated from the bureau, but their pleas were ignored.

After the Young Doctors Association (YDA) staged a protest on January 29 this year outside the NAB office in Rawalpindi, they were given assurance that the hostel would be vacated. But it was not vacated.

At present 205 rooms of the existing RMC hostel accommodate 487 students. Moreover, 34 students have been accommodated in the empty houses reserved for professors of RMC and 12 are living in servant quarters. And ten students are living in the college`s study room, which has been converted into cabins.

YDA Punjab Chairman Dr Mohammad Haroon thanked the prime minister for directing NAB to vacate the hostel immediately. “Finding accommodation had become a headache for female students, but NAB officials were least bothered.”

He said the association had planned to launch a protest for getting the hostel back.

Source: Dawn

Date:4/19/2011

RAWALPINDI: A brutally beaten pregnant woman receiving treatment in Benazir Bhutto Hospital died on Monday – as unknown as the day she was found abandoned in Kotli Sattian woods last week.

Doctors discovered her pregnancy when police brought her from the hilly town to Rawalpindi for investigations and treatment on Thursday. They found that the torture on the woman in her 30s had already snuffed out life from the baby she had been carrying for five months. She herself was barely breathing.

She was put in the Intensive Care Unit but despite the best efforts of the doctors her head injuries proved fatal. Her body was removed to the District Headquarters Hospital for postmortem.

Police found nothing on her brutally tortured body to identify her.

All that could be done was to take her fingerprints for Nadra to try to trace out her family.

Constable Sumair Riaz posted at Krore police post had alerted the police after he heard screams of a woman from a wooded area while he was on his way to Rawalpindi.

“They (policemen who responded) found her lying in a pool of blood and gasping for life,” he said about the poor nameless woman in burqa.

Area police said they had received no complaint of any woman missing, nor had anyone come to claim her body.

Source: Dawn

Date:4/19/2011