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Tag Archives: Punjab
If the Sindhis rose nobody would dare to loot their resources
Resources looted under Watan Card scheme, says Palijo
MIRPURKHAS, Nov 7: Convener of the Sindh Progressive Nationalist Alliance Ayaz Latif Palijo said on Sunday that the country’s resources were being plundered under the Watan Card scheme.
Addressing a procession taken out by the SPNA, Mr Palijo alleged that the flood-affected people in Sindh were being deprived of even the most basic items needed to survive while the affected people in Punjab and Pakhtoonkhwa were getting funds and ration and were being rehabilitated. …
Read more : DAWN
Ban on women vendors in Lahore
Municipal officers differ on why a ban is desirable
LAHORE: Town municipal officers (TMOs) across Lahore continue to grapple with the idea of banning women as vendors in Sunday Bazaars as was announced by Ahad Cheema, the DCO, two weeks ago.
The actual implementation of the order, for which Cheema had not given a reason for, still seems distant. In the Sunday Bazaars set up at Ravi Town and Iqbal Town, among others, female vendors were seen selling as usual without any opposition by the local market committee representatives. ….
Read more : The Express Tribune
Pakistan Ahmadi buried body forcibly exhumed from graveyard in Punjab
Pakistan Ahmadi man forcibly exhumed in Lahore
By M Ilyas Khan
Police in Pakistan have forced a family of the Ahmadi sect to exhume the body of a relative because it was buried in a Muslim graveyard.
Officials in the Sargodha district of Punjab province say they took the unusual move after anti-Ahmadi Muslim groups threatened peace in the area.
Ahmadis consider themselves Muslims but a 1984 law barred them from identifying themselves as followers of the faith.
The law also put restrictions on their religious practices.
‘Law and order situation’
Shehzad Waraich, a farmer in the Bhalwal area of Sargodha district, died on 30 October and was buried in a shared graveyard designated by the government.
“The police approached the relatives of Mr Waraich on 31 October and asked them to remove the body from the Muslim graveyard as this could lead to a law and order situation,” Salimuddin, an Ahmadi community spokesman, told the BBC.
“The family complied with the request and exhumed the body. They have now buried it in a different graveyard reserved for the Ahmadis several miles away from the village.”
The police said the family was asked to exhume the body because the burial was “illegal”.
“They buried Mr Waraich in a Muslim graveyard, which is against the law,” Javed Islam, the Sargodha district police chief, told the BBC.
“Members of the Khatm-e-Nabuwat organisation and some local people approached the police and conveyed their objection to the burial. The objection was within the ambit of the law, so we acted accordingly,” he said.
Khatm-e-Nabuwat is an anti-Ahmadi religious organisation that acts as a watchdog on their activities.
Mr Islam said that he was not concerned about the moral aspect of the exhumation of Mr Waraich’s body – his job was to enforce the law.
Ahmadis in Pakistan are often mobbed and lynched by extremist elements who critics say are encouraged by favourable laws.
The Ahmadi spokesman, Salimuddin, said it was the 30th incident since 1984 in which an Ahmadi body has been forcefully exhumed by the administration to satisfy the opponents ….
Read more : BBC
Dengue virus and corruption in health department
Courtesy: Express TV (Point Blank, program host Musbshir Lukman, Nov. 01, 2010)
– Via ZemTV – YouTube Link
Human trafficking on rise from Pakistan: another 16 youths missing from Mandi Bahauddin, Punjab
Courtesy: DunyaTV (News Watch, Oct. 29, 2010)
Pakistan : weapons missing
Missing weapons – Dawn Editorial
It could well mean the Taliban and a large number of other terrorist militias have sympathisers and activists well-entrenched in the provincial law-enforcement machinery.
Even though there is little that surprises people at this juncture, the report that no less than three million weapons have disappeared from official warehouses in Punjab is appalling.
The details are shocking and give us an idea of the layers of corruption in the law-enforcement structure in the country’s most populous province. Yesterday, this newspaper carried a report based on an official document that revealed the ways in which weapons including grenades and Kalashnikov submachine guns seized from criminals and terrorists went missing: one, not all the arms seized by the police from individuals and gangs were deposited in the district and provincial malkhanas; two, no less than three million of a bewildering variety of arms deposited in the two categories of malkhanas and arsenals of the official bomb disposal squad disappeared.
The Punjab home department must be commended for preparing the report. In fact, it must have been shocked by the contents of the finding. It is a mystery though why the Punjab government did not deem it fit to order an inquiry to fix guilt and take action against those involved in a criminal enterprise of such dimensions. While the details of the weapons that have disappeared have been covered in the Dawn story, it bears repetition to recall that the number of lethal weapons which have gone missing include 3,454 grenades and 4, 490 of the killing machines that are Kalashnikovs.
One can only guess the modus operandi and motives behind the weapons lost. A large number of the weapons must have been sold to criminals by men who are supposed to guard the arsenal, and many others must have been gifted to terrorist outfits. If this is established, this could well mean the Taliban and a large number of other terrorist militias have sympathisers and activists well-entrenched in the provincial law-enforcement machinery.
The disappearances could also mean that Punjab warehouses are one of the terrorists’ major sources of arms ….
Read more : DAWN
Due to mismanagement of Shahbaz Sharif Punjab is almost bankrupt!
Punjab government is almost bankrupt?
Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif requested the federal government to convert the Rs. 50 billion overdraft of Punjab government into a loan. The federal government requested the state bank to do so which they oblige. If it was not converted then there was a danger that Punjab government default. The total overdraft of Punjab government is Rs. 70 billions. Shahbaz Sharif is not managing it properly?
Courtesy: Siasat
Sawal Yeh Hai from Higher Judiciary
Pakistan: Kalabagh dam threatens livelihood of millions
by Ray Fulcher
… construction of a massive dam in 2016 on the Indus river at Kalabagh, near the border between the Punjab and North West Frontier provinces. Opponents of the World Bank-funded dam project see it as another grab for water by the Punjabi ruling elite, which dominates federal politics in Pakistan.
The government claims that the dam is necessary for Pakistan’s economic development, that it will provide 3600 megawatts of hydroelectric power and 35,000 jobs.
Musharraf has said that the dam project will proceed against any opposition and that the federal and Punjabi governments will topple any provincial government that opposes the project. Of Pakistan’s four provinces, three provincial parliaments — North West Frontier (NWFP), Sindh and Balochistan — have passed resolutions opposing the dam.
On December 31, four progressive parties in Punjab united to protest against the proposed dam. The rally, held in Lahore, was charged by police, and activists of the four parties — the National Workers Party, the Labour Party Pakistan (LPP), the Pakistan Mazdoor Mehaz and the Mazdoor Kissan Party — were beaten.
Farooq Tariq, an organiser of the rally and national secretary of the LPP told Green Left Weekly by phone: “The LPP opposes the dam because it will deny Sindh its share of water and turn it into a desert. We oppose the construction of big dams on environmental grounds. Furthermore, this dam will benefit the Punjab ruling class and will add to the exploitation of Sindh. All provinces except the Punjab have repeatedly opposed the construction of this dam. This democratic verdict should be taken as a referendum and the dam abandoned.
Continue reading Pakistan: Kalabagh dam threatens livelihood of millions
Najam Sethi says, Rana Maqbool is a master conspirator & a Rascal of the first order
Rich landowners and crocodile politicians made breeches to save their lands and sank millions of common people in flood waters
Punjab Govt. falsfully increased its losses by 331% in new report
Punjab’s losses increased 331pc in new FFC report
By Kalbe Ali
ISLAMABAD, Sept 5: A report of the Federal Flood Commission released on Sept 1 shows a surprising increase of 331 per cent in the number of flood-affected people in Punjab — rising to 8.20 million from 1.90 million mentioned in a report released in August.
Despite the big increase in the number of affected people, the number of affected villages and the acreage of affected area remain the same, 3,132 villages and 2.63 million acres.
The number of damaged houses is also the same in the August and September reports. Even the number of the injured and the dead is the same — 350 injured and 103 dead.
An official of the Ministry of Water and Power said the figures were compiled by the FFC after they had been released by the provinces.
A secondary survey undertaken in Punjab by the Board of Revenue is being directly monitored by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
According to sources in the BOR, reports suggest that the number of villages hit by the flood in Punjab is 2,100 compared to the initial estimate of 3,132.
The FFC’s estimates have been rejected by Sindh Minister for Culture Sassui Palejo, who is a member of flood monitoring committee formed by the Sindh chief minister.
She said concerns over FFC’s figures relating to Punjab had been highlighted at a meeting with Prime Minister Gilani and President Zaradari in Karachi on Sunday.
“We have rejected these estimates,” she said while talking to Dawn. “The situation is still very serious in Sindh as the receding water is posing threat to a number of areas.”
She said the number of displaced people in Thatta was increasing with each passing hour. …
Read more >> DAWN
India – Pakistani Prisoner Disappears From Punjab Jail
Punjab police clueless about Pakistani prisoner’s disappearance
Amritsar, Sep 1 (IANS) Punjab police and Amritsar district administration remained clueless Wednesday about the whereabouts of a Pakistani prisoner who has disappeared from a jail here.
According to police, Nayamat Ali disappeared under mysterious circumstances Tuesday.
He was arrested by the Border Security Force (BSF) an year ago for illegally entering India in the Lopoke area near Amritsar.
‘So far we have not got any breakthrough in the case,’ Amritsar Deputy Commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu told IANS Wednesday.
Jail officials said that Ali had completed his term Friday and he was waiting for his release and repatriation home. However, the jail authorities were taken by surprise when they found Ali missing from the prison.
Read more >> YahooNews
Dogs are better than Punjab police & Sialkot people!
Pakistan’s ugly secret – Pervez Hoodbhoy
There is a complete blackout on the effects of uranium mining in Dera Ismail Khan in south Punjab. Researchers too were defeated by the powerful nuclear establishment that keeps even health information as a national secret.
Sadly, absolutely nothing is known about disposal of nuclear waste in Pakistan. Are the authorities dumping low-level wastes in the sea or river? Where and how do they plan to bury the high-level wastes that will be lethal for thousands of years to come? Also, there is a complete blackout on the effects of uranium mining in Dera Ismail Khan in south Punjab. About 10 years ago, mine workers and other affected villagers had banded together after large numbers fell sick from lung disease and cancer. To the dismay of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, they managed to produce a petition for the Lahore High Court. But,as invariably happens, the powers that be forced them to withdraw their case and some token compensation was given. Researchers too were defeated by the powerful nuclear establishment that keeps even health information as a national secret.
There are, however, other aspects of Pakistan’s nuclear programme that I have focused upon earlier and bring up yet again:
Pakistan got nothing from The Bomb
About twelve years ago a million Pakistanis danced in the streets after six nuclear weapons had been successfully tested. They had been told that making nuclear bombs was the biggest thing a country could do. Burma is said to be trying to make a bomb and may succeed too, but surely the North Korean nuclear test gave rock-solid proof that we Pakistanis have been fed a diet of lies.
North Korea is a country that no one admires. It is unknown for scientific achievement, has little electricity or fuel, food and medicine are scarce, corruption is ubiquitous, and its people live in terribly humiliating conditions under a vicious, dynastic dictatorship. In a famine some years ago, North Korea lost nearly 800,000 people. And it has an enormous prison population of 200,000 that is subjected to systematic torture and abuse.
Why does a miserable, starving country continue spending its last penny on the Bomb? On developing and testing a fleet of missiles whose range increases from time to time? The answer is clear: North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles are instruments of blackmail rather than means of defence. Brandished threateningly, and manipulated from time to time, these bombs are designed to keep the flow of international aid going.
Surely the people of North Korea gained nothing from their country’s nuclearisation. But they cannot challenge their oppressors. But, Pakistanis — who are far freer — must ask: what have we gained from the bomb? …
Read more >> ViewPoint
Don’t act surprised
by George Fulton
Oh, the shock! Oh, the disgust! Oh, the outrage over the barbaric killings in Sialkot! The media, the blogosphere, facebookers have been going into hyperactive overdrive to out condemn one another over the senseless killings of the two teenage boys. Some have frothed with self-righteous anger, some have put the blame on poverty and illiteracy (a self-serving defence that ignores the violent solutions advocated in many a swanky drawing room discussion), some on the breakdown of the social contract between the state and the individual. But all seem shocked by the barbarity on display. But why are we surprised? Why the denial? Hasn’t it always been thus?
We are, and have always been, a barbaric, degenerate nation revelling in bloodlust. Our nation was forged during a bloody partition — in which up to one million people were massacred. One just has to read eyewitness accounts of the riots, the train butchery, the brutal rapes and slaughter of that period to get a feel of the heady, almost orgasmic, delight that the perpetrators of these crimes revelled in as the nation was born.
The lynching itself is nothing new. Read any report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and you will see that this is a fairly regular occurrence. Christians, Hindus, homosexuals, suspected paedophiles and robbers have been killed at the hands of mob justice. And what about Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his daughter Benazir? Were they not just killed by a more sophisticated form of mob justice? …
Read more >> The Express Tribune
Is this Islamic Republic of Pakistan or Chaos or Lawless society???
VALID POINTS BY QADIR MAGSI
A letter against Kalabagh dam
Floods and Kalabagh Dam
by MUNAWAR HASSAN, Islamabad
Sir: I can recall Prime Minister (PM) Gilani’s first speech in parliament, when he categorically rejected the construction of the Kalabagh Dam. Later, it was observed that he appeared very political about the subject. Raja Pervaiz Ashraf also refused to reject the scheme. Now PM Gilani has come up with an even more surprising stance that the destruction caused by the floods could have been averted had the dam been in place. It is baffling to see that the PM thinks that the amount of floodwater is just six million acre feet (MAF), which is the capacity of the Kalabagh Dam. The volume of floodwater runs up to 1.2 million cusecs (more than 100 MAF). What does PM Gilani propose for the rest of the 94 MAF of water? Moreover, the disaster would have aggravated if the water had flown upstream due to the dam on the Indus River. In addition, to collect water from a flood (which is a rare occurrence in Pakistan), the country’s leadership is prepared to destroy the Indus delta permanently. I humbly request the PM to avoid making such statements in public that perplex the people rather than giving them courage to face the calamity.
Courtesy: DAILY TIMES, August 12, 2010
Punjab’s twist – By Nadeem F. Paracha
If democracy truly is the nemesis of talibanisation then certainly it is the PML(N) that will have to play the leading role in Punjab to wrest back the initiative from the monsters who have been plaguing the material and human wellbeing of what was once the most stable and vibrant province of Pakistan.
This is how terrorists operate: They identify a region where they feel they can bag sympathy for their cause and then try to construct ‘offices’ there. However, if they feel this sympathy is not enough to stop the government’s action against them, they terrorise the people with attacks. They know that this is the region that can capitulate in the face of terror faster than a place that does not hold sympathy for them.
Let’s face it, Punjab, like Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has been influenced the most by Islamist and sectarian organisations, with all that hoopla about justice, sharia and war against American imperialism. Over the years most of these organisations have found sympathetic ears and hearts in major Punjab and Pakhtunkhwa towns and cities, so much so that Punjab’s leading political party, the PML(N), sometimes sounds ambiguous about its stand on extremism.
Perhaps it fears that it may lose support from its more conservative constituencies, mainly centred round lower-middle and middle class sections. In spite of Lahore becoming the target of vicious terrorist attacks, we can still see and hear certain Punjab-based politicians and their supporters continue to dish out their deluded ‘Pakistan is fighting America’s war’ mantra and suggesting that ‘We should hold a dialogue with the extremists’.
Read more >> Dawn
Rape ‘common’ in Punjab
Rape and “honour killings” have become widespread in some districts of Pakistan, according to the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). A report, which is yet to be published, said more than 150 women were sexually assaulted in the first six months of the year in southern Punjab There were also about 40 so-called “honour killings”, carried out by men who allege that the behaviour of a woman has brought dishonour to their family.
Read more >> BBC
A proposal for federation
Many recurrences of theft of Sindh’s share of irrigation water happened at various times due to Punjab’s jurisdiction over it.
– MOHAMMAD KHAN SIAL, KARACHI
This has been happening since long and against hue and cry by members of Parliament from Sindh who protested several times. Sindh never gets its due share of water in full when it is released by Punjab’s jurisdiction, mainly due to the following three reasons; (1) Seepage (2) Evaporation (3) Installation of hundreds of powerful illegal ‘water-lift machines’ installed on both banks of River Indus between Taunsa and Sindh’s border on a distance of about 80 kilometres. The water of Sindh is being stolen by landlords of Punjab obviously in connivance with officers of the Punjab Irrigation Department and WAPDA. In the past, a few Irrigation Officers from Sindh were deputed to the canals of Punjab to deter theft of the water meant for Sindh but their efforts were foiled or Punjabi Irrigation Officers bribed them.
In return for the ‘favours’ they received in Lahore, they were compelled to send fake figures of water flow to Sindh government from Punjab which were provided to them by the Punjab Irrigation Department. These figures were obviously unauthentic and fake. If the stake-holders of the federation want to resolve this problem on a permanent basis, I suggest the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) should be told to strictly ensure that Sindh’s share of irrigation water is delivered at Guddu in Sindh instead of Taunsa in Punjab. I hope the federal Ministry for Water & Power as well as IRSA would take this decision with consent of the all concerned to resolve the problem once for all.
Courtesy: The Nation, July 21, 2010
… non-state actor terrorists in Punjab
‘Data Darbar had to be destroyed because of Ibn Taymiyya’ – By Khaled Ahmed
The state of Pakistan has deployed its non-state actor terrorists in Punjab. Because of the unclear charter of power of the state agencies linked to the army, parts of Punjab are succumbing to the power of the terrorists. South Punjab is vulnerable to three terrorist organisations. The Punjab government is now paying crores of rupees supporting ‘charities’ of one of them that it has ‘nationalised’ . A new perspective of the Seraiki Movement is gradually coming to the fore, reflecting the political dominance of Sipah-e-Sahaba and its offshoot, the Jaish. No one from among the backers of the Movement – known traditionally to be secular – is willing to even speak of the presence of the jihadi-terrorist organisations. One reason is that most of them want to lean on them to win the elections; the other may be the simple fact of intimidation and the subliminal acknowledgement of state patronage to the terrorists. A Seraiki Province in the coming days will be exclusively the domain of Sipah-e-Sahaba and its friends. It will be for the first time that terrorists posing as Islamic warriors against India and against the Shias of Pakistan will possess an entire province and its resources under the new constitutional dispensation of real autonomy.
Read more >> newageislam
AT activists protest against reopening of C-J canal
HYDERABAD, July 21: Activists of the Awami Tehreek staged a sit-in for six hours on the National Highway at Hatri bypass here on Wednesday in protest against reopening of the Chashma-Jhelum link canal, release of water into Greater Thal canal, proposed construction of Bhasha-Diamar dam and tribal. A large number of men, women and children, raised slogans against what they called a theft of Indus water.
Speaking on the occasion, chief of the Awami Tahreek Rasool Bux Palijo said that Sindh was the creator of Pakistan but it was being pushed against the wall. He said Sindh was passing through the worst phase of its history and alleged that the government wanted to destroy the province.
The government was following an international conspiracy against the country, Mr Palijo said and added that rulers had always acted against the interests of the country under the dictates of foreign powers. He expressed solidarity with all the oppressed nations of the world. …
Read more >> DAWN
A huge Rally arranged by Anjuman Muzareen Punjab in Okara for land ownership rights.
Reported by Amir Parvez
A huge Rally arranged by Anjuman Muzareen Punjab in Okara for land ownership rights. On Tuesday 20 July, 2010 Anjuman Muzareen Punjab (AMP) (a movement of landless peasants) arranged a big rally in Okara District with thousand of women, children and men.Their target was to protest in front of the D.C.O office Okara, demanding their land ownership rights. They were carrying clubs, banners, and red-flags.
Workers injured, arrested at the beginning of Faisalabad strike
Faisalabad: Several workers have been injured by police tear gas shelling and firing and stone throwing. Rana Tahir, district president of Labour Qaumi Movement is one of them. Over 100 workers have been arrested so for. Workers are out in thousands from different parts of Faisalabad to reach the city center.
Continue reading Workers injured, arrested at the beginning of Faisalabad strike
WSC TERMS DECISION TO CONSTRUCT BHASHA DAM, ILLEGAL
London – (PR) : Terming it an unlawful and illegal act, the World Sindhi Congress (WSC) strongly condemned the decision. The international human rights body believes that the decision is against the international laws on water and historical rights of Sindh. ….
Musarat Nazir wonderful folk song
Others may agree or disagree but the fact is that the Punjabi culture and language is closer to Sindhi culture and language. Physically we share the same land from centuries and have similar culture. Of course present Sindh, Punjab and almost whatever is called Pakistan now, was referred to as Indus civilization historically. Political rifts after creation of Pakistan have made us differentiate each other, probably this is one of the thing we have after partition.
Well here is wonderful folk song from Musarat Nazir, listen to the language and you should easily follow it, whether you know Punjabi or not.
Well Done Punjab/ Pakistan!
…. stealing the water of Sindh. – Mir Raza
Killing of Habib Jalib Balouch and stealing the water of Sindh by force has damaged the old and already fragmented edifice of this country but the short heightened leadership of Paunjab have no vision to see this damage.
… They are DWARFS, they can’t read the writing on the wall, they haven’t learned from the seceding of Bangladesh from Pakistan, murdering 4 Bhuttos and sending their dead bodies to Sindh. They are racist and fascist, they are killers, that is way today Balochistan is bleeding.
They think, they can steal water and other resources of Sindh and Baluchistan. They can open Chashma-Jehlum link (CJ) canal by force but they don’t know how much damage they have done of this federation by their illegal actions. By Opening CJ Canal illegally, they are working well to destroy the rest of Pakistan. Well Done Punjab.
Courtesy: Sindhi e-lists/ e-groups, July 15, 2010
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