Appeal for UNHCR chief in Baluchestan

The United Nations once again appeals to kidnappers as they are "extremely concerned" about the health of their employee John Solecki. The UN is calling for the immediate release of Solecki "without harm", and called on the captors to "contact us, if not directly, then through a trusted intermediary so that the situation can be resolved in a peaceful dialogue," our Press TV correspondent reported on Friday. Solecki, 49, the head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Quetta Baluchestan, was kidnapped on Feb. 2 after gunmen ambushed his car and killed his driver in Quetta, the provincial capital of southwestern Baluchistan province. The UN said it had been told by the abductors that Solecki's health was deteriorating, and expressed concern that his health could become life threatening. Solecki, a former Demarest resident, requires medication for a condition that has not been identified, the UN said. The Baluchistan Liberation United Front (BLUF), a little known armed group behind the abduction, has threatened to kill Solecki, unless the UN acts on its demand. The BLUF spokesman, Mir Shahiq Baluch, has rejected a plea for direct negotiations and has said that the UN should look into the cases of 141 women allegedly held by Pakistani authorities and wok to have them released. They have also demanded assistance in the recovery of 6,000 missing persons and the resolution of the issue of Baluch independence aspirations, our correspondent reported. "We have extended the deadline to give more time to the United Nations so that it could meet our demands," our correspondent quoted Baluch as saying.

Iran: Attack Against Mosque In Balochistan, No One Injured

AGI) - Teheran, 18 Feb. - A bomb exploded today at the al-Ghadir mosque in Zahedan,the main city in the troubled south-eastern Sistan-Balochistan province, bordering Pakistan.

Local police sources, as reported by the semi-official 'FARS' press agency stated that the explosion caused material damage to the holy site, which is one of the most important in the city, but no-one was injured since it was only a stun-device, thrown from a motorbike inside the wing of the canteen area, which only was only intended to "generate panic". The area, in its position adjacent to Pakistan, is inhabited by the Baloch ethnic minority, who are Sunni muslims, compared to the Shiite majority in Iran. Clashes between the security forces and criminal gangs and drugs traffickers are frequent, as are those with militant insurrectionist groups such as 'Jundollah' or 'the Soldiers of Allah', which last December executed sixteen policemen who had been taken hostage in June.
Teheran accuses the movement of belonging to the 'al-Qaeda' network, but also to receive support and training from the United States and Great Britain. Less than a week ago, in the very same province, four officers were killed by a booby trap bomb planted by the rebels.
http://eng.balochpeople.org/articles/opinions-and-news/110

HEC finalizes curriculum of BS public administration

KARACHI: The National Curriculum Committee of Higher Education Commission has developed competency based curriculum for four years BS Public Administration being taught at public sector universities and institutions of higher learning of Pakistan.
The committee which met at HEC Regional Centre Karachi recently, decided that the course outlines proposed previously with the recommendation of the experts of the discipline should be given a final shape keeping in view the most modern global trends. The Committee unanimously selected Dr. Zafar Iqbal Jadoon, University of the Punjab as Chairman, Dr. Abuzar Wajidi University of Karach as Co-Chairman and Dr. Bushra as Secretary of the Committee for proceedings of the meeting. The committee reviewed the courses thoroughly and after making necessary revisions finalized the scheme of study for Bachelor of Public Administration /BS of 4 years 8 semester system carrying 131 credit hours. The committee decided that the main objectives of the BS programs should be based on desired knowledge areas and learning outcomes. In this regard the courses were allocated among the members of the committee and a format was agreed upon for developing course profiles. To discuss the product aspect of the courses, two groups were formed, one for business and second for public administration courses. The Committee developed the courses concerned with Implementation Guidelines, Promotion and Professionalization of Public Administration, Quality Assurance in Public Administration Programs and Employment of Public Administration Graduates. The committee suggested that a national body to promote and ensure quality assurance in Public Administration programs on the pattern of other professional bodies such as Pakistan Engineering Council, Pakistan Bar Council and Pakistan Pharmacy Council should be forms under the aegis of HEC and summer schools should also be organized every year for the students and faculty of the discipline for sharing knowledge and removing the bottlenecks in the universities. The senior professors and teachers from University of Karachi, Gomal University, Peshawar University, COMSATS, University of Sindh, Shah Abdul Latif University, IBA Sukkar, University of the Punjab, University of Balochistan, Allama Iqbal Open University and experts from National School of Public Policy attended the meeting.

Ban repeats call for release of kidnapped UN staff member in Baluchistan

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, who spoke with President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan on Saturday, reiterated his appeal for the release of a United Nations staff member abducted some 10 days ago in the west of the South Asian nation.
A statement, issued here by the UN secretary-general's spokesperson, said that the two leaders "agreed on the need to secure the safe and immediate release of John Solecki," the UN high commissioner for refugees (UNHCR) representative in the city of Quetta, capital of the Pakistani province of Balochistan.
Solecki, who has been with the UN since 1991, was kidnapped on Feb. 2 and his driver, Syed Hashim, was killed in the attack.
In the Saturday statement, the secretary-general emphasized the importance of Solecki's humanitarian work in helping the people of Balochistan.
"He stresses that no cause can be served by prolonging the abduction of Mr Solecki," the statement said.
Earlier this week, the United Nations said it is seeking information on a group called the Balochistan Liberation United Front, which on Feb. 7 claimed in local media reports that it is holding Solecki.
Solecki has a medical condition requiring regular medication, adding that delaying his release will lead to a deterioration of health, UN officials said here.

News : Work resumes on $5bn refinery in Balochistan

REPORTED BY JUMA BALOCH


RIYADH: The Abu Dhabi/Pakistan joint venture partners on the Baluchistanrefinery have returned to work on the $5 billion project after it wastemporarily put on hold in January 2009, the reliable Middle East EconomicDigest (MEED) reported.A source close to the project told MEED that the project, in which Abu Dhabi'sInternational Petroleum Investment Company (Ipic) holds a 74 per cent stake andPakistan-Arab Refinery Company the other 36 per cent, is `back on track' butthat there is no certainty that progress will be sustained due to issues inPakistan.Once complete, the plant will have capacity of 200,000-300,000 barrels a day. Atleast three companies submitted bids in early October to Ipic for the front-endengineering and design (FEED) contract on the project, including Veco, Stone &Webster, and Australia's WorleyParsons.The joint venture has yet to award a contract with any of these firms. The jointventure is unsure when a winning bidder will be announced.Earlier in January Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Company (Ipic)said it will delay or postpone an investment plan for the construction of arefinery in insurgency-hit Balochistan province of Pakistan, one of its megaprojects widely publicized, citing `procedural anomaly.' The project wasannounced several years ago with its inauguration set for 2007, but has beendelayed for various technical reasons.While announcing the delay, the Ipic Managing Director Khadem Al Qubaisi thenhad told the press: `Unfortunately what happened was that many actions that camefrom Pakistan really disappointed us as shareholders. Because of that we arelittle bit delaying or postponing this project until we sort out major andfundamental issues.' However, at least some of the things appear to have beensorted out in the meantime.The $5 billion refinery with 250,000 barrels per day capacity was originallyplanned for Balochistan's port town of Gwadar. However, apparently due topolitical reasons, the project was later moved to Hub.

RPT-Blast kills four Iranian police near Pakistan-radio

TEHRAN, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Four members of Iran's security forces have been killed by an explosion set off in a booby-trap attack by rebels near the Pakistani border, state radio reported.
The report late on Friday said the four policemen were buried the same day in the city of Zahedan in southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province, but it did not specify when they were killed. Two others were wounded in the blast, it said.Iranian security forces regularly clash with heavily armed drug smugglers and bandits in the southeast border area, which is home to Iran's mostly Sunni ethnic Baluchis.Last month, state media said several members of Iran's border security forces were killed in an ambush near the Pakistani border.In December, Shi'ite-dominated Iran said the Sunni rebel group Jundollah (God's Soldiers) had killed 16 police hostages who were abducted from a checkpoint in Sistan-Baluchestan in June. Tehran has said Jundollah's head, Abdolmalek Rigi, is part of the Sunni Islamist al Qaeda network. (Reporting by Hashem Kalantari; Writing by Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Michael Roddy)