A meeting of the local wing of Punjab Teachers Union (PTU), held at a government school, discussed final arrangements for a long march to Islamabad on Thursday (today) in support of their demands.
The meeting, chaired by District President Malik Abdul Jabbar was attended by a large number of teachers and local PTU officials, including Najmul Hassan, Nazeer Abbas, Tariq Mahmmod, Muhammad Asghar and Mahmood Niazi. Jabbar announced the caravans of teachers from all the districts of the Punjab would proceed to Islamabad. “We will continue to fight for our rights until the last breath of our life,” he vowed. He said they were determined to pay any price in their struggle for pay rise and other issues. The teachers’ long march has been organised after the government showed its inability to grant any pay increase in the next budget.
Earlier, a rally was taken out on the call of Punjab Teachers Union Joint Action Committee. The angry participants who were carrying placards and banners chanted slogans against the Punjab government and demanded pay rise, allowances and upgrade commensurate with the current inflation and price hike.
Addressing the rally, the members of the joint action committee said the government was involved in introducing anti-education policies and warned if it did not mend its ways the teachers would go on strike for indefinite period.
They were of the view that price hike and unemployment were increasing with every passing day, but the government was implementing recommendations of Pay and Pension Commission that was working contrary to teachers’ interests.
FACTORY WORKER RAPED: A girl, working in a hosiery factory, was raped by her colleague during the break time.
According to details, the victim was working in a hosiery factory in the Millat Town area. During the lunch break, her colleague, Tahir, offered her to have lunch with him outside the factory. She accompanied the accused who took her to a house and raped her.
TEENAGER SLEEPING ON
FOOTPATH CRUSHED: A 16-year-old auto-mechanic, sleeping on the footpath of a highway, was instantly killed when a passenger bus ran him over. Muhammad Nasir, a resident of Chak No 491/GB, was working as an auto-mechanic at a workshop in Tariq Colony, Mamu Kanjan. The victim finished his work late in the night and slept on the footpath. In the early hours of the morning, a Lahore-bound bus ran him over, killing him on the spot.
HEC hosting national moot to showcase skills: The first-ever national conference on setting standards for 21st century is being organised by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) today (Thursday) in Islamabad.
The conference aims at assembling key stakeholders, including the parliamentarians, diplomats, entrepreneurs, policymakers and members of the civil society who will provide an impetus to the promotion of university community and university industry linkage.
HEC Assistant Director (Media) Waseem Khaliq Dad said the event would showcase the contribution of the higher education sector towards nation building. “It will surely highlight the significance of sustainability of a progressive research culture to ensure flow of knowledge to and from the business and the industrial sector,” he said.
A number of researchers, professors and industrialists from Faisalabad are scheduled to attend the conference which is being considered as a giant step towards the promotion of local expertise in various technological fields. The presentations of Faisalabad-based National Textile University and University of Agriculture are some of the significant features of the demonstration. The conference will showcase the projects initiated in various universities that have already demonstrated significant commercial potential, addressing the needs of the industry.
