Poor result puts teachers’ performance in question in Kohat

Source Dawn

The students of around 80 government high schools here could not get any position in the annual examinations-2013 of secondary school certificate conducted by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Kohat.

It is a big question mark on the performance of government school teachers who remain busy round the year staging strikes for increase in pay and allowances and promotion, but never pay attention to their responsibility of imparting good education to the students.

The result gazette showed that only one student from among over 5,000 government school students could get A-1 grade and 164 ‘A’ grade, while nobody could get a position to qualify for a scholarship.

In Keri Sheikhan girls high school only three students could pass the examination, while the result of Lachi Payan town school stood at 27 per cent.

Among other schools with the lowest pass percentage of students were Nakband high school 40 per cent, Mandoori 32 per cent, Ghorazai 33 per cent, Shadikhel 41 per cent and Bilitang 44 per cent.

Overall the government high schools, both boys and girls, recorded 50 per cent success rate. All the top positions were secured by students of cadet college, Kohat, and other private institutions.

The social circles have called for performance-based assessment of government school teachers.

Kohat Rawalpindi Rail Link reconnected

Kohat Rawalpindi Railway service was resumed after lapse of considerable time. Previously it was once closed due to security reasons but later it was resumed and than again closed due to shortage of locomotives with Pakistan Railways.

PML-N leader wants oil refinery in Karak

Source The News

Former minister and leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Farid Toofan on Monday said that his party would play a role in establishing the oil refinery in Karak to ensure rights of its residents.He said the establishment of the refinery in Kohat district was a conspiracy against representatives recently elected from Karak. However, his party’s supporters would foil this conspiracy. “The lawmakers must raise voice on the floors of their respective assemblies to foil the bid for establishing oil refinery in Kohat,” Toofan asked legislators. He warned if the government did not reverse the decision, then the people of the Khattak tribe would take to the streets.

Khushalgarh bridge closed to traffic created miseries

Source Dawn

The closure of Khushalgarh bridge over Indus River on Pindi- Kohat road has created a lot of problems for the commuters between the two cities, it has been learnt.   

The centuries old Khushalgarh bridge, which used for  both road and railway traffic,  was closed for all sort of road  traffic some on  Thursday for emergency repair work.

The historic bridge comes under the administrative control of Pakistan Railways, the sources said.

They said the bridge connects Punjab with Khyber Paktunkhawa (KPK). It was built by British rulers around 109 years ago in 1904.

It will remain closed to traffic for maintenance and necessary repair of the road for about a month till July 25, the sources said.

One alternative route is Kohat-Peshawar road via main GT road. For this the commuters have to travel over 250-km extra distance, causing wastage of time and extra fares, they observed.

As a result,   closure of the bridge has caused a lot of inconvenience and hardships for thousands of people who travel on this route on daily basis besides suspension of inter-provincial goods transportation.

The administration of Attock and Kohat districts have made alternative arrangements to facilitate the commuters, under which,  Kohat and Rawalpindi bound vehicles drop passengers at the respective starting points of the bridge.

Then the passengers have to cross about 500-meter-long bridge on foot to reach the other side and catch bus. But such practice is not an easy job especially for women and elderly people and in case of heavy luggage with them, it revealed.

Some local people of Jand and surrounding villages told Dawn that the authorities had chosen a wrong time for repair of the bridge particularly when Ramazan was just a few days away.

Khushalgarh bridge to be closed for 15 days

Source Dawn

The Khushalgarh bridge on Kohat-Rawalpindi road, which is also used by traffic from the southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, will remain closed to traffic for maintenance and necessary repair of the road for 15 days.

Officials said that the century-old bridge on the Indus River would remain closed from June 25 to July 10 next for construction of the road. The alternative routes would be Kohat-Peshawar hilly track for heavy vehicles going to Rawalpindi and Kohat-Peshawar route via Sheikh Allahdad road.

The road of the bridge develops holes after every six months due to passage of heavy tankers carrying oil from local fields to Rawalpindi. Last time the road was reconstructed after it was washed away by the 2010 floods.

Women killed in Kohat

Source The Frontier Post

A woman was killed over children dispute in Shakardar on Friday. Peyaw Badsha, husband of the deceased, lodged report with police and said that he was present in his house along with his family when the murderers Sajid and Shezan entered in house and opened fire, resultantly, his wife received severe injuries and she succumbed to injuries on the way to hospital. 

Man shot dead in Wuch Bazar Hangu

Source Dawn

Armed men shot dead a former army subedar in Wuch bazaar area of restive Hangu district the other day, eyewitnesses and police said.

The city police said the victim was identified as Malik Hadi and that his attackers escaped the scene.

Police started efforts to arrest the killers after registering a case.

They said it was yet not yet known whether an enmity claimed his life or militants had attacked him.

Two die on road

Source Dawn

Two persons were killed when two trailers collided on Indus Highway the other day.

The trailers were coming to Kohat from Bannu when one of them loaded with cement bags hit the other from behind in Lachi town.

The deceased were named as Sajjad and Shahid.

The police said they impounded the vehicles after registering a case.

Accused confesses to killing MPA from Hangu

Source Dawn

An accused belonging to a militant organisation, headed by Mullah Nabi Hanafi, has confessed to killing Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf MPA in Hangu on June 3, officials told Dawn.

They said that following a tip-off the police traced and arrested Asifullah and Abid in connection with the murder of MPA Fareed Khan. The officials said that besides the killing of the MPA, the accused, Asifullah, also admitted during the interrogation that he had committed 32 other terrorism strikes on the orders of Mullah Hanafi, who was hiding in mountains between Orakzai Agency and Kurram Agency.

They quoted the accused as saying that their chief had three-tier security cordon due to which he was surviving attacks by security forces and rivals for the last one decade.

Meanwhile, Hangu police also arrested an accused in a raid on a place in Hangu Bazaar and whisked him away to unknown place for interrogation. Sources said that the accused identified as Abdur Rehman alias Kakay was the cousin of Asifullah.