Honour claims two lives

CHAKWAL, April 23: A man with the help of an accomplice allegedly shot his step mother and her paramour dead in tehsil Choa Syedan Shah over saving family honour, police said on Monday.

Abdul Rauf was alleged to have illicit relations with Amina Bibi, the wife of his maternal uncle. On Sunday night, Abdul Rauf was ambushed by Azeem Khan (the step son of Amina) and Gull Mohammad near a hotel in the city.

They opened fire at Abdul Rauf killing him at the spot. After this, they stormed into the house of Amina Bibi, opened indiscriminate fire at her killing her at the spot, too. Having committed the dual murder, the killers disappeared from the scene.

Police have started efforts to arrest them after registering two separate cases of murder. — Correspondent

Wah Medical College

TAXILA, April 23: As many as 170 graduating students of Wah Medical College (WMC) were awarded degrees at the college’s third convocation on Monday.

Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) Chairman Lt General Mohammad Ahsan Mahmood was the chief guest and University of Health Sciences   Vice Chancellor Professor Dr Malik Hussain Mubbashar presided over the convocation.

Dr Sidra Jabeen was awarded best graduate award for 2005-2010 session whereas Dr Rafia Rahman stood best for the session 2006-2011.

POF Board chairman announced a cash award Rs500,000 each for both the best graduates. — Correspondent

Bail granted

RAWALPINDI, April 23: A man arrested on the charges of stealing valuables from his cousin’s house was granted bail by a court in Rawalpindi on Monday.

Additional sessions judge Ashraf Bhatti granted the bail to Babar Rehman on the surety bonds of Rs50,000.

Mr Rehman was accused of stealing Rs50,000 and some jewellery from the house of his cousin Shahzeb Bokhari on February 6. However, the matter was reported to the police after 49 days.

The complainant said he himself had investigated the matter and was sure that Mr Rehman and a woman, Saima, had stolen the cash and jewellery from his house.

The counsel for the accused, Barrister Afzal Hussain pleaded that the bail application could only be rejected if the court was fully convinced that he had been guilty of an offence.

He said there was no plausible explanation for the delay in registration of the FIR and nothing incriminating was recovered from the accused by the police during the remand period.—A Reporter

Marginalised herdsmen

ISLAMABAD, April 23: The Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) has announced to hold a regional workshop on “Landless Mobile Pastoralists: Securing their role as custodians of northern Pakistan’s mountains” in Islamabad on Tuesday.

The workshop aims at creating awareness about the crucial role the marginalised herdsmen play both for society at large and for the environment.

The three-day workshop being held at National Agricultural Research Centre will discuss ways of securing livelihood for the herdsmen.

For centuries, landless mobile pastoralists have been producing milk, meat, wool; maintaining biodiversity and conserving the soil in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and northern areas but the provision of these goods and services is at risk as they are being marginalised, NCCR says in a situation report.— Our Reporter