Allure of money and cars too much for UAF high-ups

By Mohammad Saleem

FAISALABAD: More than two dozen University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF) deans, directors and chairmen of various departments, besides the vice-chancellor, have been using ofhcial vehicles for years while receiving the conveyance allowance illegally in connivance with the administration, causing loss to the national kitty.

Now the administration has to withdraw the facility after the Punjab government came to know about this illegality and directed the administration to avoid `corruption`.

A notification (copy with Dawn) has also been issued by the Audit Cell/ Coordination section following the direction of the provincial finance department.

As many as 32 officials have been stripped of the conveyance allowance.They are:vice chancellor,registrar, treasurer, deans of faculties of veterinary sciences, agriengineering and technology, animal husbandry, agriculture, sciences and socialsciences, principals of Community College PARS, UAF sub-campuses of Toba Tek Singh and Burewala, director general of the National Institute of Food Science and Technology, director of the CABB, Soil & Environmental Sciences, Agri Extension and Rural Development, Institute of Horticultural Sciences, OR1C, Water Management Research Centre and Farms, land utilisation officer, superintendent Postgraduate Agricultural Research Station (PARS), directors of Students Affairs and Centre for Advance Studies of Applied Genetics of Saline Agriculture (CAGSA), principal officer PRP, hall warden, principal officer Estate Care Department, executive director Endowment Fund, project director UAF Sub-Campus Toba Tek Singh, deputy director Endowment Fund, estate officer and director P&D.

The allowance was stopped from the month of March and all the officials would have to return the allowance they had received.

The notification reads, `The vice chancellor has further been pleased to approve that recovery of conveyance allowance, already drawn, will be made in eight installments starting from Dec 2014.

This correspondent sent queries to VC Dr Iqrar Ahmed, through an SMS, asking how many officials were entitied for vehicles under the govern-sciences, principals of Community College PARS, UAF sub-campuses of Toba Tek Singh and Burewala, director general of the National Institute of Food Science and Technology, director of the CABB, Soil & Environmental Sciences, Agri Extension and Rural Development, Institute of Horticultural Sciences, OR1C, Water Management Research Centre and Farms, land utilisation officer, superintendent Postgraduate Agricultural Research Station (PARS), directors of Students Affairs and Centre for Advance Studies of Applied Genetics of Saline Agriculture (CAGSA), principal officer PRP, hall warden, principal officer Estate Care Department, executive director Endowment Fund, project director UAF Sub-Campus Toba Tek Singh, deputy director Endowment Fund, estate officer and director P&D.

The allowance was stopped from the month of March and all the officials would have to return the allowance they had received.

The notification reads, `The vice chancellor has further been pleased to approve that recovery of conveyance allowance, already drawn, will be made in eight installments starting from Dec 2014.

This correspondent sent queries to VC Dr Iqrar Ahmed, through an SMS, asking how many officials were entitied for vehicles under the govern-ment policy and what amount vehicle users would have to return.

Instead of responding to the queries, the VC said, `This is a contentious case and we are contestants. The vehicles belong to the motor pool and officers use them for official duties.

There is no private use intended.` He said he never received any allowance.

In the past, the Punjab government had also found UAF Vice Chancellor Dr Iqrar Ahmed drawing salary more than his entitlement.

In his first stint, Dr Ahmad was made part of the university (as VC) on Feb 27, 2008, through a notification which clearly mentioned that he had been recruited in MP-II grade.

The terms and conditions said his pay would be Rs105,950 per month, accommodation Rs63, 570 per month and utilities Rs5,298 per month.

However, Dr Ahmad had done otherwise and received a salary of MP-I grade -Rs195,000 per month and Rs9,750 utility allowance.

Dr Jalal Arif, the university spokesperson, had then quoted the vice chancellor as saying that he (Dr Ahmad) had, immediately after the issuance of his job`s notification, approached the provincial government for correction.

An associate professor, requesting anonymity, told Dawn that instead of asking people to return the money, the government should initiate a probe into the issue that why the administration did not take any action against the officials who had been using the vehicles and also kept withdrawing the conveyance allowance.

He said it was not on the record thatthe deans, directors and other officials had been using the vehicles.

`If officials have been using the vehicles for field or official duty then why their conveyance allowance has been stopped. Why they have been asked to return the withdrawn allowance?` he asked.

Courtesy: Daily Dawn

For Accomplished Students, Reaching a Good College Isn’t as Hard as It Seems

By KEVIN CAREY

Earlier this year, Harvard announced that it had accepted 5.9 percent of the nearly 35,000 students who applied for admission to the class of 2018. The next day, Stanford announced an even more exacting 5.07 percent admission rate, the lowest in the university’s history.

Statistics like these have come to dominate the national narrative of elite college admissions, with each new batch of ever-more-minuscule success rates fueling a collective sense that getting into a good college has become a brutal, “Hunger Games"-style tournament that only the fittest survive.

That story is wrong. For well-qualified students, getting into a good college isn’t difficult. It probably isn’t that much harder than it was generations ago. The fact that everyone believes otherwise shows how reliance on a single set of data — in this case, institutional admission rates — can create a false sense of what’s really going on.

To start, it’s worth noting that the headline-inducing single-digit rates reported by Harvard and Stanford are unusual even for elite institutions. Washington University in St. Louis,ranked 14th nationally by U.S. News & World Report, admitted 17 percent of applicants this year. Notre Dame admitted 21 percent, Wellesley 28 percent, and the University of Michigan 32 percent. Still, those numbers are low and have been declining in each case.

HISASHI OKAWA

They don’t, however, represent the true odds of a well-qualified student’s being admitted to a top school. That’s because anyone can apply to college, well qualified or otherwise. Selective colleges immediately toss the long shots and dreamers from the admissions pile in order to concentrate on students with a legitimate shot at getting in. But they don’t parse their admissions statistics that way, in part because it’s in their best interests to seem as selective as possible. Admission rates are among the most closely watched barometers of institutional prestige. The fact that Stanford’s rate beat Harvard’s for the last two years has been cited as prime evidence that Palo Alto may be eclipsing Cambridge in higher-education glory.

Institutional admission rates also don’t account for the number of applications submitted per student. Enabled by technology that makes it easier to copy and send electronic documents and driven by the competitive anxiety that plummeting admission rates produce, top students have been sending out more applications. In May, for example, a Long Island high school senior named Kwasi Enin was briefly famous for having applied to, and been accepted by, all eight Ivy League schools.

But while the best students are sending out more applications for the same number of slots at elite colleges, the slots themselves aren’t becoming more scarce and the number of students competing with one another isn’t growing. In essence, the growth in applications per student creates a vicious cycle, causing admission rates at the best schools to artificially decline, students to become more anxious, and the number of applications per student to grow even more.

Finally, the most important priority for most highly qualified students isn’t getting into a particular elite school. It’s getting into at least one, because elite schools are generally pretty similar in their eliteness, and you can attend only one at a time.

That’s why some students are applying to 20 or more schools: to increase their odds of making a single match. The most important elite college admissions statistic, then, is not the percentage of applications top schools accept. It’s the percentage of top students who are admitted to at least one top school. And that number isn’t 5 percent or 20 percent or even 50 percent. It’s 80 percent. It turns out that four out of five well-qualified students who apply to elite schools are accepted by at least one.

These numbers come courtesy ofParchment.com, a website that helps students submit college transcripts electronically and navigate the admissions world. Services like Parchment and the Common Application are among the reasons it has become easier for students to submit more applications and drive down institutional admission rates. This year, 800,000 students used Parchment to send more than 1.6 million transcripts.

Parchment began by identifying a subset of students with combined SAT scores (or an ACT equivalent) of at least 1300. Then it identified high-scoring students who had applied to at least one of the 113 schools identified by Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges as the most selective. The average overall admission rate among those schools was about 32 percent. Yet 51 percent of the applications submitted by top Parchment students to the same colleges were accepted. Why? Because top schools receive a substantial number of applications from underqualified students who are almost always summarily rejected. Once the wheat and chaff are separated, the success rate for the wheat looks much better.

And the real odds of success were even higher than 51 percent. The top students in the Parchment database applied to 2.6 elite colleges, on average. Flip a coin twice and, according to probability theory, you’ll get heads at least once 75 percent of the time. Sure enough, 80 percent of top students were accepted to at least one elite school.

Since there has never been a time when 100 percent of well-qualified students were successful in the college admissions market, the truism that elite colleges are far more difficult to crack than in years gone by can’t be correct: 80 percent is too close, mathematically, to nearly everyone.

This doesn’t mean that aspiring students can drop out of the college admissions rat race entirely. There’s a keeping-up-with-the-Joneses aspect to sending out applications. The Parchment data suggest that students who apply to many schools are more likely to strike gold than those who apply to only one or two, which makes sense given the idiosyncrasy of the admissions process.

But this is mostly a matter of optimizing odds that are very good to begin with. So the next time you read about terrifyingly low college admission rates, don’t panic: If you work hard and get good grades and test scores, there is very likely a place in the best schools for you.

Courtesy: New York Times

Police: Man held after choking neighbor's loud dog

Associated Press

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire police say a man who broke into his neighbor's apartment to silence a barking dog ended up getting bitten and arrested.

They say a brawl erupted Friday morning when Roger Pelletier forced his way into the Portsmouth apartment because he was frustrated by the constant barking of her Shih Tzu, Oreo.

Police say Pelletier tried to strangle Oreo, leading to a confrontation with the dog's owner. They say Oreo bit Pelletier several times. The dog's owner wasn't injured.

Oreo has been taken to a veterinarian for evaluation.

Pelletier is charged with burglary, cruelty to animals and simple assault. He is jailed on $5,000 bail and will be held until he's arraigned Monday. He can't be reached for comment in jail. It's unknown if he has a lawyer.

Which mobile was your's

Sony makes experimental paper watch

By Dave Lee

Technology reporter, BBC News

The watch's design is minimalist

Sony has developed a watch made from e-paper as part of an initiative to experiment with the use of the material for fashion products.

The Fes Watch has a minimalist, monochrome design but falls short of the features offered by smartwatches.

However, the battery of the e-paper watch could last far longer with an estimated 60 days of use.

The device has been described as "retro and cool" by gadget expert Stuart Miles from Pocket-lint.

"One of my predictions for next year is that fashion is going to play a huge part in shaping the tech industry.

"Having a phone that's big and square is one thing, but if we're actually wearing things, it has to look good."

The watch face and straps have an e-paper display - comparable to the technology used in e-book readers such as Amazon's Kindle.

It means the watch can alternate between several different styles of watch face and strap design.

Shoes and bow-ties

According to the Wall Street Journal, Sony had deliberately kept the development of the watch low-key, opting to use a spin-off division called Fashion Entertainments to work on the device.

Fashion Entertainments ran a crowdfunding campaign to fund the watch's creation, the WSJ reported, in an attempt to gauge the public's interest in the concept.

It raised 3.5 million yen ($30,000; £19,000).

"We hid Sony's name because we wanted to test the real value of the product, whether there will be demand for our concept," a person involved in the project told the newspaper. A spokeswoman for Sony confirmed to the BBC that Fashion Entertainments is a division of company's New Business Creation Department, and was working on a number of e-paper prototypes.

Fashion Entertainments has been experimenting with the e-paper tech for a variety of uses

Other e-paper experiments being worked on by Fashion Entertainments include shoes, bow-ties and glasses.

One drawback of using e-paper rather than, for example, liquid-crystal displays (LCD) is a limitation on possible features due to the limitations of what e-paper can display.

However, Mr Miles said he did not envision that being too significant a drawback for e-paper wearable technology.

"Look at traditional watches now, they just tell the time and we're happy with that," he said, noting that one of the most popular smartwatches on the market, the Pebble, uses e-paper.

Sony has not provided a date for the Fes Watch's release.

How funny Indian minister is?

India: Pakistani Agencies Backing Terror Groups

By WASBIR HUSSAIN Associated Press

The Associated Press

GUWAHATI, India — India's home minister hit out at Pakistan on Saturday, accusing its state agencies of using terror to try to destabilize India, and rejecting Pakistan's assertion that non-state actors are involved in terrorism.

"Pakistan is continuously engaged in destabilizing India, but says non-state actors are behind the acts of terror. I want to ask Pakistan if its Inter-Services Intelligence is also a non-state actor," Rajnath Singh said, referring to Pakistan's national intelligence agency.

Singh, the second-most powerful official in India after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was addressing the heads of Indian police, paramilitary and intelligence agencies who were meeting in Guwahati, the main city in the remote northeastern state of Assam.

There was no immediate reaction to Singh's remarks from Pakistan.

India has long accused Pakistan of fomenting conflict by arming and training anti-India militants in the disputed region of Kashmir. Islamabad says it only provides them moral and diplomatic support.

Singh's comments came two days after heavily armed militants fought a fierce gunbattle with Indian soldiers in which at least 10 people, including four militants, were killed. Indian army officials said the rebels were attempting to infiltrate into Indian Kashmir before Himalayan mountain passes shut down with the onset of winter.

Singh said the failure of Islamic militant groups to win over young Muslims in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir was evident this past week when people ignored a call by separatist groups to boycott local elections.

More than a dozen rebels groups have been fighting since 1989 in Indian Kashmir, seeking independence from India or the merger of the region with neighboring Pakistan.

India and Pakistan have fought two wars over Kashmir since they won independence from Britain in 1947. Kashmir is divided between the two countries, but claimed by both in its entirety.

'Up to 13,000 slaves' working in UK

There could be between 10,000 and 13,000 victims of slavery in the UK, far more than previous estimates, analysis for the Home Office suggests.

Modern slavery victims are said to include women forced into prostitution, "imprisoned" domestic staff and workers in fields, factories and fishing boats.

The figure for 2013 is the first time the government has made an official estimate of the scale of the problem.

The Home Office has launched a strategy to help tackle slavery.

It said the victims included people trafficked from more than 100 countries - the most prevalent being Albania, Nigeria, Vietnam and Romania - as well as British-born adults and children.

Data from the National Crime Agency's Human Trafficking Centre last year put the number of slavery victims in the UK at 2,744.

The assessment was collated from sources including police, the UK Border Force, charities and the Gangmasters Licensing Authority.

The Home Office said it used established statistical methodology and models from other public policy contexts to estimate a "dark figure" that may not have come to the NCA's attention.

It said the "tentative conclusions" of its analysis is that the number of victims is higher than thought.

Concerted action

The Modern Slavery Bill going through Parliament aims provide courts in England and Wales with new powers to protect people who are trafficked into the countries and held against their will. Scotland and Northern Ireland are planning similar measures.

But outlining the strategy for government departments, its agencies and partners, Home Secretary Theresa May said legislation was "only part of the answer".

The "grim reality" is that slavery still exists in towns, cities and the countryside across the world, including the UK, she said.

"The time has come for concerted, co-ordinated action. Working with a wide-range of partners, we must step up the fight against modern slavery in this country, and internationally, to put an end to the misery suffered by innocent people around the world."

The Home Office said the UK Border Force would roll out specialist trafficking teams at major ports and airports to spot potential victims, and the legal framework would be strengthened for confiscating the proceeds of crime.

The modern slavery strategy will also see:

• The government identify "priority countries" to work with, as well as other organisations including churches

• British embassies and high commissions and NCA liaison officers develop local initiatives abroad

• Work to strengthen the response by local authorities to child abuse, including trafficking

• Work to raise awareness among homeless shelter staff of the signs of modern slavery

Aidan McQuade, director of charity Anti-Slavery International, said the Home Office's figures sounded about right but questioned whether the government's strategy went far enough.

He told the BBC : "If you leave an employment relationship, even if you're suffering from any sort of exploitation up to and including forced labour, even if you're suffering from all sorts of physical and sexual violence, you'll be deported.

"So that gives an enormous power in the hands of unscrupulous employers. And frankly the protections which the government has put in place are not worth the paper they're written on in order to prevent this sort of exploitation once they've given employers that sort of power."

BBC © 2014

Mother’s revenge: Afghan woman 'kills 25 Taliban' after son shot dead

RT News

Still from youtube video (Hussein Ahmadi)

The incident happened early in the morning on November 17 in the Balabolok district, in the Farah province of western Afghanistan, near the border with Iran.An Afghan mother, enraged by the Taliban’s fatal shooting of her policeman son, has allegedly helped to kill 25 militants. She rushed to a police outpost near her home upon hearing gunfire, before her adrenalin took over and she “began to shoot back.”

"It was around 5am when my son's check post came under the attack of Taliban," the mother, Reza Gul, told Afghan television network, TOLOnews. "When the fighting intensified, I couldn't stop myself and picked up a weapon, went to the check post and began shooting back."

Screenshot from Google Maps

Her maternal instincts took over after seeing her son Safiullah lying dead in front of her eyes, after a gun battle with the Taliban. However, she was not acting alone: a number of family members, including her husband, daughter and youngest son, rushed along to help and provided her with ammunition.

"The fighting intensified when we reached the battlefield along with light and heavy weapons," said Reza Gul’s daughter-in-law, Seema, according to TOLOnews. "We were committed to fight until the last bullet." She added that the intense fighting lasted a number of hours, with 25 militants left dead and others wounded.

Reza Gul’s daughter Fatima says, “We started a kind of family war against the Taliban.” She added that she helped to prepare bullets for her mother and father to fight off the militant organization. Reza Gul’s husband Abdul Satar said they were prepared to sacrifice the whole family to ensure that the Taliban would not encroach on their lands.

"My young son who was a police officer was killed in front of my eyes," Abdul Satar said, as reported by TOLOnews. "I pulled aside his dead body and started fighting to defend my soil to prove that this is the soil of Malalai, the hero. I was committed to give up my life, but not my son's check post."

He was referring to Malalai of Maiwand, an Afghan folk hero who allegedly helped to defeat the British in the second Anglo-Afghan war in 1880.

The provincial police chief, General Abdul Razaq Yagubi, confirmed that the Taliban had launched an attack on Balabolok district on November 17. He also added that they came with an estimated 400 fighters to try and take the area.

Safiullah was the head of the local police post and had 10 other policemen under his control. However their post was shelled by Taliban militants and Safiullah was killed in the resulting firefight. His mother's presence“boosted the morale of policemen resisting the attack, and after seven hours of heavy fighting, the Taliban fled. At least 25 Taliban militants were killed and 31 injured in that village alone,” Yagubi added, NBC reported.

It appears Raza Gul’s actions could go down in folklore and she could well become the new Malalai of Maiwand.

"We are proud of the bravery of this family and this is a saga that will be remembered for long by police and residents of Farah province," Yagubi added.

Afghans are fiercely loyal to their homes and these sentiments were confirmed by the family’s youngest son, Sardar, who has a word of warning for the Taliban if they ever think of returning.

"The Taliban are foreigners, they are servants of Pakistan, if they attack 100 other times, I will continue to defend my country and will shed their blood to not let them dare to enter my village,” said Sardar, who also helped to prepare bullets for his mother and father, according to TOLOnews.

"Put me on the internet! Even on The Google!"

Excellent column by Attaul Haq Qasmi

مجھے زندگی سے بھرپور شخص بہت اچھے لگتے ہیں چنانچہ میں جب کبھی ان کے بارے میں لکھتا ہوں، کبھی کبھی سر اٹھانےوالی میری مردہ دلی بھی زندہ دلی میں تبدیل ہوجاتی ہے لیکن آج مجھے احمد عقیل روبی کے حوالے سے کالم لکھنا ہے۔ جس کے انگ انگ میں زندگی کی لہر دوڑتی محسوس ہوتی تھی مگر میںقلم ہاتھ میں پکڑتے ہی اداسی کی زد میں آگیا ہوں کیونکہ یہ شخص مجھے چھوڑ کرچلاگیا ہے اور وہاں گیا ہے جہاں سے آج تک کوئی واپس نہیں آیا۔ احمد عقیل روبی کا اصل نام غلام حسین سوز تھا بالکل اسی طرح جس طرح احمد ندیم قاسمی اور احمد فراز کا اصل نام احمدشاہ تھا۔ روبی کو میں پڑھتا تو بہت عرصے سے چلا آرہا تھالیکن اس کی شخصیت کو پڑھنے اور پرکھنے کا موقع مجھے ایف سی کالج میں میسرآیا جہاں وہ صدرشعبہ اردو تھااور میں بھی اسی شعبے سے وابستہ تھا۔ شعبہ تعلیم سے وابستہ کچھ افراد کی کوشش ہوتی ہے کہ وہ صدر شعبہ بن جائیں، کالج کے پرنسپل بن جائیں یا سیکرٹریٹ میں کسی انتظامی عہدے پر فائز ہو جائیں۔ اس طرح کے لوگ اس طرح کی پوسٹوں کو ترقی کی معراج سمجھتے ہیں مگراحمد عقیل روبی جب صدرشعبہ بنا تو میں نے محسوس کیا کہ اس سے اس کی ’’ذہنی صحت‘‘پر کوئی اثر نہیں پڑا۔ اپنےکولیگز کے ساتھ اس کا رویہ پہلے سے زیادہ دوستانہ ہو گیا۔ ایک تو اس کا دل بنا ہی موم کا ہواتھا ذرا سی بات پر پگھل جاتا تھا اور دوسرے اس کے ذہن میں غالباً یہ خیال بھی در آیا تھا کہ کہیں اس کی کسی بات کو اس رنگ میں نہ لیا جائے کہ موصوف صدر شعبہ بن کے خود کو کچھ سمجھنے لگ گئےہیں۔ لیکن یہ تو اس کی شخصیت کا تقریباً ناقابل ذکر پہلو ہے۔ وہ تو سراپا محبت تھا۔ لوگوں میں خوبیاں تلاش کرتا تھا اور ان کی خامیو ںکو نظرانداز کرتا تھا۔ ہر حال میں خوش رہتا تھا اور دوسروں میں بھی خوشیاں بانٹنے میں لگا رہتا تھا۔ میں اسے بنیادی طور پر ایک داستان گو سمجھتا ہوں۔ وہ ایک عام سی بات کو داستان کا رنگ دیتاتھا۔ جب وہ گفتگو کر رہا ہوتا تو مجھے لگتا جیسے داستان گوئی کا فن نسل در نسل اس تک منتقل ہوا ہے۔ اس کے سامنے قصہ سننے والے دم بخود بیٹھے ہیں، آگ کا الاؤ جل رہا ہے اور داستان گو مزے لے لے کر داستان در داستان بیان کرتا چلا جارہا ہے۔ چنانچہ اس نے نصرت فتح علی خان، ناصر کاظمی، سجاد باقررضوی اور دوسرے مشاہیر پر شخصی خاکوں پرمشتمل جو کتابیں لکھیں، پڑھنےوالا خود کو ان شخصیتو ں کے درمیان بیٹھا، ان سے باتیں کرتا، ان کی باتیں سنتا اور ان کے ساتھ خود کو چلتا پھرتا محسوس کرتاہے۔ احمد عقیل روبی ماضی کو حال میں تبدیل کرنے کا فن جانتا تھا۔ اسے سننے والا اور اسے پڑھنے والا خود کو اورئنٹل کالج میں اس کے ساتھ والی نشست پر بیٹھا ڈاکٹر سید عبداللہ کا لیکچر سنتا، احمد ندیم قاسمی، انتظار حسین، مسعود اشعر، ناصر کاظمی، شہرت بخاری، ظہیر کاشمیری اوراحمد مشتاق کے ساتھ گپ شپ کرتا اور اس کے ساتھ ہنستا اور روتا دکھائی دیتا۔ میں نہیں سمجھتا کسی کی زندگی میں اتنےدکھ ہوں گے جتنے دکھ احمد عقیل روبی کو سہنےپڑے۔ 1947 میں مشرقی پنجاب سے پاکستان آتے ہوئے صرف وہ اوراس کی ماں زندہ بچے تھے اور اس عظیم ماں نےمشقت کرکے غلام حسین سوز کو احمد عقیل روبی بنا دیا۔ اگر کبھی موقع ملے تو ’’غلام حسین سوز‘‘ پر احمد عقیل روبی کا لکھا ہوا خاکہ ضرور پڑھیں جو عقیل عباس جعفری نے فیس بک پر شیئر کرکے ہم سب پر احسان کیاہے۔   مگر عقیل روبی اپنی زندگی کے دکھوں کی بجائے زندگی کی دی ہوئی خوشیوں میں مگن رہا۔ البتہ جب اس نے تحریک پاکستان کے حوالے سے پی ٹی وی کے لئے ڈرامہ سیریل تحریر کیا تو وہاں اس نے ہمیں یہ سمجھانے کی ضرور کوشش کی کہ اس سرزمین کی قدر کرو۔ یہ سرزمین ہم نے بہت قربانیوں کے نتیجے میں حاصل کی ہے۔ عقیل روبی صحیح معنوں میں ایک سکالر تھا۔ اس نے ناول بھی لکھے، خاکے بھی لکھے، شاعری بھی کی، فلموں کے لئے لازوال گیت بھی تخلیق کئے، ٹی وی ڈراموں میں بھی نام کمایامگراس کے ساتھ ساتھ اس نے خالص علمی خزانوں سے بھی اردو ادب کو مالامال کردیا۔ اس کاغیرملکی ادب کا مطالعہ حیرت انگیز تھا۔ غیرملکی ادب کامطالعہ اور بھی بہت سے لوگ کرتے ہیں مگروہ دوسروں کو اس کی ہوا تک نہیں لگنےدیتے جبکہ روبی نے جو پڑھا، اس میں ہم سب کو بھی شریک کیا۔ یونانی فلاسفر خصوصاً اس کی دلچسپی کا مرکز تھے۔ بلکہ میں اسےچھیڑا کرتا تھا کہ تم جب بازار سے سبزی لینے جاتے ہوگے تو تم یقیناً دکاندار کو پہلے ضرور بتاتے ہوگئے کہ سقراط کدو، حلوہ کدو، آلو اور بینگن کو ریاست کے لئے مضر خیال کرتا تھا یا اسے ایک صحت مند علامت سمجھتا تھا۔ بہرحال ، حال ہی میں نیشنل بک فاؤنڈیشن نے روبی کی معرکتہ الآرا کتاب ’’علم فلسفہ کے معمار‘‘ کا تازہ ایڈیشن نہایت خوبصورت انداز میں شائع کیالیکن عقیل روبی اپنی اس کتاب کی نئی ہیئت دیکھنے سے پہلے ہی دنیا سے رخصت ہو گیا! گزشتہ دنوں مجھے خیال آیا کہ عقیل سے ملاقات کو بہت دن گزر گئے ہیں کوئی سبیل نکالنا چاہئے۔ چنانچہ میں نے اسے فون کیا۔ بیل جاتی رہی مگر اس نےاٹھایا نہیں۔ دو دن بعد میں نے پھر فون کیا۔ دوبارہ اسی طرح ہوا چنانچہ میں نے سوچا کہ میں اس کے گھر جاتا ہوں مگر گزشتہ روز ناصر بشیر نے اطلاع دی کہ عقیل روبی کینسر کا شکار ہو کر فوت ہوگئے ہیںاور آج دوپہر کو ان کا جنازہ ہے۔ میں جوہرٹاؤن پہنچا۔ شہر کے سارے ادیب اور عقیل روبی سے محبت کرنے والے بہت بڑی تعداد میں وہاں سوگواری کے عالم میں کھڑے تھے۔ میں اس کے آخری دیدار کے لئے آگے بڑھا۔ میں نے دیکھا کہ اس کی آنکھیں کھلی ہوئی تھیں اور وہ میری طرف دیکھ رہا تھا۔ تھوڑی دیر بعد مجھے اس کے ہونٹ بھی ہلتے محسوس ہوئے اور مجھے لگا وہ داستان گوئی کر رہا ہے اور آج جو داستان وہ سنارہا ہے وہ اس کی اپنی داستان ہے! میں آپ کو وہ داستان نہیں سناؤں گا۔ یہ صرف میرے اوراس کے درمیان ہی رہے گی لیکن میں نے اس کے کان میں ہولے سے جو بات کہی وہ یہ تھی کہ’’احمد عقیل روبی ! تم ایک سیلف میڈ انسان تھے۔ تمہاری ماں عظیم عورت تھی۔ تمہاری بیوی ایک مثالی بیوی ثابت ہوئی جس نے ہر قدم پر تمہارا ساتھ دیا۔ تم نے لوگوں کو علم کی دولت سے مالامال کیا۔ انہیں ناول دیئے، خاکے دیئے، شاعری دی، فلمی گیتوںکا پرانا معیارواپس لائے۔ تم اس کے علاوہ ایک اعلیٰ درجے کے مثالی انسان تھے مگر کیا یہ بہتر نہ ہوتا کہ تم ان سب نعمتوں سےبہرہ ور ہونے کی بجائے صرف ایک تھرڈ کلاس ایکٹر ہوتے تاکہ تمہارے مرنے پر پورا میڈیا سوگ میں ڈوب جاتا اور ہر سال تمہاری برسی پر خصوصی پروگرام نشرہوتے۔ …۔ تم پر افسوس ہے احمد عقیل روبی! تم نے زندگی میں سارے گھاٹے کے سودے کئے اور مرنے کے بعد بھی تم خسارے ہی میںرہے۔ تم سے کس نے کہا تھا کہ ایسا شعبہ اختیار کرو جس کی کل اوقات اخبار کی سنگل کالمی خبر سےزیادہ نہیں ہوتی! ‘‘

Nigeria mosque targeted in blasts

Many people have been killed in three explosions during Friday prayers at one of the biggest mosques in the Nigerian city of Kano, reports say.

The Central Mosque is close to the Emir of Kano's palace and is where the influential Muslim leader usually leads prayers.

The Emir, Muhammad Sanusi, is currently in Saudi Arabia.

An eyewitness told the BBC he had counted about 50 bodies, but this figure has not been verified.

Other reports say some gunmen went on a shooting spree in the northern city after the blasts.

The militant Islamist Boko Haram group has targeted the city before during its five-year insurgency.

تیل کی قیمت میں ریکارڈ کمی

  

تیل کی عالمی قیمتوں اور بین الاقوامی سیاسی صورت کے پس منظر میں اوپیک اجلاس میں غیر معمولی دلچسپی پائی جاتی تھی

تیل برآمد کرنے والے ملکوں کے اجلاس میں پیداوار کو موجودہ سطح پر برقرار رکھنے کے فیصلے سے عالمی منڈی میں جمعرات کو تیل کی قیمت گذشتہ چار برس میں اپنی کم ترین سطح (ستر ڈالر فی بیرل) تک گر گئی۔

اوپیک کے اجلاس کے بعد سعودی عرب کے تیل کے وزیر علی النعیمی سے جب یہ پوچھا گیا کہ اوپیک تیل کی پیدوار کم نہیں کر رہا تو انھوں نے کہا بالکل یہی فیصلہ ہوا ہے۔ اوپیک کے ممالک دنیا کی تیل کی کل پیداوار کا تیسرا حصہ پیدا کرتے ہیں۔

اوپیک کا اجلاس پانچ گھنٹوں تک جاری رہا اور اس کا فیصلہ سامنے آتے ہی خال تیل کی دونوں بڑی اقسام برنٹ کُروڈ اور یو ایس کُروڈ کی قیمتیں نیچے جانے لگیں اور سرمایہ کاروں کو تیل پیدا کرنے والے ملکوں میں جاری قیمتوں کی جنگ یا ’پرائس وار‘ کا پیغام ملا۔

برنٹ کی قیمت 71.58 ڈالر فی بیرل پر آ گئی اور یوایس کروڈ کی قیمت گر کر 68.20 ڈالر فی بیرل پر آ گئی۔ ان دونوں کی قیمتوں میں ایک دن میں پانچ ڈالر کی کمی دیکھنے میں آئی ہے جو مئی سنہ 2011 کے بعد ایک دن میں سب سے زیادہ کمی ہے۔

نیویارک میں انرجی مینجمنٹ انسٹی ٹیوٹ کے ڈائریکٹر ڈومن سرلیکلیا نے روئٹرز کو بتایا کہ ’تیل کی قیمتیں اب مکمل طور پر مارکیٹ کے رحم و کرم پر ہیں۔‘

اوپیک نے تیل کی پیداوار کو موجود سطح پر برقرار رکھنے کا فیصلہ کیا

اوپیک کے ایک اعلامیے میں کہا گیا کہ بارہ ملکوں پر مشتمل اس تنظیم نے فیصلہ کیا ہے کہ پیداوار کو تین کروڑ بیرل یومیہ پر برقرار رکھا جائے گا جو کہ گذشتہ تین سال سے اسی سطح پر ہے۔

آسٹریا کے شہر ویانا میں ہونے والے اس اجلاس سے پہلے غریب رکن ملکوں مثلا وینزویلا اور ایکواڈور کی طرف سے تنظیم پر زور دیا جا رہا تھا کہ وہ پیداوار میں کمی کرنے کا اعلان کرے تاکہ تیل کی گرتی ہوئی قیمتوں کو سہارا دیا جا سکے۔

لیکن تیل پیدا کرنے والے بڑے ملکوں نے پیداوار میں کمی کی تجاویز کو رد کر دیا۔ ان کا کہنا تھا کہ جب تک ان کو امریکہ جیسی مارکیٹ میں اپنے حصے کی یقین دہانی نہیں کرائی جاتی وہ تیل کی پیداوار کم کرنے کے لیے تیار نہیں ہیں۔ امریکہ میں شیل راک تیل کی وجہ سے سستا تیل وافر مقدار میں دستیاب ہے اور جس سے عالمی طلب پر اثر پڑا ہے۔

خام تیل کی قیمتوں میں اس سال جون سے 35 فیصد کمی واقع ہوئی ہے اور ڈالر کی قدر میں اضافے اور عالمی معیشت میں توانائی کی مانگ کے کم ہونے کے خیال کی وجہ سے بھی تیل کی مانگ نسباتاً کم رہی ہے۔

توانائی کے بین الاقوامی ادارے انٹرنیشنل انرجی ایجنسی نے خبردار کیا ہے کہ تیل کی قیمتوں میں کمی کا رحجان سنہ دو ہزار پندرہ میں جاری رہے گا۔

تیل کی گرتی ہوئی قیمتوں کی وجہ سے عالمی کساد بازاری کے خدشات خاص طور پر یورپی یونین کے ملک میں بڑھ گئے ہیں۔

گرتی ہوئی قیمتیں صارفین کے لیے اچھی خبر ہیں لیکن کساد بازاری کی وجہ سے ایک پورا چکر شروع ہو سکتا ہے جس میں تجارتی ادارے خریداری کم کر دیں گے اور طلب میں کمی واقع ہونے سے بے روزگاری میں اضافہ ہو سکتا ہے۔

اوپیک کے اجلاس سے قبل سعودی عرب نے امریکی خریداروں کے لیے تیل کی قمیت مزید کم کردی۔ سعودی عرب کی طرف سے یہ اقدام بظاہر امریکی مارکیٹ میں شیل تیل کے مقابلے میں اپنے حصہ کو برقرار رکھنے کی کوشش میں کیا گیا۔

BBC Urdu

Oil prices plunge after Opec meeting

BBC

Opec Secretary-General Abdallah Salem el-Badri: "We will watch how the market will behave"

The price of oil slumped after the Opec oil producers' cartel decided not to cut output at its meeting in Vienna.

Opec's secretary general Abdallah Salem el-Badri said they would not try to shore up prices by reducing production.

"There's a price decline. That does not mean that we should really rush and do something," he said.

Following the announcement Brent crude fell below $72 a barrel, hitting lows previously seen in August 2010.

The 12 Opec members decided to maintain production at 30 million barrels per day as first agreed in December 2011.

"We don't want to panic. I mean it," said Mr el-Badri. "We want to see the market, how the market behaves, because the decline of the price does not reflect a fundamental change."

Crude oil prices have fallen 30% since June on sluggish global demand and rising production from the US.

The fall in the oil price has been causing concern for several members of the oil cartel, as most require a price above $80 a barrel to balance their government budgets and many need prices to be above $100 a barrel.

"Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states can resist for a while," said Simon Wardell, energy expert at Global Insight.

"They have significant financial assets that mean they can sustain a lower oil price. They can secure their budgets without a higher oil price."

Saudi Arabia is the largest producer within the Opec oil producing cartel.

Analysis: Andrew Walker, Economics Correspondent in Vienna

The markets didn't expect OPEC to do much at this meeting.

Analysts here thought they might manage a resounding commitment to curb the excess production above the existing ceiling.

But the group didn't even do that.

Looking ahead the OPEC secretariat forecast non-OPEC supply next year to grow by more than the demand for oil.

That would squeeze the group even more, and aggravate the downward pressure on prices. Good news for OPEC's customers but very bad news for the more hard-pressed of its members - including Iran, Venezuela and Nigeria.

But even for those like Saudi Arabia that can manage at current prices, there comes a point below which even they will start to get uncomfortable.

So it will be no great surprise if we are back here in Vienna for an extra, unplanned meeting before long.

Shale threat

Analysts suggest the strategy of maintaining output may be aimed at retaining dominance of the market in the face of increasing shale oil production in the United States.

The shale boom has been one of the drivers behind the decline in the oil price.

But as the oil price dips, shale becomes less economical to produce.

If oil prices are allowed to remain low for some time that could cap shale production over the longer term. So keeping oil prices low may in fact make sense for Opec.

"The Saudis want Opec to remain relevant,'' said analyst Phil Flynn, speaking before the end of the meeting in Vienna. "The only way in their mind is to subdue the US shale producer."

Opec accounts for a third of the world's oil sales.

BBC © 2014

Left at the mercy of Taliban

By Thomas Martienssen

BBC News, Kabul

Interpreters who worked with US forces in Afghanistan are being hunted down by the Taliban. Thousands have emigrated to the US but others have been blacklisted, refused a visa, and left in grave danger.

In spring this year, two men rang Nader's doorbell so hard they pushed it half way through the wall of his mud-brick house. He came to the door, they coaxed him outside and then dragged him to the village graveyard.

"When I realised they were taking me somewhere to be executed I started yelling and fighting," he says.

"My brother came out to find me, but by the time he'd come they'd shot me, I just lay down and they left."

If Nader had not struggled he would have been shot in the head. Instead, as the militants hurried to get away, they only managed to shoot him in the leg.

Nader's village, about an hour's drive north of Kabul, is hostile territory for the Taliban. It was home to some of the bloodiest fighting during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s, and the local mujahideen force that protected the area then has remained firmly in control ever since.

And yet, the Taliban found Nader even there. So he, like many other former interpreters remaining in Afghanistan, now lives in Kabul.

"We are looking for a chance to save our lives from this and not be more at risk," he says. "The only place I was feeling myself was my own home. Now that place has become a combat place for me."

Thirteen thousand Afghans who worked with the the International Security Assistance Force have fled to the US under a special visa programme created especially for them, State Department officials say. About 70% of the total are said to be interpreters. But this route to safety has been closed to hundreds of people who, like Nader, were sacked from their jobs and then blacklisted as a security risk.

Nader was sacked because he refused to carry out an order to shout at Afghan women.

Others made the mistake of taking a mobile phone on patrol, prohibited because it could have enabled them to alert the Taliban to the soldiers' presence. One accidentally left a pair of US serviceman's trousers in his bag as he went out of the base - a dangerous mistake, because if the trousers fell into the wrong hands they could be used by a militants to disguise himself.

Many of the interpreters in fact did nothing wrong, they just failed a polygraph test.

Interpreters took the tests regularly, and were asked questions designed to weed out Taliban sympathisers. But the interpreters say the system was unreliable. One of them, Sayid, says he failed the test simply because he was nervous. After seven years of service with the US and Canadian forces he was refused entry into his base one day when he returned from leave.

It could be argued that some of the men deserved to be sacked - but being on the blacklist is tantamount to a death sentence, they say.

Sayid says that even in Kabul he is not safe.

"If I get caught anywhere in Kabul right now, they kidnap me, they torture me, they, head off - you know - cut my head off."

He says he and the other "left-behind interpreters", as they call themselves, were counting on the US to help them, after they they worked alongside US soldiers and took the same risks.

"I've been in a lot of missions," he says. "I suffered the hard parts. I continued my work despite threats."

The system in which the interpreters are given a black mark was originally made to track Taliban militants, opium growers and criminals, by recording iris scans and fingerprints. It has since become a database containing the biometric data of anyone who has had contact with coalition forces - and their chances of employment depend on their status within the database.

Being on the blacklist means the interpreters cannot get a job with any foreign military forces, any foreign company, or any branch of the Afghan government, including the army or police.

They will not be allowed on planes, and even claim to have been refused entry into airports.

In effect, most of them are now virtually unemployable, despite in many cases being the only breadwinner in the family.

The State Department says the US is "committed to supporting those who - at great personal risk - have helped us". But an official told the BBC that while 9,000 "special immigrant visas" have been issued to Afghans this year, and the programme will be extended to 2015, those interpreters "dismissed for [a] cause will have a really hard time in getting a... visa".

More than 30 "left-behind" interpreters gathered recently in a Kabul park to discuss their future.

One, called Khalid, worked with US Special Forces in Helmand province.

"It was harsh, we were in a firefight all day," he says. "I've been shot once, I was taken to a British hospital in Bastion, I've been blown up twice… Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and shout. I have been through a lot."

When the Helmand base closed, he took a job with US civilians in Kabul. But when that job came to an end as well he applied to retake the test for interpreters who work with special forces. He was shocked to learn he had been blacklisted.

"I was like, 'What?!' They said: 'You argued with a woman who was a US civilian.'

"I know that woman, I had an argument with her, and she blacklisted me."

Khalid's mother is dead, his father is old and he has four young siblings to feed, but he cannot leave the house without disguise.

"We're in great danger, even coming here today I covered my face," he says.

The Taliban have shown they can already operate in Kabul. As more and more foreign forces leave Afghanistan, the situation of the interpreters will become increasingly desperate.

Glass walkway shatters at London Tower Bridge

By Barry Neild, CNN

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London (CNN) - A scary view of London just got slightly scarier.

At 138 feet above the city's River Thames, the view from the newly opened glass walkway at Tower Bridge was already enough to generate high anxiety.

Then, last Friday, someone dropped a beer bottle and the glass shattered.

The good news, say Tower Bridge officials, is that the breakage only affected a "sacrificial" panel covering thicker glass below and there was no risk to visitors.

Two days after the incident occurred at a private event, the glass had been repaired.

The attraction remained open as normal.

Witness Peter Gordon tweeted an image of the broken glass, which was reportedly made worse by someone walking across in pair of stiletto heels.

'Unique viewpoint'

"A sacrificial layer of glass on the new West Walkway at Tower Bridge Exhibition shattered on Friday evening, when an empty beer bottle fell from a tray being carried by a member of the catering team during an event," a statement from Tower Bridge said.

"The floor was immediately inspected and covered to protect guests from glass splinters."

It said engineers were called in the following morning and replaced the glass panel within 24 hours.

"The new glass floor has four layers of glass with the sacrificial layer on top of that -- this is installed so that it can be replaced if it is scratched or damaged.

"We look forward to continue welcoming visitors from across the globe to our attraction, and enjoying a unique viewpoint from one of London's most iconic landmarks."

British brothers sentenced for Syrian training

Two brothers who apparently attended rebel training camp jailed, becoming first to be sentenced for such offences in UK.

Two British brothers who travelled to Syria apparently with the intention of attending a rebel training camp have been jailed, becoming the first to be sentenced for such offences in the UK.

Mohommod Nawaz, 30, was handed a four-and-a-half year prison term and his younger brother Hamza Nawaz, 23, was given three years at London's central criminal court on Wednesday.

The pair, both from east London, had pleaded guilty to conspiring to attend a place used for terrorist training - a charge that does not explicitly state whether they attended or not.

Mohommod Nawaz, described in court as "the prime instigator", was also convicted for possessing ammunition, including rounds for an AK-47 assault rifle.

London's Scotland Yard said they were the first British citizens to be sentenced for terror offences after returning from Syria.

Judge Christopher Moss told them: "You were in training both of you while you were there to support the rebel fighting in Syria.

"In fairness to you both there is no evidence of you actually engaged in such fighting."

Police did however, find evidence including images, video clips and text messages relating to the training camp.

An investigation by British counter-terrorism police established that the brothers travelled to Syria between August 25 and September 16, 2013 to attend a camp in the Latakia province.

The brothers are believed to have "cultivated an extremist mindset over a period of months prior to their travel", a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said.

Counter-terrorism police commander Terri Nicholson, hailed "the first in a series of landmark sentences", adding: "This comes at a time when the global concern about the threat posed by returnees is intensifying."

They were arrested in the British port of Dover after arriving by ferry from Calais in northern France.

The sentences come as Britain unveiled draft counter-terrorism legislation on Wednesday, including powers to ban suspected jihadists, who go abroad to fight, from returning to Britain for up to two years unless they agree to be monitored by security services.

Courtesy: The Pulse 

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