First Hazara woman joins foreign service

QUDSSIA AKHLAQUE

ISLAMABAD - In a promising development on the diplomatic front, this year for the first time a young Hazara woman joined the Foreign Service of Pakistan (FSP) that could mark the beginning of more to follow suit.

Sughra Changezi who hails from Quetta is a member of the latest batch and recently embarked on her career as a diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). Currently, she is working as an assistant director at the OIC Division.
Changezi is the second woman officer from the country’s largest province to enter FSP. Fareeha Bugti was the first woman from the province to join the service in 2005 while several male officers from Balochistan have already made their mark as diplomats. Bugti is now on her first diplomatic assignment abroad as the first secretary at Pakistan’s UN Mission in Geneva. Bugti and Changezi are both known to be bright and promising officers.... Continue Reading... 

فلائیٹ لیفٹینینٹ سائرہ بتول۔ پہلا پروگرام پہلی شرکت

Habiba Sarabi, Afghanistan's First Female Governor, Wins Ramon Magsaysay Award

This undated photo released by the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation shows 2013 Ramon Magsaysay awardee Habiba Sarabi, 57, from Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation)

MANILA, Philippines -- Afghanistan's first and only female governor and a humanitarian worker from Myanmar's Kachin minority are among this year's recipients of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards, often regarded as Asia's version of the Nobel Prize.

The Manila-based Ramon Magsaysay Awards Foundation announced Wednesday that it had selected three individuals and two organizations as this year's awardees, including a Filipino doctor, an independent commission eradicating corruption in Indonesia and a civil society organization in Nepal created and run by human trafficking victims.

The awards, named after a popular Philippine president who died in a 1957 plane crash, honor people and groups who change their societies for the better.

Habiba Sarabi, 57, was chosen for helping build a functioning local government and pushing for education and women's rights in Afghanistan's Bamyan province despite working in a violent and impoverished environment in which discrimination is pervasive, the foundation said. Public education and the ratio of female students have increased in her province, where more women are taking up careers that were forbidden under the 1996-2001 Taliban regime..... Continue Reading... 

Nawaz Sharif asks govt to pacify Hazara community, laments security situation

Former Prime Minister & PML-N President Muhammad Nawaz Sharif offering condolence to the father and son of Professor Doctor Ali Haider. Cm Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif is also present.

LAHORE: PML (N) Chief Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif said on Saturday that the federal government should focus all its attention to pacify Hazara community and resolve all their issues.

Talking to media persons after his visit to the home of deceased Dr Ali Haider, Sharif said that law and order situation in the country is grim from Balochistan to Karachi.

Dr Haider was recently gunned down along with his son in broad daylight in Lahore earlier this week.

Sharif assured the family of the victim that culprits would not be spared.

Talking about PML (N) suspected ties with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Sharif said it is a baseless propaganda of his opponents.

On this question, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif could not control himself and said: “We should not waste time on baseless propaganda"

Daily Sahafat 

Security forces seize more than 100 tons explosives in Quetta

SYED ALI SHAH

Commandant FC, Colonel Maqbool told reporters that the forces seized a huge quantity of explosive material during a raid at a warehouse in New Addah area of Quetta on Tuesday. – File Photo
Published 2013-08-20 22:08:54

QUETTA: The Frontier Corps (FC) claimed to have foiled a major terror bid by seizing more than 100 tons explosives from Quetta, the capital of troubled Balochistan province on Tuesday night.

Commandant FC, Colonel Maqbool told reporters that the forces seized a huge quantity of explosive material during a raid at a warehouse in New Addah area of Quetta.

“Forces recovered 104,480 kilograms of explosive materials from the godown,” he informed.

Maqbool said the explosive material include potassium chloride, aluminum chloride, improvised explosive devices, detonators, circuit wires and other arms and ammunition during the operation.

He said the forces have picked up 10 suspected militants also during the operation that lasted for more than an hour. “All suspects have been shifted for interrogation,” Maqbool said.

Senior FC and police officers are interrogating the suspects picked up by forces.

“For the first time in the history of country, such huge quantity of explosives have been seized,” the FC commandant said, adding that the forces deserve to be appreciated for their efforts.

He said the miscreants had made secret rooms and planted explosive materials in five rooms to carry out subversive activities in Quetta, plagued by sectarian violence and attacks by Baloch separatists.

Maqbool said the same explosive material was used in Hazara town bombing on April 16, which had left more than 100 people dead. “These explosive materials could be used in suicide jackets as well,” he added.

All explosives were shifted to an unknown location and the bomb disposal squad was called in to sweep the area. Extra FC troops were also called in the area to maintain the order.

The operations were carried out after a series of bombings in Quetta that claimed scores of precious lives. Balochistan in general and Quetta city in particular are under the grip of rocketing, bombings and targeted killings for last more than a decade.

DAWN 

A Documentary By Rehana Latif