Day: August 28, 2012

By: HASHIM ABRO,

Women are considered the backbone of any nation and our Constitution provides for equality of women: however, this provision is often not practiced. The vast majority of Pakistani women, in particular, those in rural areas from Sindh, Balochistan and KPK suffer in absolute misery and wretchedness. In Pakistan women are less valued and rarely appreciated part of the society. Their spirits and wills have been shattered by neglect, domestic violence, illiteracy, underage marriages, lack of education and grinding poverty. However, the rulers are requested to show commitment towards the betterment of womenfolk as they could play a significant role in development and progress of the country.

The Nation

KARACHI: Samina Ismail Hirani, Kiran Amin and Kinza Murtaza — all students of the Aga Khan Higher Secondary School — clinched first, second and third positions in Grade A-1, respectively, as the Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) announced the intermediate (class XII) science (pre-medical) annual examination 2012 results here on Monday.

Samina Ismail Hirani got Grade A-1 with 984 marks out of 1,100 marks and her percentage was 89.45, Kiran Amin got 982 marks and her percentage remained 89.27 and Kinza Murtaza got 976 marks and her percentage stood at 88.72.

The rest of the seven candidates who bagged the top 10 positions also saw their names published in a gazette.

“We wanted all 10 students to be in the limelight as they are the better 10 of the top 20 candidates,” said BIEK chairman Prof Anwar Ahmed Zai while speaking at a programme organised to introduce the successful candidates to the media at the BIEK head office.

“Although all the top three candidates belong to the same private institution, and happen to be girls, the forth one is from a government college and is a boy,” he said referring to Adeel Ahmed Khan of the Adamjee Government Science College, who got 973 out of 1,100 marks and his percentage stood at 88.45,” he said.

About the gender ratio, he said that 70 per cent of students in pre-medical were girls while 30 per cent were boys.

“This is an issue that may concern the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council when the young doctors after doing their MBBS go out in the field. It is good that girls are getting ahead on merit, but there is also a huge need for male doctors, especially in the interior of Sindh,” said Prof Zai.

The BIEK has announced the results three weeks ahead of the scheduled time, which is Sept 15.

“We could have even done this before Aug 27 but we wanted all students to celebrate Eid before finding out if they passed or failed, which could have made Eid for some more joyous while ruining it for the ones who failed,” he said, adding that the reason behind being able to announce the results ahead of time was the computerisation of the system.

“The computerised system has enabled us to scan and print students’ pictures on enrolment cards and we will also be doing the same for admit cards soon. It has helped us prevent duplication of some 108 students at colleges so far,” he said.

Another thing that they said they did to ensure quicker results was to not allow any practical examinations to be carried out after July 16 so that the results could be determined alongside the written exams.

Prof Zai also expressed the hope that the pre-engineering results would be announced by Monday next week.

Replying to the media’s questions, Samina Ismail Hirani, who stood first in the exams, said that she chose to appear in the BIEK despite having the choice of the Aga Khan Board because she had done Matric from the Karachi board.

Replying to a question about her study routine, she said that she had been studying for four hours after college every day with a break after two hours but never took any tuition.

About her future, Ms Hirani, whose parents are doctors, said that she intended to apply to the Dow University of Health Sciences or the Aga Khan University after which she hoped to specialise in oncology.

Kiran Amin, who stood second, said that she was not disappointed that she missed the top position by just two marks. She said that her father was an accountant with a bank and her mother a housewife and the DUHS was her only choice for admission due to being more affordable.

Kinza Murtaza, who bagged the third position, also said that she was fine with missing the top two positions. About her future plans, she said that she wanted to become a cardiologist after doing her MBBS.

A total of 13,682 female candidates were registered for the pre-medical examinations and 13,542 of them appeared in the exams and a total of 7,919 passed. A total of 3,271 male candidates were registered while 3,195 of them appeared and only 1,397 passed in the exams.

The grading formula saw 80 per cent pass in Grade A-1, 70 to 79.99 per cent in Grade A, 60 to 69.99 per cent in Grade B, 50 to 59.99 per cent in Grade C, 40 to 49.99 per cent in Grade D and 33 to 39.99 per cent in Grade E while the rest, which are less than 33 per cent failed.

Dawn

SUKKUR: A district and sessions court in Larkana allowed on Monday a girl to go with her uncle to marry his son of her freewill.

The girl had run away from her home on Sunday and taken shelter at a women police station. In her statement with the Civil Lines police, she said that her parents wanted to marry her off with a cousin who was mentally challenged.

On Monday, she appeared in the court of 7th additional sessions judge. She said that as her parents wanted to marry her forcefully, she had run away from home and didn’t want to go back. She wanted to go with her uncle, Mehram Ali, because she wanted to marry his son

The Express Tribune

Karachi: The decomposed body of a 25-year-old woman who had drowned was found in the underground water tank of a house in Nital Colony in Aurangabad in the Nazimabad police limits on Monday.The owner of the house got the stench and informed police, who recovered the body from the tank.

The body was shifted to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for a post-mortem, where a medico-legal officer said that the corpse was at least five days old and that the woman had been poisoned.

The News

Karachi: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the DIG Sukkur to recover a seven-year-old girl who has been missing from Dadu since July 12.The apex court was hearing an application filed by one Saleem regarding the disappearance of his daughter, Sakina.

DIG Sukkur Range Dr Amir Sheikh along with other police officials appeared and submitted that the father of the missing girl accused his five relatives of kidnapping his daughter one month after the incident, but no evidence was found against the accused and an investigation was continuing.

He said residents of the area from where the girl had disappeared were of the view that girl might have drowned in a canal as there had been a dust storm on the day she went missing. A two-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, directed the DIG to make efforts for the recovery of the girl.

The bench expressed displeasure at the production of the accused in shackles in the courtroom by police, and directed the DIG to take action against the police officer responsible for that illegal act. The bench also asked why the accused were detained if no evidence was found against them. The police officials sought more time for the recovery of the girl. The court, granting one week, directed the police to produce the girl at the next hearing.

The DIG later informed the journalist that a police officer with the rank of ASP had been appointed head of the investigation team and efforts were being made to find the girl.

AAD summoned

The same Supreme Court bench also directed the additional advocate general (AAG) to ensure the appearance of the competent authority under whose directives the seniority of an assistant engineer in the irrigation department had been recalled.

Assistant Executive Engineer Habibullah Memon has assailed the recalling of his seniority by the government twice and sought implementation of a service tribunal order for his seniority.

His counsel Abdul Mujeeb Pirzada submitted that his client was promoted to Grade 17 in 1992 and given seniority by the chief secretary, but due to intervention of officers posted through direct appointments, his seniority had been recalled.

He said the service tribunal also ordered that the seniority of the appellant be restored, but to no avail.

The bench, adjourning the matter for Tuesday, directed the additional advocate general to ensure the appearance of the competent authority with the relevant record regarding the seniority of the petitioner.

Detention case

The Sindh High Court on Monday directed the SHO Shah Faisal Colony to recover and produce a person who has been missing since July 18.

Petitioner Nasreen Fatima submitted that her son Syed Azhar Hussain was picked up by personnel of some agency from her house on July 18 and his whereabouts were still unknown.

A division bench, headed by Justice Shahid Anwar Bajwa, issued a notice to the advocate general, the IGP and others for September 3, and directed the SHO Shah Faisal Colony to recover and produce the petitioner’s son at next hearing.

Man indicted in murder case

Anti-terrorism court on Monday indicted a man in a double murder case.

Mohammad Raheem alias Mota along with other absconding co-accused was charged with killing two people and injuring eight others in Sher Pao Colony on August 18, 2011.

According to the prosecution, the defendant along with absconding co-accused Javed Liaquatabad wala, Abdul Aziz, Imran, Kashif and Saboor killed Mohammad Qasim and Mohammad Raheem and injured eight others. The defendant however denied the charges.

After the indictment of the accused, Judge Bashir Ahmed Khoso directed the special public prosecutor to produce prosecution witnesses to prove the guilt of the accused.

The News