Pakistan Bee » Islamabad

Bhoja Airline Aircraft Crash near Islamabad

PakBee — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:42:45 +0000

RAWALPINDI: A Bhoja Airline flight # B4-213 has reportedly crashed near Chaklala airbase, Geo News reported.

According to sources, the a Boeing 737 with 127 passengers on board, which flew from Karachi at 5:00 PM was suppose to land in Islamabad at 6:40 PM, but crashed just before touchdown.

According to sources in Civil Aviation Authority, the flight was given clearance to land but it lost contact with the control tower minutes before the crash reports.

Ministry of Defence and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) have confirmed the reports of crash.

Inclement weather has been held responsible for the crash.

Rescue teams including Pakistan army personnel have rushed to the crash site.

More details are yet awaited.

In July 2010, an Airbus 321 passenger jet operated by the private airline Airblue crashed into hills overlooking Islamabad while coming in to land after a flight from Karachi, killing 152 people on board.

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Riphah University Rawalpindi student guns down Vice Principal

PakBee — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 07:58:20 +0000

ISLAMABAD: A student at the Riphah International University (RIU) in Rawalpindi shot and killed the vice principal of the institution on Tuesday.

Khurram Shahzad, a final year student at the university, shot dead Vice Principal Brig (R) Sanaullah in the incident which took place around 10:00 AM on university campus.

Shahzad managed to smuggle the weapon onto the premises without being noticed by security guards. He proceeded to enter different departments on campus and fired four shots in total.

Shahzad also fired shots at other teachers and security guards, however, the vice principal was shot at point blank range and died on the spot. The body has been taken away for autopsy.

The accused has been taken into custody and is being interrogated by police.

A member of the HR department of the university said that Shahzad had been enrolled since 2002, and had repeated his fourth year four times. He had earlier been expelled by the administration, but was enrolled once again after his parents pleaded with university authorities to allow him to continue his studies .

RIU authorities said that Shahzad was suffering from depression, and had attempted suicide in the past, adding that his mental state was “questionable”.

RIU is located in Rawalpindi. It was established in 2002 by the Islamic International Medical College Trust (IIIMCT) and is a non-profit, non-political, non-sectarian welfare organisation registered with the government of Pakistan.

It is chartered by the federal government.

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PTA Committee Formed to Look into Mobilink’s Outage

PakBee — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 17:31:37 +0000

Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has formed a Committee headed by Member (Technical) PTA, Dr. Khawar Siddique Khokhar to analyze situation that arose after Mobilink’s outage on Sunday.

This was mentioned in a statement issued by the authority.

Statement said that DG (Enforcement), DG (Licensing) and DG (Law) at PTA are also part of this committee that is likely to prepare a report based on facts gathered during their visit to Mobilink’s office to formulate a way for better crisis management during any such events in future.

Mobilink’s in-house investigation on incident will also be made part of this report.

The Committee is deliberating further action on the issue from all technical and legal aspects and how such incidents can be prevented in future, said the statement.

According to Daily Times, Mobilink’s outage was also discussed in senate’s standing committee meeting for IT and Telecom. Paper said that committee has directed the regulator to take action against the company by imposing fine and/or arranging compensation for the customers.

We are not sure of any possible fine imposition on Mobilink, however, after our conversations with multiple PTA officials, it looks that Mobilink may end up paying something to each customer as a compensation – but again, there’s nothing decided so far at authority’s headquarter, its something that’s just on the PTA’s cards for now.

After this incident, and other relating fire eruptions in past, PTA is looking into its options to make sure that this doesn’t happen again. For this, according to our sources, authority may regulate to make it necessary for all operators to maintain backups of all core-infrastructure equipment, also termed as disaster recovery setup.

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O Level Student Scores Record 23 A’s

PakBee — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 19:50:51 +0000

ISLAMABAD: A student in Islamabad, Ibrahim Shahid, set a new world record by scoring 23 As in Cambridge O level exams.

Shahid, a student of a private school in Islamabad, sat for 24 subjects and scored 23 As.

Attributing his success to his parents, Shahid recalled an incident where his teacher in Australia had written him off, stating that he would “never excel”. He added that every child is special and everyone has their own capabilities.

Earlier, Ali Moeen Nawazish, also a Pakistani student, had set a world record by securing 23 As in A level Cambridge exams.

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Governor Punjab Taseer dies in Islamabad Firing

PakBee — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 12:01:45 +0000

ISLAMABAD: Governor Punjab Salman Taseer was dead after one of his guards, named Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, opened firing on him when he was going towards his car in Kohsar Market here today.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik confirmed to the media that the guard has been arrested. He has confessed that he opened firing on the governor because of his support of Asia Bibi, he added.

Asia Bibi had convicted of blasphemy.

According to the sources, a policeman of elite force opened burst on the governor. He received bullets on his chest and neck. He was rushed to Poly Clinic but succumbed to the injuries.

The police have arrested six-suspected man from the spot.

Salman Taseer had publicly supported the woman, Asia Bibi and requested President Asif Ali Zardari to pardon her. He had termed anti-blasphemy law as black law.

According to the sources a policeman of his own convoy opened burst on the governor.

Support Mumtaz Qadri

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Airblue Plane Crash in Islamabad near Margalla Hills

PakBee — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 08:27:01 +0000

Video:

ISLAMABAD: A commercial airbus of AirBlue has crashed into Margalla Hills, a mountainous range behind Shah Faisal Mosque, apparently due to rough weather, Geo news reported.

According to preliminary reports, as many as 150 passengers including crewmembers were on board plane while the smoke is seen rising through heavy clouds from the crash site, police and rescue service officials said.

Eyewitnesses said people noticed airbus flying at very low altitude near Daman-e-Koh this morning and it might have crashed due to rough weather.

The wreckage can be seen in video footages with fierce fire raging and smoke emitting from there despite heavy rains in Islamabad.

Airport sources said the flight took off at 7:50am from Karachi to Islamabad but crashed due to uneven weather a few minutes before landing after loosing connection with control tower.

Islamabad is witnessing heavy showers and thick fog at the moment. Meanwhile rescue teams have been dispatched to area.

Update:
ISLAMABAD: Five people have been rescued from the wreckage of a Airblue crashed at Margalla Hills early on Wednesday.

One hundred and forty-six people including 139 adults, five kids and five crewmembers were onboard whereas 12 are those lucky people who missed the flight.

According to sources, an airbus 320 bound for Islamabad departed from Karachi at 7:50 am. The local residents said plane made low flight before the crash.

Rescue operation is underway despite difficulties because of hilly location of the incident site.

Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik said five wounded being shifted to hospital whereas rescue operation and search for black box is underway. The airport control tower had signaled landing approach to the plane when it was just eight kilometers away from the airport, reports said.

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SC moved against Judicial Commission

PakBee — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 07:39:35 +0000

ISLAMABAD: The Judicial Commission proposed in the Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment for the appointments of judges, has been challenged in the Supreme Court (SC), Geo News reported Saturday.

Advocate Akram Sheikh filed the petition of Advocate Nadeem Ahmed against the Judicial Commission, pleading to make the federal government as party to the case.

The petition said the new modus operandi poses fourth attack on judiciary after March 9; accordingly, the legislating power of the Parliament should be determined.

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Fire in Ufone’s Data Center, Knocks VAS Services

PakBee — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 15:22:43 +0000

We are just told by highly reliable sources that one of Ufone’s data center, located in Islamabad caught fire today evening, around 5 PM. We are further told that fire has resulted into fatal destruction of infrastructure and the building.

A source heading a technical team at Ufone confirmed us that this particular data center was responsible for VAS services, including SMS and blackberry services.

Initial reports say that spark in backup battery was main cause of this fire. Latter on, for some reason fire control system didn’t go though to tackle the situation.

Customers in north region (Punjab/NWFP) may not send SMS during the recovery process, however, some VAS may damage country wide customer base.

Ufone is planning to recover the infrastructure immediately; however, it may take as long as 24 hours to initially deploy the machines from other data centers and the data recovery.

One of Ufone’s spokesperson confirmed us that Fire has damaged datacenter, however, no casualties were reported. He said that Ufone’s staff is fully equipped for recovering the things at earliest.

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From Pakistan to Paris, by VW Beetle

PakBee — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 01:28:48 +0000

A French doctor is embarking on the 6,000-mile trip to promote a better image of Pakistan. ‘It’s not all about terrorism,’ he says.
Declan Walsh, The Guardian, Monday 9 November 2009

Low-key is good in Islamabad these days, where the threat of Taliban suicide bombings has filled Pakistan’s capital with checkposts, blast walls and a queasy air of anxiety. But one proudly conspicuous car rolled through the streets last week – a 25-year-old Volkswagen Beetle, painted in an explosion of trippy colours. At the wheel was a defiant doctor, Vincent Loos, headed for Paris.

“My dream was to return by road,” says the 39-year-old Frenchman, who has just finished three years’ work at a local hospital. Doctors without borders indeed – or perhaps doctors without sense. Only six months ago his ride was a dust-smeared wreck, collapsed at the bottom of an Islamabad street waiting for a final trip to the scrapyard. Loos, an intensive care specialist, restored the car to full health, then hired an artist to paint in the local style known as “truck art”.

Now the “Foxy Shahzadi”, or Beetle Princess, is the most distinctive car from Lahore to Lyons. The body is covered in a psychedelic array of flowers, waterfalls and the faces of famous Pakistanis. The idea behind the 6,000-mile trip is to promote the “soft side” of Pakistan. “We want to show the world it’s not just about terrorism,” says Loos.

Travelling by Foxy, as Beetles are affectionately known in Pakistan, Loos is paying homage to a local motoring cult. Dozens of well-maintained Beetles ply the streets. (Mine, in a cool grey, is Betsy, a proud 1967 model.)

The Beetle came to Pakistan in the 1950s with army officers and bureaucrats returning from postings abroad. The appeal has endured – Mubashir Hasan, a finance minister from the 1970s, still drives his around Lahore. Romano Karim of Islamabad’s VW club estimates about 500 “Foxies” travel Pakistan’s roads. “Cute, quirky, cheap spare parts – it’s the ideal car,” he says.

The French doctor’s Foxy should reach Paris in about two weeks. His team is equipped with an ample stock of spare parts and a line of Urdu poetry inscribed on the bonnet: “Every mother’s prayer is a breeze from paradise.”

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