Another 13 militants killed in NWA airstrikes

 

MIRANSHAH: Military authorities on Saturday claimed another 13 militants have been killed and seven of their hideouts destroyed in airstrikes in the Mir Ali subdivision of North Waziristan Agency.
The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) in a statement said fighter jets pounded the hideouts of militants after they fired rockets on the posts of the security forces in Mir Ali on Saturday morning.

It said the jets pounded seven hideouts of the militants and killed 13 terrorists. The statement said most of those killed were foreigners.

According to ISPR, a huge cache of arms and ammunition was also destroyed in the airstrikes. It also said consolidation of the cleared area in Miranshah, the headquarters of North Waziristan, and on the Miranshah-Dattakhel road is in progress.

According to the military officials, six motorcycle-borne improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and two vehicle-borne IEDs, both ready to be used in terrorist attacks, two 12.7 mm guns, one 14.5 mm gun, three vehicles, 11 suicide jackets and a huge cache of arms and ammunition were recovered during the last 24 hours in Khar Warsak and Zartangi.

They said three terrorists, including an Uzbek national, have been apprehended from the Boya area. They added that two explosives-laden vehicles were destroyed through aviation strike at Degan village. They claimed two suicide bombers were identified and chased and eventually they exploded and took their lives when encircled close to Boya.

ISPR said relief operations for the IDPs were continuing at full pace in Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Tank and Peshawar.

“So far 96,533 ration packs each weighing 110 kilograms have been distributed among the IDPs,” it added.

According to the ISPR statement, 1,012 tonnes of ration has been collected so far at 59 relief collection points established by the Pakistan Army throughout the country. It said most of the ration has been transported to Bannu.

“The army doctors, specially moved to reinforce the local medical effort at Bannu, are busy in providing relief to the patients. So far 12,587 patients have been treated at the Field Medical Hospital established at Khalifa Gul Nawaz Hospital in Bannu by army doctors,” it added.

Taliban aimed to hit another target by hijacking aircraft

 

PESHAWAR: Claiming responsibility for the high-profile attack on the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, the Pakistani Taliban said that they had planned to hijack the aircraft and to use them for hitting targets at another place.
“We proudly claim responsibility for the attack on the Karachi airport. It was revenge for the killing of Hakimullah Mehsud in a US drone attack in Miranshah with the help of Pakistani government. This is the beginning of our attacks we planned against the government and important security installations,” said Shahidullah Shahid, the spokesman of the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Another senior member of the Taliban also claimed that one of the aims behind storming the airport was to hijack the aircraft and to use them against targets. “We started preparations for the attack a few months ago and we knew that planes from around 30-40 countries are coming here. There were different reasons why we chose to attack the airport in Karachi. First, as I stated aircraft of 30-40 countries come here and it would send a message all over the world that Pakistan is an insecure place for flying. Secondly, we wanted to damage Pakistan economically. We wanted the country suffer losses but not the people. And then we wanted to convey a message that the Taliban have not been defeated but are still active,” the TTP leader explained. He claimed to have damaged about 12 aircraft there.

Also, he said the Karachi city and the airport there were considered to be the most secured installation in the country, and they decided to launch their strikes from the same place and give a message that no place was beyond their reach. “We had engineers and skilled people in the squad that stormed the airport. They knew how to operate a plane,” the TTP leader claimed.

He said some other ‘brotherly Jihadi organisations’ had helped them in the attack on the Karachi airport. However, when asked, he did not reject the involvement of al-Qaeda. “Besides other Jihadi organisations, al-Qaeda people are our brothers and we admit that we carried out this attack with the help of our other brotherly Mujahideen groups but it’s not important to us to name them publicly,” the Taliban leader argued.

Asked about the targets, the Taliban commander said they don’t mention their targets before attacking them. “As I stated, hijacking the planes was one part of our strategy of attacking the airport,” the militant commander noted.

Also, the Taliban issued a statement in Urdu language about the Karachi attack, which said the attack began at 10pm on Sunday night. They praised their suicide bombers and called them ‘eagles’ for successfully entering the airport. “During the overnight fighting with thousands of Pakistani security forces, our fighters used to set ablaze their targets at the airport. In the fighting, hundreds of security personnel were killed and dozens of aircraft were destroyed. We selected the target (Karachi airport), as we wanted to inflict heavy losses on the government and fewer fatalities to the people. And the Mujahideen succeeded 100 percent in this technique,” the Taliban claimed in the statement.

The Taliban claimed that they were serious and had started the peace talks with sincerity with the government as Hakimullah Mehsud had clarified during his last interview. “But we had made it clear initially that we would not allow the government to use the peace talks with the Taliban for their political and military purposes which the previous governments had done. The government responded to our sincere offer for peace talks to the killing of our leader Maulana Waliur Rahman and Hakimullah Mehsud, by conducting an announced military operation in the country against us and by killing our jailed colleagues and throwing their bodies on roads and bombing the innocent tribal people,” the Taliban stated in the statement.

It said that the Pakistani Taliban and their ‘brotherly Jihadi organisations’ were serious and sincere in talks but alleged that the government had responded to their offer in the form of preparing a military operation against them.

They announced to support Hafiz Gul Bahadur in North Waziristan and the tribal people in their fighting against the Pakistani security forces. “The attack on the Karachi airport is a message to the Pakistan government to avoid the use of force as the Taliban are still ready for holding serious peace talks with the government,” the Taliban said.

Another Jang Group vehicle torched in Karachi

 

KARACHI: A vehicle of the Jang Group of Newspapers was torched by unidentified miscreants in the Aziz Bhatti Police limits in the wee hours of Monday.
Thousands of copies of Jang and The News were burnt to ashes. After coming to know about the incident, the Jang Group management printed the newspapers again and distributed these in the market.The incident of burning of the vehicle took place near Hassan Square, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, at about 4:30am.

New Town’s Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) Nasir Lodhi said responding on information, the police immediately rushed to the spot where they found a hi-roof on fire and a driver was standing near it.

Police immediately called the fire fighters and extinguished the fire. Later, they questioned the driver of the van, Mohammad Nisar, who narrated that he was an employee of the Jang Group and it was his daily duty to deliver the copies of Jang and The News at various stalls of the city.

He said as per his daily routine, he was supplying copies of the newspapers at different stalls when near Hassan Square two unidentified armed miscreants came to him and asked about his identity.

The driver said he told the miscreants that he belonged to the Jang Group after which the miscreants took out a bottle of chemical and poured it on the vehicle which suddenly caught fire. The miscreants fled afterwards. The hi-roof contained thousands of copies which were reduced to ashes in the incident.Police have lodged an FIR and are investigating.

Another van of The News set on fire

 

RAWALPINDI: Unidentified assailants equipped with lethal weapons set a van carrying the copies of ‘The News’ to Islamabad on fire after creating panic among the people here at the Committee Chowk on Friday morning.
The people who witnessed the scene confirmed that the assailants were carrying lethal weapons and acted as professional fighters. “Their delivery was not like normal citizens or agitators but they seemed trained people,” the witnesses said.

Driver of ‘The News’ van Muhammad Razzaq said that around 10-12 gunmen, carrying Kalashnikovs, and pistols suddenly jumped in front of the van and pointed their guns towards him, asking him to come out of the vehicle if he wanted to save his life or they would burn him alive. He said that three attackers were holding pistols and the remaining were carrying Kalashnikovs.

“I am working with the UDN (Universal Dispatch Network) attached with the delivery network of the Jang Group as a driver for the last two years,” Razzaq said in his complaint lodged with the police, adding that he left the Al-Rehman Building on his van (registration number RIS-1011) after loading 7,000 copies of ‘The News’ for the Akhbar Market, Aabpara, at 5:05am. As he reached the Committee Chowk bus stop at about 5:10am, 10 to 12 bearded people suddenly jumped in front of the van and asked him to come out of the vehicle or he would be burnt alive. On his resistance, they dragged him out of the van, sprinkled kerosene oil on the vehicle and newspapers and set them on fire.

“The leading assailants were speaking Urdu in a Pashto slang while others were silent but active,” the driver said. He said that two among them, carrying cans of kerosene, came forward, sprinkled it on different parts of the vehicle and newspapers, threw a burning match stick on the newspaper copies and set the vehicle on fire. The assailants kept watching the burning van for a while and later ran away while shooting in the air.

The vehicle was destroyed within a few minutes before firefighters of Rescue-1122 could arrive.An atmosphere of fear was created in the area and the people rushed to safer places when the assailants waved lethal weapons, the witnesses said, adding that traffic at the Committee Chowk and adjacent roads was choked and remained suspended for hours.

The police high-ups later reached the scene and took obligatory action after collecting evidence from the crime scene and recorded statements of the people who had witnessed the episode.After the burning of The News van, the newspaper copies were again printed and distributed late in Islamabad.

It is a general perception of the people belonging to civil society and other walks of life that pleading its case in the court of law and before the people of Pakistan is the basic right of theGeo/Jang Group but the power active behind the scene is trying to silence the voice of Geo and Jang by resorting to such heinous and low-bred tactics.

“Public opinion is turning in favour of the Jang Group after the group’s administration tendered an apology as the religious scholars unanimously believed that doors of Allah Almighty are forever open and He always accepts request for forgiveness,” experts said.

“The News and Jang are not doing anything against the social or religious norms but simply pleading their case to seek justice. In these circumstances, why did some people attack The News?” they asked, adding, “There are some other powers active behind the scene who want to gain their objectives in the garb of spreading hatred against the Geo/Jang Group.”

The police have taken up the case and registered an FIR with the Ganjmandi Police Station against the unknown assailants on the complaint of the driver of the van, Muhammad Razzaq, under sections 436, 341, 427, 148, 149 PPC and started an investigation.

PEMRA private members hold another meeting on Geo’s issue

ISLAMABAD: Some of the private members of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) on Wednesday called another meeting and formed a three-member committee with a task to implement the decisions they had taken in the previous meeting.

They have also decided to convene their next meeting on June 17.

In the opinion of the majority of PEMRA members only the chairman of the authority is competent to convene a meeting.

It is pertinent to mention here that the PEMRA spokesman, after the first meeting of the private members a few days ago, had termed it illegal and disowned its decisions.

Khan bowls another no ballKhan bowls another no ball

ISLAMABAD: The European Union Election Observation Mission’s report on Pakistan’s 2013 elections reveals facts that belie the claim of Imran Khan and Shireen Mazari, the

Information Secretary of PTI.

The report measures election coverage in multiple categories, including: a) rallies and press conferences; b) time allocated to political actors during Prime Time programming; c) direct speech/quotes within news; and d) political advertising.

The EU’s report shows that in rallies and press conferences category, the PTI got the highest coverage from Geo News, which is almost twice as much as the second channel in this category — Express. (Approximations from graph shows: Geo 6,250, Express 3,500, ARY 3,000, Dawn News 2,750 ).

In time allocated to political actors in Prime Time programming category, again the Geo News gave the PTI the highest share compared to all other satellite news channels (Geo 21%, ARY 18%, Express 17%, Dawn News 16%).

In the category of time allocated to political actors in news, the Geo News gave the PTI the highest share, doubling almost the figure of the second highest. (Geo 32%, ARY 17%, Express 16%, Dawn News 16%)

In the category regarded direct speech within news, the news channel which gave the highest share of its coverage to the PTI was Geo News with 25%.

However, in the last category measured by the EU — time allocated to political advertising, the PTI gave more advertising air time to Dawn News, ARY, and Express than Geo News. Though this could be because of Geo’s rates are higher as its viewership is also higher.

According to third party ratings agencies, Geo News has three times the net viewership of the second most watched news channel of Pakistan for which there has historically been a tie between three channels. If one takes into account the net ratings and net viewership impact, it is safe to say that the PTI got most of its message out during the elections courtesy Geo News.

However, Shireen Mazari, Information Secretary of the PTI, for some particular reason, is convinced that Geo was involved in rigging the elections 2013 against Imran Khan.

Imran Khan on May 20 tweeted a graph, rallies and press conferences category (mentioned above), which was from the same EU report. Imran alleged that Geo gave more coverage to the PML-N than the PTI and referred to Geo’s bias. However, the very same graph shows that the PTI itself got more coverage from Geo than any other channel.

Also regarding the PML-N, it can also be seen from the same graph that every channel gave more coverage to the PML-N in that category, including Dawn, ARY, Express and others. The reason for this could be multiple, including the organisational skills of the party at the time, quality and number of candidates, experience and how it was polling in survey after survey at the time. Khan did not, however, tweet the other graphs mentioned above in the EU report.

The EU Elections Observation monitored the media outlets from 8th April to 9th May from 18:00 to 24:00 daily.

Another scion of Mardan’s affluent Hoti family arrested

LAHORE: Ameer Ghazan Khan Hoti, brother of former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti and son of an ex-federal minister Azam Khan Hoti, is yet another scion of Mardan’s highly rich and powerful Hoti family to have been arrested in a culpable crime.

Ghazan Hoti was arrested on Tuesday in Peshawar on court orders after cancellation of his bail application in the mutli-billion rupee shady weapons deal.

The Hotis of Mardan are a family of decades-old traditional barons, though KP former chief minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti had declared before the Election Commission in March 2012 that he only had Rs300000 cash-in-hand, while his three bank accounts had Rs3000, Rs2000 and Rs2000 in balance respectively.

Ameer Haider Hoti had further stated that furniture and articles under his personal use were valued at Rs300000 while neither he, nor his wife owned any car for their personal use.

However, the former KP chief minister was “truthful” enough to admit that his wife owned 148 kanals of land in Mardan (valued at Rs10.9 million), a 24 per cent share in a business in Dubai (valued at Rs3.3 million), shares in two CNG businesses in Pakistan (valued at Rs6.4 and Rs5 million each) and 20 tolas of jewellery.

But despite all the inherited riches, former NWFP governor Nawab Abdul Ghafoor Khan Hoti’s young son, Aurangzeb Hoti, was handcuffed at an American airport for carrying narcotics a couple of decades ago.

Later, he was sentenced to a few years of imprisonment in the United States.

Nawab Abdul Ghafoor Hoti (1923-1998) was a serving governor at that time, had been a federal minister in his political career and was chief of the warrior Yousafzai tribe of “Hoti,” when his son had embarrassed him by being caught red-handed for smuggling drugs in the United States. Abdul Ghafoor Hoti was the son of Nawab Akbar Khan Hoti of Mardan and father of former Inspector General of KP Nawabzada Akbar Khan Hoti (appointed in October 2011, relinquished charge on April 16, 2013) —-who bears the same name as his illustrious grandfather.

Ameer Haider Hoti and Ameer Ghazan Hoti are the great-grandsons of former NWFP Chief Minister Dr. Khan Sahib (1882-1958).Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan alias Dr. Khan Sahib was the elder brother of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan alias Baccha Khan.

Ghazan’s father Azam Khan Hoti had remained a federal minister twice in a previous Nawaz Sharif government, while his maternal uncle Asfandyar Wali Khan is the Chief of the ANP.Yes it is the same Azam Hoti, whose ex-wife had attempted suicide outside KP Inspector General Police’s offices sometime ago.

The Hoti family of Mardan had not only played a prominent role during the independence movement, but has also held quite a sway in Pakistani political circles since 1947.Just to cite a few examples in this context, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had paid a visit to Mardan on November 24, 1945 on invitation of Nawabzada Abdul Ghafoor Hoti’s father Nawab Sir Akbar Khan Hoti and had addressed a huge gathering at the Hoti House.

Nawab Akbar Khan Hoti had not only attended the historical session of Muslim League at Lahore on March 23, 1940 but had also attended the “Simla Conference” of 1945.

Nawab Akbar Khan Hoti’s son and Governor Abdul Ghafoor Hoti’s elder brother Colonel (Retd) Mohammad Amir Khan, a graduate of United Kingdom’s prestigious Sandherst Academy, had participated in World War II, leaving his mark on the battlefields of Libya and Iraq.

He is being remembered in Mardan’s history for displaying unmatched gallantry and valour when he had escorted a train carrying thousands of refugees and military equipment from India in 1947.

The colonel was rewarded and appointed as a Military Attache in Indonesia after the partition.It was on his invitation in 1950’s that the then Chinese Prime Minister, Zhou Enlai (pronounced as Chouin Lai) had paid a visit to Mardan during his historic tour to Pakistan.

Colonel (R) Mohammad Amir Khan later became Minister for Industries, Village Aid and Supplies in late 1957 when Iskandar Mirza was ruling the country.During Ayub Khan’s era, he remained an MNA and then hosted premier Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto at Hoti House in Mardan a few years later.

During the Pakistan People’s Party era, Colonel Amir Khan Hoti was appointed as Ambassador to Spain and had served there for three years from 1981 to 1984. Archives reveal he had also feted the then World Bank President, Robert Strange McNamara, at his farmhouse.

Robert McNamara (1916-2009), also the eighth US Secretary of Defense under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, had served as the fifth World Bank Group President between 1968 and 1981.

It was in this particular meeting that Robert McNamara had extended a loan facility for the establishment of a paper mill at Charsadda.This unit was later known as the Pakistan Paper Corporation.Another eminent Hoti, Khwaja Mohammad Khan Hoti, had remained a Provincial Minister of Education.

His paternal grandfather was Nawab Muhammad Akbar Khan Hoti and his maternal grandfather was Brigadier Sir Nawab Muhammad Shah Jehan Khan, who was also the ruler of Dir State. He is the son-in-law of late Abdul Ghafoor Khan Hoti.

Bubba Watson wins another green jacket at Augusta

AUGUSTA: One of golf´s most exciting players squeezed most of the drama out of the Masters on Sunday. That´s just fine with Bubba Watson. All he cared about was slipping into that green jacket.

Instead of hitting a 40-yard hook out of a forest of Georgia pines — the signature shot in his playoff victory two years ago — the final act Sunday at Augusta National took place on the 18th green.

Watson had a three-shot lead and consulted with his caddie on a 15-foot birdie putt. "I went over to him and I said, ´I´m not very good at math, but we´ve got four putts, right?" Watson said. This was more about great golf than Bubba golf.

Watson kept his poise during an early burst of birdies from 20-year-old Jordan Spieth, turned the tournament in his favor with consecutive two-shot swings to close out the front nine, and coasted to a 3-under 69 to win the Masters by three shots over Spieth and Jonas Blixt of Sweden. "Small-town guy named Bubba now has two green jackets," Watson said. "It´s pretty wild."

Watson made it look routine over the final hour. On a Sunday when Spieth was trying to become the youngest winner in Masters history and 50-year-old Miguel Angel Jimenez had a chance to become the oldest major champion, Watson turned in another masterpiece and joined an elite group as the 17th player to win multiple Masters.

Surprisingly for Augusta, the most compelling action was on the front nine. His only nervous moment was a drive so mammoth around the corner on the 13th hole that it clipped a few trees and still went some 360 yards, leaving just a sand wedge into the par 5.

That was his lone birdie on the back nine. No one got closer than three shots the rest of the way. "The shot out of the woods made me famous," Watson said. "But this one was a lot better for me and my nerves."

This was nothing like the Masters he won two years ago, especially when it was over. His wife and newly adopted son were home in Florida in 2012 when Watson made four straight birdies on the back nine and won on the second playoff hole with his great escape out of the trees.

When he tapped in for par on 18, there was 2-year-old Caleb — decked out in a green-and-white striped Masters shirt and green tennis shoes — walking toward him. Watson had tears streaming down his face when he scooped him up, a prize as great as the green jacket. "Seeing him back there ... what an amazing feeling as a parent," he said. "And then throw on the green jacket on top of it just changes everything."

After high-fiving the crowd on his way to sign his card, Watson returned to Butler Cabin to take back that green jacket after slipping it on Adam Scott a year ago. "After giving it away last year, I wanted it back," Watson said. "I told Adam we could just swap it back and forth every year."

Spieth could only watch from the side of the green. He dazzled the massive crowd early by holing out for birdie from the front bunker on No. 4, and making back-to-back birdies to build a two-shot lead through seven holes.

Bidding to become the first player in 35 years to win a green jacket in his first try, Spieth looked to be well on his way. But he three-putted for bogey on No. 8 — the first 6 on his card all week — as Watson got up-and-down for birdie to tie for the lead.

Spieth then made a rookie mistake, leaving his approach below the flagstick on No. 9 and watching it roll back into the fairway, setting up another bogey and two-shot swing.

Whatever prayer he had might have ended at Amen Corner. His tee shot on No. 12 found Rae´s Creek. He missed a short birdie attempt on the 13th.Watson was too powerful, too experienced, too tough to beat. Spieth closed with six pars for a 72 and tied for second with Blixt, who never went away but never really threatened.

Blixt shot a 71. "Obviously, I´ve worked my whole life to lead Augusta on Sunday. And although I feel like it´s very early in my career, and I´ll have more chances, it´s a stinger," Spieth said.

Watson finished at 8-under 280 and goes to a career-best No. 4 in the world. Jimenez, the ageless wonder from Spain, shot 71 and finished alone in fourth. Matt Kuchar lost a share of the lead with a four-putt double bogey on the fourth hole and never challenged again.

He closed with a 74 and tied for fifth with Rickie Fowler (73). Nine players were separated by three shots at the start of the final round only for this to turn into a two-man show. For the opening two hours, it was anything but dull. After trading pars on the opening hole, either Watson or Spieth — sometimes both — made birdie or bogey over the next nine holes.

Spieth holed out from a bunker for birdie on the tough par-3 fourth. He made back-to-back birdies with a 12-foot putt on the seventh for a two-shot lead. Two holes to close out the back nine changed everything.

Amen Corner swung the Masters in Watson´s favor for good.Watson won for the second time this year, and his second major puts him at the top of the Ryder Cup standings.He was guided all week by a simple game plan of hitting fairways and greens, and he was calmed by knowing that regardless of how it turned out, he still had a green jacket. Now he has two of them. (AP)

Another Saudi MERS death raises kingdom toll to 67

JEDDAH: Saudi health authorities announced on Wednesday another death caused by the MERS virus in the capital Riyadh, bringing the nationwide toll to 67.

The 57-year-old Saudi national had been suffering from chronic illnesses, the health ministry said.

It also reported that another two Saudis had been infected by the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome -- one a 51-year-old and the other a 90-year-old, both of whom are suffering chronic illnesses.

The latest figures bring to 179 the number of cases of MERS in Saudi Arabia since the virus first appeared in the kingdom in September 2012. The virus was initially concentrated in the eastern region but has now spread across more areas.

Eleven new cases were reported in the western port city of Jeddah in recent weeks, causing a wave of panic fuelled by rumours circulated on social networks.

Of the 11 victims, two died while six have recovered and another three are undergoing treatment, according to the health ministry.

Three of the patients in Jeddah were health workers, including one of the two who died, prompting authorities to close the emergency department at the city’s King Fahd Hospital.

Patients were transferred to other hospitals while the department was disinfected in a process expected to take 24 hours, the ministry said on Tuesday.

The MERS virus is considered a deadlier but less-transmissible cousin of the SARS virus that erupted in Asia in 2003 and infected 8,273 people, nine percent of whom died.

Experts are still struggling to understand the disease, for which there is no known vaccine. A study revealed that the virus has been "extraordinarily common" in camels for at least 20 years, and may have been passed directly from the animals to humans.

The World Health Organisation said at the end of March that it had been told of 206 laboratory-confirmed cases of MERS infection worldwide, of which 86 had been fatal.

Another record broken: Biggest art class held in Lahore

LAHORE: Over 5,000 school children set a new world record on Friday by sitting through the largest art lesson of the world at Punjab Stadium.
The record was previously held by Chinese Taipei with 4,810 children.
As many as 6,000 students from Beaconhouse School System exhibited great discipline in the 30-minutes class as they painted the Mughal-era style buildings.
The Guinness Book team then counted the papers prepared by the children and affirmed 5,351 valid, declaring Pakistan the new record holder. The stadium echoed with slogans of Pakistan zindabad as the announcement came.
Addressing the participants, Sports Board Punjab Director General Usman Anwar praised the students and said that Pakistani children had the potential to regularly set and break records.
Sports Secretary Muhammad Khan Khichi was also present.
Young scientists
An exhibition was organised at the Lahore Expo Centre as part of the festival under the aegis of the Ministry of Science and Technology. Several government, private and educational institutions, including the National University of Science and Technology, the Pakistan Engineering Council, the National University of Oceanography, the Pakistan National Accreditation Council, the Center for Applied and Molecular Biology, the Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority, the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority and the National Institute of Electronics Islamabad.
Thousands of students from 47 universities arranged 75 stalls at the exhibition. Students displayed models of dams, bridges, important buildings, roads and electronics and won praise from the audience.
An electronic bicycle model by Muhammad Tauseef of Government College of Technology, Sialkot, earned great appreciation from the large gathering. A jury would announce the winners on Saturday (today) after examining the models and listening to students’ presentations.
Separately, a large book fair has also been organised at the venue, where publishers have displayed a large number of academic, religious, historic and scientific books. A digital Quran has also been displayed.
Farming
An exhibition of Best Agricultural Produce is also underway at the Lahore Expo Centre. Department of Agricultural Information Punjab, Ayub Agricultural Faisalabad, Agricultural Department, Institute of Rice Research Kala Shah Kaku and many other research institutes are participating in the exhibition.
Information is being given to farmers on how to protect their crops from disease. Farmers are also being educated on methods of preserving fruit and vegetables. Several agricultural experts talked on the occasion. They said farmers could not get more production and profit since they were unaware of the use of modern technology.