Category Archives: Punjab

Fibre art: Blurring the distinction between art and fashion

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LAHORE: 

“Faseeh Saleem has great potential. It is encouraging to see the youth question the norms of yesteryear,” said Zarah David, curator of the Colour Art Gallery in Gulberg where the exhibition, 36” 24” 36” Fibre Art, by Saleem, opened on May 16. It will continue till May 25.

Saleem, speaking to The Express Tribune, said he had tried to blur the distinction between art and fashion and inquire into the concept of beauty by comparing it to the woman’s figure. The exhibition is an extension of Saleem’s work in India, ‘Idea of Fashion Ed.II: Crossovers between Art and Fashion’.

“My art deals with perceptions about the ideal body size. It engages the existence and non-existence of the human body,” Saleem said.

Rashid Rana, an art critic, said Saleem’s work was well defined using textile as a medium. Risham Syed, an assistant professor at Beaconhouse National University (BNU), said Saleem had expertly linked sculpture, video, sketch and other forms of art.

Caretaker Minister for Health Salima Hashmi appreciated Saleem’s innovative way to highlight the idea of the perfect figure. She stressed the need to promote and encourage young artists like Saleem.

Saleem has a master’s degree from the Swedish School of Textile with a specialisation in fibre art and textile design. He has exhibited his pieces with international fibre and textile artists including Archana Hande, Varun Sardana, Julie Skarland and Andy Yen.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19th, 2013.


Summer ills: Rise in temperature lands people in hospitals

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LAHORE: 

As temperatures rise above 40 degrees Centigrade, the city’s hospitals have seen a surge in cases of heatstroke and gastroenteritis.

Doctors at various public hospitals estimated that there had been a 15 per cent increase in such cases in the last few days and suggested that people take precautionary measures.

Dr Irshad Hussain Qureshi, the professor of medicine at King Edward Medical University (KEMU), said the number of patients with gastroenteritis and heatstroke had increased in Mayo Hospital in the last few days.

“Those who go out in the sun can catch heatstroke when the potassium and sodium levels fall in the body. When going out in the sun, one should cover their head and avoid exposure,” he said. “Wrapping the head and neck with a wet towel or cloth is also effective. The heat causes the moisture in the towel to evaporate, giving a cooling effect.”

He said that people should drink lots of fluids, suggesting drinks like lemonade and lassi.

Dr Shahid Malik, assistant professor of community medicine at the Institute of Public Health, said people should avoid going directly from an air-conditioned room – “though this is a rarity with all the load-shedding these days” – into the sun.

“The body is more likely to catch heatstroke if it is exposed to extreme changes in temperature, which happens when someone goes from an air-conditioned room into the sun,” he said.

Dr Muhammad Sajid, a consultant, said soaring temperatures meant food went bad quicker.

People were also more likely to consume cold drinks from unhygienic food stalls, resulting in more gastroenteritis cases.

“People get thirsty and then they buy drinks from unhygienic roadside stalls, leading to gastroenteritis. This is also the season of flies, which can spread germs by sitting on fruits cut open and displayed at fruit stalls.

Those who eat infected fruit  may get cholera or gastroenteritis. One also needs to be particularly careful about cleanliness in this season and make sure that all food is cooked properly before it is consumed,” he said.

According to the Met Office, the temperature in Lahore was 43 degrees centigrade on Saturday. There has also been a rise in power outages in the last couple of days.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19th, 2013.


Murder case: Brother and sister let off by complainants

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LAHORE: 

A brother and sister who allegedly bludgeoned a man to death have been acquitted of murder charges after the family of the victim forgave them.

Muhammad Tanveer, the complainant in the case and son of the victim Bashir Ahmed, Saleha Bibi, the victim’s wife, and Ahmed’s sons and daughters Muhammad Maqbool, Saeed Ahmed, Mumtaz Bibi, Shehbaz Bibi and Saima Bibi submitted a written statement saying they forgave the accused “in the name of Allah without taking any diyat”.

According to the prosecution, on May 28, 2010, Muhammad Tanveer demanded that Muhammad Asif, who lived in his house on rent, return him Rs20,000 that he had lent him earlier. An argument ensued and Asif and his sister Mehwish Bibi began beating Tanveer with clubs. Bashir Ahmed, Tanveer’s father, tried to stop them but Asif and Mehwish attacked him too, according to the complainant.

Ahmed was badly injured and later died in a hospital. Tanveer lodged a murder complaint against Asif and Mehwish at Factory Area police station.

On Saturday, after the family of the deceased forgave them, Additional District and Sessions Judge Chaudhry Muhammad Tariq Javed acquitted the defendants. Mehwish had been on bail while Asif had been in jail.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19th, 2013.


Vehicle registration: No new number plates for another three months

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LAHORE: 

The Excise and Taxation office has stopped accepting payments for car and motorcycle number plates because new plates are unavailable and likely to remain so for three months.

The E&T office stopped handing out new registration plates for motorcycles in February 2012 and for cars in March 2013. Though an auction to hire a new contractor for the supply of registration plates was held last month, no contract can be awarded until the bids undergo a technical evaluation which will take at least another six weeks. All bids had failed this stage at an earlier auction in March.

The E&T Department issued a notification on May 4 instructing offices not to accept payments for new number plates. “We had to stop because a lot of people were complaining about not receiving number plates though they had paid for them,” said E&T Region C Director Masudul Haq.

At least 400,000 motorcyclists in Lahore have paid for number plates (Rs400 each) since last year and are yet to receive them, according to E&T officials. A few thousand car owners are also awaiting plates. Meanwhile, they have had to get unofficial plates made by local vendors.

Four companies submitted bids on April 9: AGCN, Inbox, 3M and Symbol. The samples they submitted have been sent to Germany for metallurgical testing. The results are expected at the end of June, said E&T Department Director General Humayun Azhar Sheikh.

He said that it would take another week to assess the financial bids.

He estimated that new plates would be available in about three months. The E&T Department also held an auction in March 2013, but the bids failed the technical evaluations.

Verdict reserved

The E&T Department is currently engaged in a court case with 3M, its previous supplier, which it had sought to blacklist from the new auction for the contract for registration plates.

Both sides have completed their arguments and the Lahore High Court, at the last hearing on May 14, reserved its verdict. The court has put a stay on the awarding of the contract until the case is decided.

E&T officials said that they had blacklisted 3M because it had breached the terms of its contract, which 3M disputes.

They said that the supplier had been allowed to take part in the auction so that, in case the LHC decides against the department, the bidding process would not have to be restarted.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19th, 2013.


Vehicle registration: No new number plates for another three months

Leave a reply

LAHORE: 

The Excise and Taxation office has stopped accepting payments for car and motorcycle number plates because new plates are unavailable and likely to remain so for three months.

The E&T office stopped handing out new registration plates for motorcycles in February 2012 and for cars in March 2013. Though an auction to hire a new contractor for the supply of registration plates was held last month, no contract can be awarded until the bids undergo a technical evaluation which will take at least another six weeks. All bids had failed this stage at an earlier auction in March.

The E&T Department issued a notification on May 4 instructing offices not to accept payments for new number plates. “We had to stop because a lot of people were complaining about not receiving number plates though they had paid for them,” said E&T Region C Director Masudul Haq.

At least 400,000 motorcyclists in Lahore have paid for number plates (Rs400 each) since last year and are yet to receive them, according to E&T officials. A few thousand car owners are also awaiting plates. Meanwhile, they have had to get unofficial plates made by local vendors.

Four companies submitted bids on April 9: AGCN, Inbox, 3M and Symbol. The samples they submitted have been sent to Germany for metallurgical testing. The results are expected at the end of June, said E&T Department Director General Humayun Azhar Sheikh.

He said that it would take another week to assess the financial bids.

He estimated that new plates would be available in about three months. The E&T Department also held an auction in March 2013, but the bids failed the technical evaluations.

Verdict reserved

The E&T Department is currently engaged in a court case with 3M, its previous supplier, which it had sought to blacklist from the new auction for the contract for registration plates.

Both sides have completed their arguments and the Lahore High Court, at the last hearing on May 14, reserved its verdict. The court has put a stay on the awarding of the contract until the case is decided.

E&T officials said that they had blacklisted 3M because it had breached the terms of its contract, which 3M disputes.

They said that the supplier had been allowed to take part in the auction so that, in case the LHC decides against the department, the bidding process would not have to be restarted.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19th, 2013.


Model Town courts: Magistrate latest target of lawless lawyers’ ire

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LAHORE: 

A group of lawyers locked up the courtroom of Judicial Magistrate Zafar Iqbal Sial on Saturday after one of them was nominated in an FIR over an assault on a naib qasid.

According to sources at the Model Town courts, Maqsood Butt, munshi (clerk) of Advocate Qamar Shahid Meo, went to the courtroom of Judicial Magistrate Aneeq Anwar Chaudhry to obtain a copy of an order. Naib Qasid Tauqeer Abbas told him that he couldn’t give him a copy as the judge had not signed the order.

The two got into a heated argument and then came to blows. Some colleagues of Butt’s, including one identified as Rafiq, came to the scene and thrashed Abbas, breaking his left arm.

Court staff then boycotted their jobs, saying they would not return to work until the men who beat up Abbas were arrested. The judges tried to get them to return to work, but they resisted. Judicial Magistrate Zafar Iqbal Sial then directed the police to register an FIR against the culprits.

The judges again urged the staffers to return to work, but they said they would not do so until arrests were made. They boycotted their duties on Friday, but returned to work on Saturday.

Naseerabad police registered an FIR against Advocate Qamar Shahid Meo, Maqsood Butt, Rafiq, Nazir alias Billa, Rana Wafaq and eight unidentified men under Sections 147 (rioting), 149 (conspiracy), 186 (obstructing a public servant from his duty) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Advocate Meo told The Express Tribune that he had forced the staff out of the magistrate’s courtroom and locked it on Saturday to protest against his nomination in the FIR. He said that his staff had been involved in the incident, but he had no direct involvement and hence he should not have been nominated. He said that Sial had nominated him.

He also said that his men had not beaten up the staffer, but vice versa. He said that staff working for Magistrates Sial, Chaudhry and Mian Ijaz had treated his men in Sial’s retiring room “as constables treat members of the public at police stations”. They had been searched and their mobile phones and cash had been confiscated.

Meo said that he would lodge a complaint at Naseerabad police station against the three magistrates and their staff for beating up his men. The complainant would be Rana Waqas, another clerk, who would state that he and his colleagues Rafique and Maqsood had been beaten up by the staff on the direction of the judges.

Sial told The Express Tribune that his courtroom had been locked by the lawyers and they had threatened him, saying they would get him transferred to a far-flung area. He said that the FIR had been registered on his say-so, but he denied nominating Meo.

The police refused to answer questions about who the complainant in the case was and who had handed them the application for an FIR.

LBA Model Town Vice President Irfan Basra said that the judge had set a “strange precedent” by nominating a lawyer in the FIR when the lawyer was not even present at the scene. Such things should be resolved through talks rather than by force, he said.

He said that he condemned the locking of courtrooms, but the judge had been in the wrong. The LBA had also verbally condemned the locking up of an office at the Model Town courts a few days earlier, but no action was taken against any lawyer.

Basra said that he had spoken with the judge and the lawyer’s name would likely be removed from the FIR within a day or two.

Past incidents

On May 15, some lawyers locked up the sub registrar’s office at the Model Town courts in protest against the sub registrar’s alleged lengthy absences, which they said had resulted in property transfer registrations being delayed.

On February 26, some two dozen lawyers manhandled staff and locked up the offices of five magistrates at the district and sessions court for the whole day, in protest against a change in the procedure by which traffic fines are paid. No action was taken against the lawyers.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19th, 2013.


Heat wave: No respite from load shedding

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LAHORE: 

The hike in temperature and shrinking electricity generation have led to prolonged load shedding in parts of the city.

The Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) has reached a shortfall of 1,900MW as the demand for electricity has risen to 3,600MW, leading to almost 18 hours of outages. The company, however, has scheduled six hours of load shedding for industries.

In the past few days, citizens have been faced with three-hour outages without prior intimation. Residents of posh localities face relatively less unscheduled power outages.

Salman Sikander, a resident of a housing scheme on GT Road, said, “We face outages of up to three hours at a stretch, after only one hour of power.” The frequency of outages has increased over the last few days. This also causes a shortage of municipal water. “The UPS doesn’t get charged in the one hour of electricity we get and we can’t afford a generator,” he said.

A Lesco spokesman said, “We only manage scheduled load shedding. The National Power Control Centre or Regional Control Centre turns off the grids to avoid breakdowns, leading to unscheduled outages in the city.” Urban areas are to have eight hours of load shedding while rural areas get 12 hours, he said.

The national demand for power has reached 15,000MW, while total generation is stagnant at 9,500MW. This has led to an overall shortage of 5,500MW. Before the elections, the NTDC increased generation to 11,500 MQ by increasing generation at thermal power stations. Electricity was also directed away from industries and the weather was cooler. Electricity generation through hydel sources, meanwhile, has been improving with the rise in mercury.

Experts believe that diverting gas away from the CNG sector, fertiliser sector and oil dispatchment to power plants, will only add 3,000MW to the grid, whereas the shortfall in peak summer is expected to cross 6,000MW.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19th, 2013.


Heat wave: No respite from load shedding

Leave a reply

LAHORE: 

The hike in temperature and shrinking electricity generation have led to prolonged load shedding in parts of the city.

The Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) has reached a shortfall of 1,900MW as the demand for electricity has risen to 3,600MW, leading to almost 18 hours of outages. The company, however, has scheduled six hours of load shedding for industries.

In the past few days, citizens have been faced with three-hour outages without prior intimation. Residents of posh localities face relatively less unscheduled power outages.

Salman Sikander, a resident of a housing scheme on GT Road, said, “We face outages of up to three hours at a stretch, after only one hour of power.” The frequency of outages has increased over the last few days. This also causes a shortage of municipal water. “The UPS doesn’t get charged in the one hour of electricity we get and we can’t afford a generator,” he said.

A Lesco spokesman said, “We only manage scheduled load shedding. The National Power Control Centre or Regional Control Centre turns off the grids to avoid breakdowns, leading to unscheduled outages in the city.” Urban areas are to have eight hours of load shedding while rural areas get 12 hours, he said.

The national demand for power has reached 15,000MW, while total generation is stagnant at 9,500MW. This has led to an overall shortage of 5,500MW. Before the elections, the NTDC increased generation to 11,500 MQ by increasing generation at thermal power stations. Electricity was also directed away from industries and the weather was cooler. Electricity generation through hydel sources, meanwhile, has been improving with the rise in mercury.

Experts believe that diverting gas away from the CNG sector, fertiliser sector and oil dispatchment to power plants, will only add 3,000MW to the grid, whereas the shortfall in peak summer is expected to cross 6,000MW.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19th, 2013.


LDA Plaza: Top floors likely to be razed

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LAHORE: 

The ninth floor of the LDA Plaza has been declared unusable by an assessment committee of engineering experts, which is expected to give the same verdict for the seventh and eighth floors.

The Plaza, which is the headquarters of the Lahore Development Authority, was ravaged by a fire that took 36 hours to put out last week. At least 25 people were killed in the blaze.

The assessment committee has conducted around a dozen tests on the nine-storey building on Egerton Road to evaluate its structural integrity. Testing on the ninth floor revealed that the structure was “very weak and volatile”, said LDA officials. Based on the tests, LDA officials have started removing mobile phone company boosters installed on the roof of the building. One side of Egerton Road was blocked all day on Saturday as cranes were used to bring down the boosters, once they had been disassembled.

LDA Chief Engineer Israr Saeed, who is a part of the assessment committee, said that the ninth floor of the building would be demolished as it was unusable. He said that reports on the eighth and seventh floor, which is where the fire originated, were expected on Monday.

“These storeys don’t look good, according to the initial reports,” he said.

Saeed added that the demolition operation would begin once the entire building had been assessed.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19th, 2013.


Measles: 146 new cases reported

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LAHORE: 

Another 146 cases of measles were reported between May 17 and 18, taking the total number of measles cases reported in the Punjab to 12,490 in the last five months.

At least 87 deaths have been reported so far, most of them in Lahore, Gujranwala, Rajanpur, Rahim Yar Khan and Kasur, according to the Health Department.

Of the 146 new cases, 56 were reported from hospitals in Lahore.

Director General Health Services Dr Tanveer Ahmed told APP said that most of the deaths in Lahore were caused by severe pneumonia and a delay in admitting the patients to hospitals.

He said that the measles vaccine was available in ample supply and for free in city hospitals. He urged parents of children under five to get them vaccinated.

The Punjab government recently conducted a vaccination drive targeting some three million children in Lahore. An anti-measles campaign in 11 other districts starts on June 11.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19th, 2013.