Posts Tagged ‘Faisalabad’

Separate electorate: Dual voting right for minorities urged

The Pakistan Christian Post (PCP), in a recent memorandum to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), has demanded minority representation in Parliament on the basis of “dual voting rights” after members from the Christian and Hindu community expressed serious reservations on the joint electorate system, introduced by former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf in 2000.

Dual Voting Right is an electoral system through which religious minorities can elect their representatives in Parliament, similar to separate electorates, while simultaneously voting for general seat candidates.

Highlighting the joint electorate system as one based on patronage, the PCP has said that the joint electorate system empowers “Muslim political parties to distribute minority reserved seats in parliament in a ratio to their seats in assemblies through selection of their favoured religious minority leaders, often after taking bribes in millions of rupees”.

In recent PCP polls 59% minorities favoured dual voting, 27% favoured joint electorates while 14% voted for separate electorates.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 1^st, 2012.

Industrialists decry govt apathy

FAISALABAD – Hundreds of industrialists and factory owners, flanked by a large number of industrial and powerloom workers staged a daylong sit-in in front of Fesco Office against the fuel adjustment surcharge, discriminatory imposition of equalization surcharge, high electricity tariff and prolonged unscheduled loadshedding here on Monday. The industrialists have been protesting against the …

..
..

.. .. .. .. ..

Shifting tactics: After Bannu attack, Adiala prison could be next

BAHAWALPUR: After the brazen Bannu jailbreak, intelligence agencies have indicated that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) may be planning another attack on Adiala prison.

According to a ministry of defence notification to the Punjab home department, agencies have traced a telephone conversation between two alleged terrorists. The conversation indicated that Adiala prison was next on the TTP’s hit-list.

Upon receiving the notification, the Punjab home department has demanded the deployment of a company of Rangers at each of the province’s five most sensitive prisons in Rawalpindi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan and Bahawalpur. Security at these prisons has been put on high alert, while the home department has also delegated regional, city and district police officers to make special security arrangements for prisons housing terrorists.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Superintendent of police (SP) Prisons Bahawalpur Chaudhry Naeem confirmed they have received special orders to boost security at the prisons. He added that they were coordinating with intelligence and security agencies regarding the issue.

The SP said special bunkers have been built at both entrances of the Bahawalpur central prison and elite personnel have been deployed around the prison.

Sources have said the security of prisons all over Punjab is being closely monitored by intelligence agencies. Security personnel for Bahawalpur central prison have also been sent to police personnel to undergo special training.

The Bahawalpur prison houses some of the most sensitive TTP members, including those who attacked the office of Inter-Services Intelligence in Multan.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2012.

PM’s conviction: PPP loyalists spill into streets, record dissent

Around 200 Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) activists staged a protest outside the Lahore Press Club where they hoisted party flags and chanted slogans against the judiciary.

“We are with the prime minister who restored the Constitution and reinstated the present judiciary,” one of the banners read.

Federal Minister Sameena Khalid Ghurki while addressing protesters said that besides the National Assembly speaker, no one has the right to unseat the premier.

She said that instead of giving a lesson in ethics, the PML-N should move a no-confidence movement against the prime minister in the house.

PPP Deputy Parliamentary Leader in the Punjab Assembly Shaukat Basra, while addressing a news conference, said that the court’s ruling was in clear violation of the Constitution, so the judges should immediately resign.

Multan protests

Protests both against and for the Supreme Court’s verdict continued for a second day in Multan, the prime minister’s hometown.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf workers as well as members of civil society and lawyers separately organised protests in the city in favour of the verdict and also burnt an effigy of the prime minister for disrespecting the Supreme Court.

PTI leader Tariq Naeemullah said the Supreme Court’s verdict was like a cool breeze for the people of Pakistan. Lawyers also vowed to support the apex court and said that they would stage a long march in this regard.

On the other hand, rallies were also taken out in favour of the prime minister by PPP supporters. Participants vowed to stand by the prime minister through thick and thin.

In Faisalabad, hundreds of PPP activists staged a rally to express solidarity with Prime Minister Gilani, during which they chanted slogans against the PML-N and the Punjab chief minister.

Protests in Sindh

PPP workers poured out on the streets in large numbers in several cities of Sindh, including Shaheed Benazirabad, Mirpurkhas, Tando Muhammad Khan, Badin and Tharparker.

Protesters chanted slogans in support of the beleaguered prime minister: “Teri Raza, Meri Raza, Yousuf Raza, Yousuf Raza”.

Leaders from different political wings of the party reminded the judiciary that the PPP was at the front of the movement launched for their restoration.

Meanwhile, an attempt of self-immolation by a few workers of the Sindh Peoples Student Federation outside the Hyderabad Press Club was thwarted.

Peshawar protests

In Peshawar, angry protesters also lashed out at the judiciary, the Sharif brothers and PTI Chairman Imran Khan.

PPP senior leaders, including former minister for states and frontier regions (Safron) and MNA Najamudin Khan and other leaders also participated in the rally.

PPP activists in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) also staged a demonstration in favour of the prime minister in Mohmand Agency.

The protest was led by PPP-Fata president Malik Waris Khan Afridi, who said that “tribal people favour prime minister of Pakistan because he had issued orders for reforms and development projects in Fata.”

Published in The Express Tribune, April 28^th, 2012.

Seven injured in Faisalabad, Bahawalnagar roof collapse incidents

At least seven persons including four young girls were injured in separate roof collapse incidents in Faisalabad and Bahawalnagar.
According to details, a portion of dilapidated two-storey building located in Kachehri Bazaar of Faisalabad collapsed on Wednesday morning. Three newspapers hawkers were injured in the incident.
The injured were rushed to Civil Hospital Faisalabad where according to …

..
..

.. .. .. .. ..

Reinventing the toilet, Bill Gates way

,,The abysmal state of sanitation stinks to high heaven in Pakistan. The economic losses resulting from poor water supply and sanitation in Pakistan equal $6 billion. Alarmed by the under spending on basic disease prevention in Pakistan, Rachid Benmessaoud of the World Bank noted that the “total amount of the losses caused by poor sanitation in Pakistan is 7 times higher than the national health budget.”

Realising that millions of lives are lost each year due to poor sanitation, water supply, and hygiene, ,The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has decided to challenge engineers and innovators to redesign the toilet to offer safe sanitation to billions who are forced to relieve themselves in open.

According to recent estimates more than 2.5 million lives could be saved globally if sanitation facilities were improved for the underserved populations. Because of inadequate sanitation facilities and lack of access to potable water, millions perish, whereas millions more fall ill and are crushed under the burden of disease. Despite recent progress, Pakistan continues to fall short of meeting the minimum global standards in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). The economic losses resulting from inadequate sanitation in Pakistan are almost 4 per cent of the GDP. In Nigeria, economic losses due to sanitation, counted as healthcare costs and premature deaths, equal 1.3 per cent of its GDP. Put together, Asian and African countries are estimated to lose 6 per cent of their GDP to health concerns resulting from inadequate sanitation and water supply.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) has set out to reduce by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water by 2015. The sanitation-focused MDG has not been met. ,Water Aid,, a UK based not-for-profit agency, reports that approximately 400,000 additional children’s lives could be saved if the 57 countries that have fallen behind in meeting the sanitation MDG by 2015 would strive to meet the MDG targets by 2015.

The return on investment (RoI) in water supply and sanitation projects is huge for the community and the economy. A study by the World Health Organisation revealed that every dollar invested in WASH returns on average $8 in economic benefits. Try estimating the RoI for holding on to Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal and conventional weapons that have consumed billions of dollars while millions of Pakistanis have no choice but to defecate in open.

I often wonder what kind of misguided priorities would result in a scenario where a nation can engineer sophisticated weapons but cannot provide potable water and decent sanitation facilities to one-half of its population. Pakistan is in fact not alone in this conundrum: India, with a much larger economy, faces similar stark contrasts.

An Indian colleague, Professor Dinesh Mohan, explains how scarce funds were misspent in the subcontinent, which has left the people without toilets and the armies flush with cash. According to Professor Mohan there are two types of sciences: the Brahmin science and the Shudra science. The Brahmin science is occupied with the cosmos and the celestial. Whereas, the Shudra science is concerned with sanitation, water supply, and food. Professor Mohan laments the fact that the scientists in the subcontinent overwhelmingly pursued the Brahmin science, which delivered missiles, satellites, and nuclear bombs. Whereas had they pursued the Shudra science, the people of subcontinent could at least have focused on achieving the absolute minimum standards of sanitation decency.

And while the educated elite in Pakistan pursued nuclear science and missile technology, the task of providing affordable and safe water supply and sanitation was left to the disenfranchised masses who have been motivated, over the years, by the teachings of Dr. Akhtar Hameed Khan, the ultimate development professional, and his intellectual protégées, such as Hafeez Arain and Nazir Ahmed Wattoo. From Orangi Pilot Project in Karachi to Hassanpura in Faisalabad, the successful, community-built water supply and sanitation projects are evident of the fact that the road to economic and social salvation in Pakistan will be paved by the masses and the state will only have a tangential role in the impending reforms in Pakistan.

Hasanpura, Faisalabad, is a shining example of a community-led water supply and sanitation scheme. Motivated by ,Anjuman Samaji Behbood,, a Faisalabad-based NGO led by Nazir Ahmad Wattoo, the community self-financed and constructed sanitation facilities at a fraction of the cost the municipal authorities had estimated for the project. Irteza Haider, a development professional working for the National Rural Support Program, reviewed Hasanpura scheme for Water Aid and wrote the following in his report:

“Since 1996, the community led sanitation project has led to the dramatic transformation of Hasanpura. That the streets, once filled with sewage and refuse, have been transformed into clean, safe environments where healthy children play and seniors relax is testimony to the success of improved sanitation in Hasanpura. The burden of disease has been reduced considerably; children are clean, healthy and happy. Parents are delighted that they do not have to pay huge medical bills or see their children suffer in pain.”

Source: Haider, Irteza (2008). Development of community- based sanitation infrastructure in Hasanpura, Faisalabad. Water Aid, UK.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is soliciting interests in developing new toilet designs that could be introduced in remote parts of the world inhabited by the very poor who lack access to running water or sewerage pipes. Successful applicants will receive funding to design, prototype, and test “entirely stand alone, self-contained, practical sanitation modules which intake bodily wastes and swiftly dispose of them without any incoming water piping, outgoing sewer piping or electric or gas utilities.” If interested, submit your letter of intent by May 10, 2012.

When it comes to public health, Pakistan indeed has a choice. Its establishment can continue ignoring the dire needs of millions of poor and force them into misery and disease, or it can invest in sanitation to meet the MDG for 2015. Should it choose to invest in sanitation and not bombs, experts believe that 13,000 additional children’s lives could be saved by 2015 in Pakistan.

Murtaza Haider, Ph.D. is the Associate Dean of research and graduate programs at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University in Toronto. He can be reached by email at murtaza.haider@ryerson.ca

The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.

,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

,,
,,

,, ,, ,, ,, ,,

Via DAWN.com

PIA plane makes emergency landing at Lahore

LAHORE – A Riyadh-bound PIA flight carrying 290 passengers made emergency landing at Lahore Airport on Thursday evening due to some technical faults in one of its engines. The Civil Aviation Authority said the PIA plane, which took off from Faisalabad for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia via Karachi, experienced some serious problems after around 10 minutes and reported the matter to the control …

..
..

.. .. .. .. ..

Seven injured in firing on toll plaza in Faisalabad

Unknown armed men opened fire at a toll plaza here in Faisalabad late Thursday night injuring seven employees.
According to details, more than five armed men in civil dress and elite force uniform arrived at the toll plaza located at Jarranwala Road and started firing at the employees of toll plaza. As a result of firing seven persons were injured. The attackers fled the scene after the incident. …

..
..

.. .. .. .. ..

234kg heroin seized in container exported from Pakistan to UK

A textile goods container exported from Faisalabad to United Kingdom, containing approximately 234kg heroin was seized by authorities in Yorkshire on Tuesday, Express News reported.

The British police arrested two suspected dealers and took them to an undisclosed location where initial investigations led to the arrest of seven other suspects from different parts of Faisalabad.

Further investigations are underway.

Authorities were puzzled over how the smuggling was taking place.

Involvement of government officials is suspected by authorities who were baffled by the smuggling due to its immense quantity.

The container was sent from a small industrial estate, but the name of the firm is yet to be disclosed by authorities as they suspect that those involved will go into hiding.

Two killed, 30 injured in Faisalabad vehicles pileup

At least two persons including a woman were killed and 30 others injured in pileup of vehicles here on Monday. According to rescue sources, a speedy passenger bus, a truck and a trailer collided with each other at Sargodha Road near Haji Camp in Faisalabad. As a result of accident, two persons including bus driver and a hostess were
killed on the spot while 30 others sustained injuries. The …

..
..

.. .. .. .. ..

Rallies paralyse Faisalabad

FAISALABAD – For the first time in its history, Ghanta Ghar or Clock Tower, the centre of eight bazaars of the city, was draped in black from top to toe on Sunday to observe the black day as a protest against discriminatory gas and electricity loadshedding here.
The whole city was flooded with black flags, black banners marking the black day. At the entrance points from all sides, Sheikhupura …

..
..

.. .. .. .. ..

Rulers making mockery of judicial verdicts:?Rashid

FAISALABAD – Chief of Awami Muslim League Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has said that if PML-N President Mian Ex Prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharifhad accepted his advice, the nation would not have come across such worst situation.
‘Pakistan is overtaken by a gang of five, who are deciding the fate of the nation’, he said, adding, through passage of 18th and 20th Amendments, the rulers and Opposition parties had not …

..
..

.. .. .. .. ..

Telecom Foundation: Top slots occupied by bogus degree holders

The foundation has not responded to a Federal Investigation Agency letter to the managing director (MD) of the foundation that states that the degrees of multiple employees were found to be fake and that their original documents are needed for verification.

When contacted by Daily Express, the MD, Rashid Basheer Mazari, confirmed that he had received the letter.

He said that he had sent the degrees of the officers in question to the concerned departments, universities and the HEC, but he has yet to receive a response.  He said strict action will be taken against anyone whose degree is found to be fake.

Mazari added that the degrees he has sent for verification are from Faisalabad and Preston Universities. The MD further added that action will be taken when the feedback is received.

Meanwhile, the secretary and GM of the foundation Amjad Hussain told Daily Express that the degrees of all the officers in question had been submitted and verified – claiming that no issue exists regarding these degrees any more.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2012.

No end to towering rages in sight

LAHORE/FAISALABAD – Despite the tall claims of the government about a substantial increase in power supply, citizens experienced no reduction in loadshedding, which resulted in violent protests in several areas of Lahore and other cities on the third consecutive day Tuesday.
As energy crisis has crippled industries, the owners and workers locked all industrial units and came out on the streets in …

..
..

.. .. .. .. ..

Man in search of ‘power’ meets death

LAHORE/FAISALABAD – One person was killed as a security guard opened fire on angry protesters who attacked a petrol pump in the Daroghawala area of Lahore on Monday, as people came out on streets against unending power crisis which has paralysed life across Punjab.
Violent protests were also reported from Faisalabad, Bahawalnagar, Gujranwala, Kamalia, Rawalpindi, Multan and other towns and cities …

..
..

.. .. .. .. ..

Shahbaz to lead long march

FAISALABAD – Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif on Monday announced that he would lead the long march of industrialists towards Islamabad against the electricity load-shedding, as masses were dying of hunger and poverty, while the rulers were enjoying their lives like princes, despite multiple crises in the country.
He was talking to media persons and a delegation of businessmen in …

..
..

.. .. .. .. ..

Power outages fuels violence in Lahore, Faisalabad

Major cities of Punjab on Monday once again witnessed the violence during protest demonstration against prolonged power outages.
According to media reports, one demonstrators was killed while other sustained serious injuries when a guard on Gas station opened fire to disperse violent protesters.
According to the details, in Daroghawala and Shalimar areas of provincial capital, a large number of …

..
..

.. .. .. .. ..