Monday, October 11, 2010

Number of mentally ill people increases sharply

PESHAWAR: Speakers at a seminar here Sunday said the shortage of psychiatrists and approved social workers at tehsil and district level was badly hampering the implementation of the Mental Health Act, 2001 in its letter and sprit.
“For population of 180 million there are only 400 psychiatrists across the country which is lamentable, as keeping in view the overall security situation and the recent natural calamity that hit the country, a sharp increase in the patients suffering from mental illness has been recorded,” said Prof Syed Muhammad Sultan, head of the Psychiatry unit of Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH).
The seminar was organised in connection of World Mental Health Day observed every year across the globe to educate people about mental health issues. The programme was organised by psychiatry department of KTH in collaboration with psychiatrists of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Dr Sultan said the government should enhance the mental health budget so that more physiatrists and approved social workers could be trained to perform their duties at district and tehsil level. He said there is a lack of physiatrists in the country for children, old-age people and forensic psychiatrist for prisoners. He mentioned different barriers to the treatment of the mentally ill patients and suggested that services should be extended to district and tehsil level.
The speakers lauded the services of Prof Dr Haroon Rashid, who died of cardiac arrest last week. Dr Haroon was the president of Pakistan Psychiatric Society and served millions of patients and their families. One of his special contributions is establishment of a rehabilitation centre named ‘Fountain House’ in Lahore. The participants also eulogised his role in writing clinical guidelines for various psychiatric disorders.
They hailed the services of Dr. Muhammad Farooq Khan who was killed in his clinic in Mardan few days ago. The participants attributed the day to both eminent psychiatrists of the country. Another seminar in connection with the World Mental Health Day was held at Ebadat Hospital. Speaking at the seminar, noted psychiatrist and former principal of the Khyber Medical College Prof Dr Khalid Mufti said every fourth person in Pakistan was suffering from some psychiatric problem during to ongoing mayhem in the country. He said rising price-hike, insecurity, lawlessness and drone attacks had made life a hell for the people. He said though the Mental Health Act had been enforced, but it could not be properly implemented due to shortage of resources. Dr Khalid Mufti demanded of the government to increase funds for mental healthcare so that people suffering from mental disorder could get proper treatment.

Number of mentally ill people increases sharply

PESHAWAR: Speakers at a seminar here Sunday said the shortage of psychiatrists and approved social workers at tehsil and district level was badly hampering the implementation of the Mental Health Act, 2001 in its letter and sprit.
“For population of 180 million there are only 400 psychiatrists across the country which is lamentable, as keeping in view the overall security situation and the recent natural calamity that hit the country, a sharp increase in the patients suffering from mental illness has been recorded,” said Prof Syed Muhammad Sultan, head of the Psychiatry unit of Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH).
The seminar was organised in connection of World Mental Health Day observed every year across the globe to educate people about mental health issues. The programme was organised by psychiatry department of KTH in collaboration with psychiatrists of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Dr Sultan said the government should enhance the mental health budget so that more physiatrists and approved social workers could be trained to perform their duties at district and tehsil level. He said there is a lack of physiatrists in the country for children, old-age people and forensic psychiatrist for prisoners. He mentioned different barriers to the treatment of the mentally ill patients and suggested that services should be extended to district and tehsil level.
The speakers lauded the services of Prof Dr Haroon Rashid, who died of cardiac arrest last week. Dr Haroon was the president of Pakistan Psychiatric Society and served millions of patients and their families. One of his special contributions is establishment of a rehabilitation centre named ‘Fountain House’ in Lahore. The participants also eulogised his role in writing clinical guidelines for various psychiatric disorders.
They hailed the services of Dr. Muhammad Farooq Khan who was killed in his clinic in Mardan few days ago. The participants attributed the day to both eminent psychiatrists of the country. Another seminar in connection with the World Mental Health Day was held at Ebadat Hospital. Speaking at the seminar, noted psychiatrist and former principal of the Khyber Medical College Prof Dr Khalid Mufti said every fourth person in Pakistan was suffering from some psychiatric problem during to ongoing mayhem in the country. He said rising price-hike, insecurity, lawlessness and drone attacks had made life a hell for the people. He said though the Mental Health Act had been enforced, but it could not be properly implemented due to shortage of resources. Dr Khalid Mufti demanded of the government to increase funds for mental healthcare so that people suffering from mental disorder could get proper treatment.

Pakistan women MPs wealthier than their male colleagues

Fifteen Pakistani women MPs, both in the provincial and national assemblies, are wealthier compared to their male counterparts.
The fact came to light after all the members of Senate, provincial and national assemblies were asked by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to submit details of their financial assets by October 15.
According to sources, these women members of the provincial, national assemblies and Senate have assets including diamonds and a large quantity of gold ornaments.
Some women MPs have also been found with more financial assets in male-dominated Parliament and provincial assemblies of the country, The Nation reports.he ECP will issue the exact details of the financial assets after the completion of the verification process.The sources also revealed that some women MPs claimed that they had no gold ornaments or vehicles.

Taliban War on Educated

New York Times

By JANE PERLEZ
Farooq Khan, doctor to the poor, scholar of Islam and friend of America, represented everything the Islamist extremists hated.

A week ago, two Taliban hit men, disguised in casual clothes and with stubble on their chins instead of beards, climbed the stairs to Dr. Khan’s second-floor office and, as he had lunch between streams of patients, shot him at close range.

The assassination of Dr. Khan, cool and quick, was the latest in what appears to be a sustained campaign by the Taliban to wipe out, or at least silence, educated Muslims in Pakistan who speak out against the militants, their use of suicide bombings and their cry of worldwide jihad.

At least six Muslim intellectuals and university professors have been killed or kidnapped in the past year in Pakistan, each death met with momentary notice in the media, promises of inquiries by the government and then a frightened quiet.

The pattern has become almost familiar, so much so that Dr. Khan’s death was called unsurprising by many moderate Muslims, who complain that the government has become powerless in the face of the extremists.

Last year, Maulana Sarfaraz Naeemi, a moderate preacher, was killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the school where Mr. Naeemi had spoken out against jihadist ideology. Another popular moderate preacher, Maulana Hassan Jan, was killed in Peshawar in 2007 after he denounced suicide bombings.

Public figures associated with the secular Awami National Party, the main political group in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, have been kidnapped and killed. Ajmal Khan, a university official and a prominent personality in Peshawar, was kidnapped last month, most likely by the Taliban, and has not been heard from since, the police said.

The extinction of enlightened religious thought is one more element, the moderates say, in a long-term campaign by the Taliban — aided by Al Qaeda — to undermine the state.

“The government doesn’t have the will or capacity to do much. It’s unrealistic to expect them to do anything,” said Rahimullah Yusufzai, a journalist and longtime friend of Dr. Khan. The doctor, like others who have been assassinated by extremists, had received threats, he said. “This is not the first and the last of these kinds of killings,” Mr. Yusufzai said. “People are already scared of discussing the issues. Now they will be more scared.”

There were many strands to Dr. Khan’s energetic life that the Taliban would have found objectionable. In the past year, Dr. Khan, 56, who was trained as a psychiatrist in Vienna, taught what he called a “worldly” Islam to 150 young boys who had been corralled by the Taliban and then freed by the Pakistani Army in the Swat Valley. “He said: ‘This is my passion,’ ” his wife, Dr. Rizwana Farooq, a gynecologist, recalled of her husband’s weekly sessions at a vocational school, called New Dawn. The school was established by the Pakistani military with financing from international aid organizations.

In recent years, Dr. Khan grew intrigued by American democracy. He visited the United States as a guest of the government in 2002, he met Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on her first visit to Pakistan last year, and he was among those chosen to attend a farewell lunch for the departing United States ambassador, Anne W. Patterson, last month. “Dr. Khan has been a longstanding and valuable contact, a strong and central voice in denouncing extremism,” said Elizabeth Rood, the consul general in Peshawar.

But perhaps most challenging to the Taliban was his position as the vice chancellor of a new, liberal university in Swat, whose inauguration was scheduled a few days after Dr. Khan was killed. The Taliban effectively governed Swat, an area of scenic beauty within easy drive of the nation’s capital, for several months in 2009 before being driven out in a major military offensive.

The university had been a sore point with the Taliban for some time, partly because the government originally decided the campus would be built on land where the Taliban ran their biggest mosque and school. That site was later abandoned for a more neutral location on the edge of Mingora, the capital of Swat, and over the last year Dr. Khan had taken charge of hiring the faculty, shaping a curriculum devoted to the social sciences and recruiting a student body, said the rector of the university, Sher Alam Khan.

Of 280 students selected on merit, 50 were women, Mr. Khan said. Three of the 20 faculty members were women, he added.

The father of four children ages 22 to 27, all of whom are professionals, Dr. Khan may have been particularly irritating to the Taliban because his roots were in the rough and tumble of the nation’s right-wing religious parties, not the elite academies and mainstream parties.

He had been a member of Jamaat-e-Islami, the anti-American religious party devoted to turning Pakistan into an Islamic state. Dr. Khan broke with that group and joined another anti-American party, Tehrik-e-Insafi, led by the former cricketer, Imran Khan. From there he staked out more independent positions, and in the last few years participated in international conferences on women, democracy, and improving relations between Muslims and non-Muslims. Soon after his death last Saturday, a faction of the Pakistani Taliban, the Abdullah Azzam Brigade, claimed responsibility for his killing, saying he had misinterpreted jihad and Islam.

While numerous Muslim scholars and professionals have been killed in recent years by the Taliban, the death of Dr. Khan seemed to cut deeper than the others. The News, a daily English-language newspaper that is critical of the government, denounced in an editorial the “dismal record” of the authorities in capturing suspects in such killings. “But merely because the murderers roam free, should they also be allowed to win?” the paper asked.

In the soft fall air in Swat on Thursday, a memorial service was held for Dr. Khan at the campus of the new university. Government officials were not invited, because of security concerns and emotions, said Mr. Khan, the university’s rector. “We are all his imams, we will stand silent in his memory,” he said. “That is a true form of prayer.”

North Korea's heir appears at gala performance

Obama Trots Out 2008 Slogans in Philadelphia

President Barack Obama dusted off old campaign slogans at an 11th-hour rally here Sunday, hoping to mobilize African-American and youth voters to back Democrats with three weeks to go before November's midterm election.

"On Nov. 2, I need you as fired up as you were in 2008," Mr. Obama said, with Vice President Joe Biden at his side. "They said 'No you can't elect a skinny guy with a funny name to the presidency of the United States.' What did you say?"

The crowd, which included union members, African-Americans and young people, responded, "Yes we can!"

Democrats are launching a final push to try to reignite their base, as they face a potential Republican takeover of the House and possibly the Senate. Many Republican voters, especially tea party supporters, are unhappy with Mr. Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress, and say they are eager to vote in November. Democrats, in contrast, are showing little enthusiasm for the election, according to numerous public opinion polls.

It's a sharp reversal from 2008, when strong Democratic-voter participation sent Mr. Obama to the White House and gave Democrats control of both chambers of Congress.

The White House has said Democrats' best chance at victory is getting likely Democratic voters who had voted for the first time in 2008 to vote again.

Democrats have turned to Mr. Obama, who, despite his low approval ratings in recent polls, is still able to draw crowds. In Madison, Wisc., last week, the president appeared at a rally for Sen. Russ Feingold and other Democrats, with the crowd estimated by police to exceed 26,000.

On Sunday, people lined up along the streets in Germantown, a neighborhood in Northwest Philadelphia with a large African-American population. Many wore union local T-shirts; street artists sold portraits of First Lady Michelle Obama; and vendors peddled Obama buttons at two for $3. Philadelphia city officials put the crowd number at 18,500.

There are more than one million more registered Democrats than Republicans in the Keystone State. In 2008, Mr. Obama carried the state by 11 points. But this year, the Democrats face potential losses in the races for senator, governor and the state's congressional delegation.

Pennsylvania's Democratic Senate candidate, Rep. Joe Sestak, has trailed his Republican opponent, Pat Toomey, in polls since early June. As many as 10 of the state's 19 U.S. congressional districts are considered battlegrounds this year by D.C. race watchers. Rep. Patrick Murphy, who represents suburban Philadelphia, faces a tough reelection fight after voting for much of the White House's agenda.

Rep. Murphy, like some other Pennsylvania Democratic congressional candidates in close races, didn't speak at Sunday's event, apparently reflecting concerns that a link to Mr. Obama could further hurt their chances of victory.

With the exception of Mr. Sestak and the Democratic candidate for governor, Dan Onorato, many of the other Pennsylvania Democrats who attended the rally were well ahead in their races, or not up for reelection. They included Rep. Robert Brady, who represents south and central Philadelphia and is expected to easily win reelection; Gov. Ed Rendell, who has hit his term limit; and Sen. Arlen Spector, a Republican-turned-Democrat who lost to Mr. Sestak in the primary.

Mr. Obama devoted much of his speech to criticizing Republican policies, including what he described as a GOP proposal to extend tax cuts to the rich. Republicans are pushing to extend all tax cuts introduced under the Bush administration and which are due to expire at the end of the year, on the grounds that raising taxes would hurt the country's nascent economic recovery. Mr. Obama and other Democrats want to extend cuts only for families making less than $250,000 a year.

Referring to Republicans' "Pledge to America" manifesto detailing their candidates' positions on issues, including a call to roll back the health-care overhaul, Mr. Obama said: "Republicans might have a new name for it. But it's the same old stuff they've been peddling for years."

The GOP has countered that Mr. Obama's spending programs have created unsustainable deficits and that raising taxes would kill jobs.

Last Sunday, the Rev. Melvin McAllister hosted Mr. Sestak at Mount Tabor Baptist Church, a black congregation of about 200 that worships a block from the Philadelphia rally.

Mr. McAllister said his flock may have tuned out election politics this summer, but he compared it to a long baseball season. "When the playoffs come, all of a sudden you're interested," he said.

In 2008, Lynette Washington knocked on doors and attended weekly Democratic campaign meetings, to support Mr. Obama's candidacy. She hasn't done so this year, but on Sunday, she drove to Philadelphia from southern New Jersey to attend Mr. Obama's rally.

"I'm going to sign up" to volunteer to support Democrats' mid-term campaigns, said Ms. Washington, 54 year old. "I still get the emails."

Afghan President Karzai confirms Taliban 'contacts'

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has confirmed that "unofficial contacts" with the Taliban have been taking place to end the insurgency.

In a CNN interview, he said such contacts "have been going on for quite some time".

The admission comes shortly after Mr Karzai set up the High Peace Council - the body to start a dialogue with the Taliban.

His comments follow growing reports of secret peace talks with the militants. "We have been talking to the Taliban as countryman to countryman, talk in that manner," Mr Karzai told CNN's Larry King Live.

"Not as a regular official contact with the Taliban with a fixed address, but rather unofficial personal contacts have been going on for quite some time."

However, he stressed that Kabul would fight groups like al-Qaeda, accusing them of "working against Afghanistan".

The excerpts of the interview were released on Sunday. The full interview is due to be broadcast later on Monday.

Kabul's previous attempts to negotiate with the Taliban have failed, partly over their insistence that foreign troops leave the country first.

Taliban fighters continue to inflict casualties on the US-led Nato forces and resist all attempts to defeat them by military means.

There are nearly 150,000 foreign troops currently deployed in Afghanistan.

UNHCR provides relief to 665,000 flood victims in KP

The UN Refugee Agency has so far provided assistance to 665,000 flood-affected people in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), said a statement issued on Sunday.

To reach the people in need, UNHCR established 17 distribution points in coordination with implementing partners in Peshawar, Charsadda, Swat, Kohat, Nowshera, Kohistan, Shangla, Dera Ismail Khan, the lower and upper districts.

In addition, the agency had distributed aid to affected people in Haripur, Manshera and those scattered in various parts of the Chitral Valley.

UNHCR and its partners had carried out assessments, and those whose houses had been destroyed or damaged had received tokens that allow them to collect assistance, including tents and other non-food relief items such as jerrycans, mosquito nets and kitchen sets from the distribution points.

UNHCR’s Peshawar officer-in-charge Yoshimi Saita said, “Needs of affected people are immense and to survive through these difficult times they need continued support from aid agencies.”

The UNHCR and the UAE Red Crescent Authority had recently launched a joint emergency shelter programme in Nowshera. Under the project, 20,000 families would receive emergency shelter and basic domestic items, to assist them in coping with the hardships of refugee life.

“Winter is approaching which is going to make it more difficult for the people who do not have shelter, especially in that parts of the province where the season is quite harsh. In response, we have initiated our transitional shelter project for the flood-affected people in Uthror village of Swat”, Saita added.

Materials for 105 transitional shelters had already been airlifted to Uthror in Upper Swat.

Airlifting is preferred as access by road through the recently constructed route to the village is only possible on light vehicles.

As part of a coordinated relief effort in KP, UNHCR had distributed 54,491 tents, 570,810 blankets, 332,516 quilts, 95,035 kitchen sets, 130,790 mosquito nets, 149,480 plastic buckets, 375, 992 sleeping mats, 117,924 plastic sheets, 196,678 jerrycans and 142,702 kilogrammes of soap.

Pakistani capital shaken by earthquake

Residents of Pakistan's capital were jolted from their beds overnight by a 5.3-magnitude earthquake - a chilling reminder of the devastating temblor that killed more than 80,000 people and left 3 million homeless almost exactly five years ago.

Arif Mahmood, a seismological official in the north-western city of Peshawar, said the quake's epicentre was only about 28 kilometres north of Islamabad.

It occurred about 2.45am today and was shallow, about 10 kilometres deep, so it caused strong shaking. But no damage or injuries were reported.
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A 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck on October 8, 2005, devastating areas around the epicentre in Pakistan-held Kashmir. It also toppled an apartment block in the capital, killing 74 people.