Posts Tagged ‘Haripur’

Secretary dies in firing at MNA’s car

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HARIPUR (Online) – Secretary of MNA Gohar Nawaz was killed and two guards were injured when some unknown persons opened indiscriminate firing at Gohar’s vehicle in Haripur on Friday.
Gohar Nawaz, his Secretary Abdul Hafiz and two guards were on way to Haripur in their vehicle. Some unknown persons…

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‘No more delay in work on Expressway to be tolerated’

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Haripur – Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Communication Senator Zahid Khan has said that work on the Expressway Project must be immediately started, as funds have been released for it.
He said now no negligence or delay in this regard would be tolerated. This Senator Zahid Khan said while chairing…

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The Curious Case of Women in Pakistan

The news of an elderly woman being paraded naked in Haripur, a remote village in Punjab, is really heart throbbing. Her crime? Her son is accused of adultery with a fellow village woman. The village jury declares her son guilty and the victim (her mother) is paraded around the streets naked, as the punishment. Justice [...]

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Via DAWN.com

The naked truth

Middle-aged Shahnaz Bibi’s ordeal at the hands of her village’s tough guys makes hers the most read story on the BBC World website. Earlier this month in the remote village of Neelor Bala in Haripur district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, she was punished for her son’s alleged affair with a neighbour’s wife, possibly under a jirga [...]

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Via DAWN.com

2 held for parading woman naked

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Police in Haripur said they have arrested two men for stripping a woman naked and parading her in a village. One of the offenders had accused the woman’s son of having illicit relations with his wife, the police said, reported BBC on Tuesday.
Police said villagers where the incident took…

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Jirga victim records statement in court

HARIPUR, June 14: A woman who was allegedly forced to parade naked in a village recorded her statement before the court of Judicial Magistrate Rashid Rauf Swati here on Tuesday. Shahnaz, 40, who was accompanied by her husband Sarwar of village Neelor Bala of the Beer union council, told the court that she was alone [...]

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Via DAWN.com

Two women killed

TAXILA, June 6: Two women were burnt to death and five other passengers were injured after fire broke out in a van due to suspected leakage in the CNG cylinder here on Monday, police said. When the Rawalpindi-bound van (K-9828), coming from Haripur, reached near Margalla Hills, it caught fire. Passengers jumped out of the [...]

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Via DAWN.com

Media finds no OBL hideout in Haripur

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HARIPUR – Local and foreign journalists again visited the nearby Chak Shah Muhammad for a second day on Sunday to get a clue of the place where Osama bin Laden lived along with his family before moving to Abbottabad, as claimed by one of his arrested wives.
They went form…

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`Network was not run from compound`

CHAK SHAH MOHAMMAD (Haripur), May 8: Security officials reacted with scepticism on Sunday to a US assertion that Osama bin Laden was actively engaged in directing his network from his compound in Abbottabad. Washington said on Saturday that based on a trove of documents and computer equipment seized in the raid Bin Laden`s hideout was [...]

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Via DAWN.com

Search operation in Abbottabad, 25 suspects arrested

KARACHI: Intelligence agencies conducted a search operation in Abbottabad on Friday and arrested 25 suspects, DawnNews reported. Osama bin Laden’s widow during investigation revealed that bin Laden was based in Haripur before moving to Abbottabad. According to sources, the search operation is being conducted in order to deal with the potential consequences of the US [...]

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Via DAWN.com

Understanding a tornado

An overturned car rests next to the debris of a home destroyed by tornadoes on April 29, 2011 in Pratt City, Alabama. – Photo by AFP

On March 19, a tornado hit the outskirts of Sialkot. People in Pakistan are familiar with other forms of storms that unleash energy while moving along the earth’s surface. This particular lightning storm was a special type of tornado – more specifically, a twister. In this part of the world, only a few are familiar with the word twister whereas these are quite commonly known in North America. Loss of property and life is often reported on account of twisters and other similar disasters such as whirlwinds, hurricanes, cyclones, ,tornadoes, and such.

Generally, the two words are used interchangeably but now, the synonymic status has been altered because of deeper insight into its forms, size, area affected, terrain, underlying mechanism and its varying intensity.

A tornado (wrongly considered the same as a twister) is a storm covering a wider area and lasts a longer duration. In case it occurs over a smaller area, on a body of water it is known as ‘waterspout’. The same thing on a large body of water, for instance the sea or ocean, is known as a ‘cyclone’ in Asia-Pacific and a ‘hurricane’ in the US. The winds within a severe cyclone gusting around a moving centre on earth or a water surface, may attain a speed of 350 km/hour or even more. On its landfall, it may have a very damaging effect.

The difference between a tornado and a twister has now become more pronounced and it is appropriate to restrict the term twister to tornadoes that have a very strong upward component of whirlwind, having a tendency of lifting, uprooting and hurling objects on ground. Therefore, a ,tornado may become a twister, as soon as it has achieved a ,classifiable destructive ability,. In reality however, a twister is generally supposed to reside in the wobbling axial hyperactivity within a tornado and shows itself up when associated parameters acquire specific criticality. The ,deadliest twister, in history killed 625 and injured more than 2,000 people.

The development of a tornado is ,easily explainable, with the help of wind velocity, pressure gradients and the ,curl vectors, but how it morphs into a twister is a phenomenon that is still under study. A tornado per se is preceded by a lashing windstorm, rain, hailstorm and a thunderstorm. For allowing it to grow into a twister, it has to have an upper layer of icy cold wind with hot air underneath. The two interact, causing an increase in wind velocity, producing curly gusts. This sets in spiraling of air with higher velocity as the hot air converging near the earth’s surface is sucked upwards. ,Latent heat, from icy droplets being pulled downwards mainly under the influence of gravity is pumped in as additional energy to it and the twister becomes more violent.

At times, a hailstorm may also compound the problem. Within minutes, it becomes a monster in its own way. Statistically, very strong storms are only around one per cent of total recorded tornadoes (including twisters). This assessment is dependent upon the areas where damage may be high or relatively less, inducing error in its classification. Thus a twister intensifying and then devastating the sub-urban, non-residential area would have lesser ratings than if it were to strike over an urban residential path.

With the changing weather patterns, Pakistan has started getting its share of twisters. The recent ,tragedy, experienced by the people of Sialkot bears testimony. Historically, there are very few such tornadoes reported in the country before that. In 1981, Gujranwala and Sheikhupura areas were ravaged with 56 deaths and 600 injured. ,Similar calamities, hit in 1985, 1995, 2001 and 2006 in different parts of the country causing loss of life and property. But now twisters are becoming a frequent phenomenon and public awareness in this regard is of paramount importance despite the fact that people often come across dust storms in the plains and lightning storms in hilly areas.

In the present information age, reporting and some elementary steps are being taken, but the need to do better, at a bigger scale and with much more zeal has become an essential requirement. Continuing within existing resources, immediate steps can reduce the damage primarily due to its randomness, suddenness and subsequent ill-preparedness of the rescue units.

Data shows that winters in the country are shortening. This will continue to happen until the normal cooling pattern on earth is restored. That will render northern part of Punjab and western part of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa prone to twisters in the days to come. Critical period of occurrence is likely to be in March and April. Thus, Gilgit, Havelian, Haripur, Taxila, Mardan, Islamabad, Kohat, Mandi Bahauddin, Jhelum, Gujrat, Sialkot and places around Quetta are likely to become more vulnerable. The reason behind this assertion is that there is increased likelihood of having warm air below a suddenly appearing cool layer of moisture-laden air (leading towards formation of a ,super-cell,). So, it will be disservice to the residents of these areas if proper timely information is not passed on to them. In addition, well-documented ,safety precautions, such as moving into safe zones and to avoid injury through electric wires should be made handy through all relevant means.

It is suggested that a home-grown classification of such storms, based on its severity, be worked upon to replace the Fujita method. Pakistan is facing host of problems and the people are paying huge cost for inefficiency and un-professionalism. Not all are to be blamed; there are many who want to contribute. Thus, here is an opportunity for hard-working and honest people to serve the nation through their efforts towards alleviation of the some of the sufferings of the poor through effective disaster management.

The writer is a retired Chief Engineer PTCL and a radio engineer with special interest in ionospheric and tropospheric composition as well as climatology.

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Via DAWN.com

Presence of dengue virus carriers worries official

HARIPUR, April 27: Thousands of dengue virus carriers are present in the district as they have survived the viral disease last season but they are vulnerable to second attack of the infected mosquito that can prove harmful for them if preventive measures are not taken, according to Executive District Officer Health Dr Mohammad Idrees.

Addressing a meeting of District Health Board here on Wednesday, he said that outbreak of dengue epidemic was first reported in Haripur during 2005. The killer disease later spread to over 10 union councils of the district and claimed lives of few dengue virus carriers, he added.

The meeting, arranged by Save the Children, was attended by the officials of health department, Pakistan People’s Health Initiative (PPHI), district government, representatives of NGOs, District Health Management Committee and social activists.

“During last year 418 suspected cases were registered with the health department out of which 144 were found dengue positive while results of over 142 are still awaited from the National Institute of Health,” Dr Idrees said.

He claimed that there were thousands of other people who had been bitten by the affected mosquito. Those people recovered without any medical care or primary level medication but they were still vulnerable to second attack of the deadly virus, he added and stressed the need for taking preventive measures.

He said that his department was making all out efforts for prevention of dengue disease. “We are distributing 10,000 mosquito nets among the residents of red marked areas,” he added. He said that he had received Rs6.6 million from government for dengue prevention.

The EDO asked NGO and community members to join hands with the health department in creating awareness among people and carrying out fog spray in the district. He also sought help of people to eradicate tuberculosis, polio, swine flue, malaria, diarrhoea and hepatitis from Haripur.

He said that he was also trying to resolve problems of shortage of funds and staff at the medical facilities.

The medical superintendent DHQ Hospital, Dr Mohammad Nawaz, complained about shortage of staff and medicines at the health facility. Improvement in health services could be brought only with additional budget and staff, he said.

Earlier, some of the participants pointed out shortcomings in services of PPHI and demanded its review and monitoring.

Rashida Parveen, the programme manager of Saved the Children, said that her organisation would continue to support the health department and the NGOs working in health sector.

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Via DAWN.com

FIA set to lose another Khanani & Kalia case

Abdul Munaf Kalia and Javaid Khanani were arrested by FIA in 2008 on the charges of money laundering and illegal transfer of money.—File photo

ISLAMABAD: Having already lost the money laundering case it filed against Abdul Munaf Kalia and Javaid Khanani in a district court in Karachi, due to lack of evidence, the Federal Investigation Agency now appears set to lose the second one too — thanks to the alleged negligence of the investigation officers who fielded an incomplete challan in district court Abbottabad.

Mr Kalia and Mr Khanani, the directors of Khanani and Kalia International (KKI), one of the largest foreign exchange companies in the country, were arrested by FIA in 2008 on the charges of money laundering and illegal transfer of money.

They were accused of transferring foreign currency from Pakistan and running illegal ‘Hawala or Hundi business’. Cases were registered against them in Lahore, Karachi and Abbottabad.

Over two years later, not only have they been acquitted from the case in Karachi, it is likely that they might be let off scot-free from Abbottabad also.

This is because the final challan, which was filed by the Additional Director (AD) before the Abbottabad court on Sept 22 last year, failed to mention the names of Munaf Kalia and Javaid Khanani.

Because of this technical error, the two are no longer accused of smuggling billions of dollars out of the country from the Pak-Afghan exit route.

That the exclusion is not being seen as a ‘mistake’ is evident from the fact that the FIA head office has ordered an inquiry against AD Tariq Pervaiz for not filing challans against the two. In fact, he is being accused of doing it deliberately.

The misconduct was discovered accidentally almost seven months after the challans were filed in Abbottabad court, when the former DG FIA, Waseem Ahmed, ordered a reinvestigation into the money laundering cases against Kalia and Khanani. He ordered this reinvestigation in the first week of March, after he was grilled about the issue at the Senate Standing Committee on Interior.

The report of the reinvestigation said that Tariq Pervaiz, the investigation officer in FIA Crime Circle Abbottabad, was granted permission to file challan against six accused in the money laundering case but only four of them were named when it was filed in the court.

The challan does not mention either Kalia or Khanani despite the fact that their names were included in the Confidential Final Report (CFR).

The explanation letter has also been issued to DD Tariq Pervaiz says, “You sought permission for challan in the court, which was accorded by the then Director FIA, KPK on 23-4-2010 against; Tariq Aziz.., Wajid Mehmood…, Mansoor Ahmed…, Raja Tanveer Ahmed…, Abdul Munaf Kalia and Javaid Khanani.”

The allegations against Pervaiz are serious to say the least. The letter issued by the Director FIA KPK Dr Muhammad Suleman Khan says, “From the perusal of challan submitted to the court under your signature it has been found that you intentionally did not include the name of two main accused namely Abdul Munaf Kalia and Javaid Khanani in the request of Challan.”

This however is not the only issue which raises questions about the competency of those investigating this case. There has been an inordinate delay in the case’s progress.

In the Abbottabad case alone, an FIA official told Dawn that the challans were filed on September 22, 2010 even though the permission to submit them was issued in April that year; in other words the challans were delayed for five months.

“The filing of challan with four names could not have escaped the knowledge of Director, FIA KPK, Inam Ghani,” the official said, adding that the entire case had been damaged.

However, when asked, Tariq Pervaiz claimed that the names were left out “mistakenly” because of the pressure of work.

The case in Abbottabad was registered after an FIA team in August 2008, raided Bismillah Enterprises, a franchise of KKI located at GT Road Haripur, seizing computers, foreign currency and other records including receipts. It also arrested Tariq Aziz and Wajid Aziz, who were running the franchise despite the fact that the State Bank had cancelled the business licenses of all KKI franchises.

Following the raid, the report filed by Investigation Officer Saleh Muhammad nominated Khanani, Kalia, Tariq Aziz and Wajid Aziz for money laundering in KPK.

Talking to Dawn Saleh Muhammad said that KKI had one online account registered with the State Bank which recorded the transactions through this account.

“However, investigation revealed that they had 47 accounts under fake names in various branches of commercial banks,” he said, adding that “These fake accounts were being used for transactions related to Hundi, Hawala and money laundering.”

During the final phase of inquiry in May 2009, a senior official of the Agency told Dawn, IO Saleh Muhammad was transferred to FIA headquarters in Islamabad and the case was handed over to Tariq Pervez, who was then working as Assistant Director FIA, Peshawar Circle.

After he filed the challan, Pervaiz, was given a shoulder-promotion and made Acting Deputy Director FIA immigration by Inam Ghani, the director of the FIA.

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Via DAWN.com

KP to take over 91 archaeological sites

HARIPUR, April 9: Following the devolution of the Ministry of Museums and Archives to the provinces under the 18th constitutional amendment, the federal government has asked the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to take over charge of 19 archaeological Buddhist sites that are in the territorial jurisdiction of district Haripur, official sources told Dawn here on Saturday.

The KP department of archaeology is being given the charge of a total of 91 archaeological sites including Swat Museum.

It was reported that the federal government had written to all the provinces to take over the charge of archaeological sites falling in their territorial jurisdiction. The KP was also asked to take over the sites including Swat Museum and 19 of the Buddhist sites previously under the control of Taxila Museum.

From the Buddhist city of Taxila, the famous and frequently visited sites that the KP government will be taking control of include Jandial Stupa, Jinan Wali Dheri, Badal Pur Stupa, Buddhist Monastery of 300 BC commonly known as Julian University, Mound Pind Ghakhra, Tofkian Stupa, Mirpur Mound, Sirsukh, Piplian archaeological site, Lalchcuk Stupa, Chiti archaeological site, Bhirmound and some others. The rest of the archaeological sites are situated in Abbottabad, Mansehra, Balakot, Kohistan, Swabi, Mardan, Bannu and D.I. Khan.

When approached for comments, KP Director Archaeology Saleh Mohammad Khan confirmed the report that his department had formally received the notification from the Cabinet Division, Islamabad pertaining to taking over of 91 sites in the entire province and started spade work to this effect.

He said that there were three categories of sites– A, B and C — which were graded by the federal government in accordance with their importance and condition. However, he said, he had suggested a committee comprising the officials of the federal department of archaeology, provincial archaeology department and revenue department. He said that this committee would verify all the record and would be handed over sites. He added that after completion of the required process of photography and filming, his department would take over these sites.

To a question Mr Khan said that his department had 250 employees but for taking care of the new sites he would prefer to get the services of federal archaeology department staff, especially the watchmen who were most experienced and had been working on these sites for several years.

“It is wise to get all the previously employed staff of the federal government for the sites rather than hiring fresh ones and inexperienced employees,” he said.

Meanwhile, on the other hand the Cabinet Division, Islamabad through a notification issued here the other day announced to hand over the services of 130 employees of Taxila Museum to Punjab government on deputation under section 10 of the service rules.

The notification issued on April 5, 2011 has sent a shockwave among the employees, who face an uncertain future. On the other hand, there will be no one to take care of the sites being handed over to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

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Via DAWN.com

NEWS IN BRIEF

Protest campaign

PESHAWAR, March 15: All Government Employees Confederation has criticised the government for its failure to accept the workers’ demands and announced a schedule for holding protest meetings in parts of the province and Islamabad.

The schedule was finalised at a meeting held at the Civil Secretariat here on Tuesday with its provincial chairman Iftikhar Ahmed Shamozai in the chair.

It was decided that protest campaign would start from April 5 during which public meetings and demonstrations would be arranged at all the district headquarters.

From April 18, hunger strike camps would be organised across the country. A public meeting will be held in Peshawar on May 17 and a sit-in will be staged outside the Chief Minister House. —Bureau Report

Sports week at UET

PESHAWAR, March 15: The annual sports week kicked off at the University of Engineering and Technology at a festive and lively ceremony here on Tuesday.

The sports week features ten departments of the engineering university competing in cricket, football, volleyball, basketball, badminton, table tennis, lawn tennis and athletics, says a press release.

Vice-Chancellor Syed Imtiaz Hussain Gilani was the chief guest on the occasion. The students from all departments entered the venue dressed in their departmental colours and carrying flags and mottos of their respective departments. Director Sports Muhammad Ali, in his welcome address, highlighted the value and importance of sports in complementing the academics of students in a positive way. — Bureau Report

University representative

MARDAN, March 15: The provincial government has nominated Prof Dr Ihsan Ali, vice-chancellor of Abdul Wali Khan University (AWKUM), as its representative to the Higher Education Commission (HEC) for a period of four years.

University sources told this correspondent here on Tuesday that Prof Dr Ihsan Ali would represent all universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at the HEC.

They said that Dr Ali had served on various positions including director archaeology Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and vice-chancellor of Hazara University.

His nomination has been applauded by the educationists, academicians, faculties of various universities, political and social communities. —Correspondent

PSF seeks release of leader

PESHAWAR, March 15: Activists of Peoples Students Federation (PSF) held a protest demonstration at Sher Shah Suri Road here on Tuesday against the arrest of their divisional president Saad Qaqas and demanded his early release.

The protesters set tyres on fire, blocked the road and shouted slogans against Tehkal police and termed the arrest as illegal.

The demonstrators were led by PSF information secretary Fahim Khattak, divisional general secretary Nadir Khan and Peshawar district president Talib Jan.

Talking to media persons, they said that police had arrested their leader for the only fault that he had raised voice against the groupings and asked organisers of another group to avoid splits in the party. —Bureau Report

Rickshaw drivers hold demo

PESHAWAR, March 15: Drivers of motorcycle rickshaws on Tuesday held a protest demonstration near the Cantonment Railways Station against police for beating a driver and demanded of the IGP to take action against those responsible.

The protesters blocked the main road and shouted slogans against the concerned personnel of police squad. They said that the driver, Kafayatullah, was riding his rickshaw near Stadium Chowk when the police personnel intercepted him and started beating him without any reason.They demanded of the police high-ups to provide him justice and take action against the concerned police officials. — Bureau Report

Assistance for flood survivors

PESHAWAR, March 15: Provincial Health Minister Syed Zahir Ali Shah has said that militancy and floods had badly affected lives of the people in the province but the government is determined to continue supporting them.

He also appreciated the non-governmental organisations and philanthropists for extending cooperation to the needy people and asked the well-off people to help the widows, orphans and destitute in the hour of need.

The minister expressed these views as chief guest at distribution of assistance among poor families at Peshawar Press Club on Tuesday. The function was arranged by an NGO ‘Helping Hand for Relief and Development’.

The office-bearers of the NGO also spoke on the occasion and said that some 50 boxes were distributed among the needy people. —Bureau Report

Under-construction colleges

PESHAWAR, March 15: Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti has directed the concerned officials to expedite the pace of work on the under-construction government colleges in order to start the classes forthwith.

He said that government wanted the people to take benefit from the facilities provided to them in their respective localities. He was chairing a meeting on higher education here on Tuesday.

Mr Hoti said that provision of higher education to the youth was prior responsibility of the government, adding that education could only ensure prosperous future of the nation. He directed officials of Works and Services Department for making arrangements for handing over the furnished colleges to higher education department so that teaching process and educational activities could be started soon. —Bureau Report

Liquor seized

HARIPUR, March 15: The police on Tuesday claimed to have seized a large quantity of homemade liquor and arrested two bootleggers.

Hattar police on an intelligence report raided the house of alleged drug sellers Akhtar Khan of village Shadi and recovered 106 bottles of liquor. In another raid, the Khanpur police arrested Siddique Khan of village Nainsukh Khanpur and recovered 10 bottles of liquor from his possession. —Correspondent

Staff, lab equipment demanded

TIMERGARA, March 15: Parents of students of Adenzai tehsil in Lower Dir have demanded of the government to provide science laboratory equipment and staff to government college, Gulabad.

Talking to local journalists at Chakdara here on Tuesday, they said that the college was set up in 1996 and was upgraded to degree level in 2003 but still it had only 18 lecturers.

The residents said that the degree college was occupied by Taliban in May 2009 when they took control of some areas in Adenzai. “In June 2009, army helicopters and security forces bombed the college several times,” they said, adding that walls, windows and furniture were damaged in fierce shelling. —Correspondent

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Via DAWN.com

Fazl says misuse of blasphemy law can be discussed

Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman. — Photo by AFP

ISLAMABAD: Amid sound and fury in the National Assembly that saw Interior Minister Rehman Malik rejecting calls for his resignation over the assassination of Minorities Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a ray of hope shone with JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman saying, in an apparent climbdown, that a perceived misuse of the blasphemy law could be discussed.

After several lawmakers from both the opposition and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) demanded that he step down and some others said he was doing well, Mr Malik said he would continue ,his job, and “my mission” to rout Taliban militants, whom he called Pakistan’s enemies, even at the risk of his life.

But, winding up a two-day debate over Wednesday’s ,shooting down of Mr Bhatti, by four gunmen near the home of his mother in Islamabad apparently because of his views over the application of the Zia-era blasphemy law, the minister said he would be ready to resign if a judicial commission or a parliamentary committee found him wanting in carrying out his responsibilities.

Mr Malik also rejected suggestions that the minorities affairs minister, a Christian, was not provided adequate security, saying Mr Bhatti had made it a practice to go to his mother’s house, about a furlong from his own, to live their for the night without a 15- to 16-strong guard provided to him, thinking that in this way he would distract those who threatened his life. But, he said, the absence of Mr Bhatti’s guards when he was returning from his mother’s home made him the victim of the gunmen who, according to police, escaped in a white car after the shooting in the I-8/4 sector.

During heated arguments from both sides over the security situation in Islamabad and the rest of the country before the house was prorogued after a 12-day session, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI) leader Maulana Fazl touched on the blasphemy law — while most others hesitated — although he disagreed with the general view linking Mr Bhatti’s murder with the controversy over that law or with the Jan 4 assassination of then Punjab governor Salman Taseer by one of his own police guards.

The Maulana said he thought Mr Bhatti’s murder could have been inspired by what he called “a lobby opposed to religious circles” to put them under a new pressure on the pretext of the blasphemy law.

In what seemed to be a gesture and a change in a previous hard line, the JUI chief said although attacking procedures often reflected an intent to block the application of a law, “if a law is being misused against minorities we are ready to discuss this (matter)”.

Recalling that after the government’s assurances it did not intend to make any amendment to the blasphemy law, the JUI-F and some other religious parties had terminated a ‘Tahafuz Namoos-i-Risalat’ campaign launched last year, he said: “Such acts (of violence now) amount to taking the law and Constitution in one’s own hands.”

And he asked the government to “accept its responsibilities” to maintain law and order and said that “law should come into action”.

The interior minister did not refer to Maulana Fazl’s apparent offer to discuss fears about the misuse of the blasphemy law often voiced by minority communities and human rights organisations and there was no indication in the JUI-F leader’s remarks if he would himself raise the matter with the government.

It was also without referring to his remarks that PML-N lawmaker Ayaz Amir, in a strong speech afterwards in which he called for building “a dam against bigotry and fanaticism”, noted that both the late Salman Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti only wanted procedural safeguards against the misuse of the blasphemy law and did not want to change the definition of blasphemy or the punishment of death for those who committed the offence.

Those who demanded the interior minister’s resignation, mostly in the first sitting of the day, included PML-Q parliamentary leader Faisal Saleh Hayat, some other members of both the PML-N and PML-Q and a vocal PPP back-bencher, Jamshed Dasti.But in what appeared to be the result of some public relations work during a break for Friday prayers, several others from the PPP, government-allied MQM and at least one from the PML-Q, jumped to the minister’s defence, calling for an end to what he and some of his supporters called a “blame game”.

Mr Malik asked why nobody from the PML-N-led Punjab government resigned when governor Taseer was killed by a member of the provincial police or when other deadly attacks, including some on military officers and religious leaders, were made in the province and why members of the same party were asking for his resignation now?

“It is time not to have a blame game, it is time to sit together to work out a strategy (to fight terrorists),” he said while defending his role in what he described as a transformation to comparative peace from a critical situation when the present government took office, when, he said, parents were not ready to send their children to school and when the Taliban rebels based in Swat had reached up to Haripur, across Islamabad’s Margalla hills.

“I am proud of my government and my men,” he said and claimed improvement of the situation in Balochistan where he accused unspecified “foreign powers” of involvement.

“We should unite on two things — security and foreign policy,” the minister said and asked the house to decide whether to set up a judicial commission or a parliamentary committee to probe the security situation.

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Via DAWN.com

Prisoners on death row await decent abode

PESHAWAR, Feb 25: After a visit by the district and sessions judge to the central prison here on Friday, condemned prisoners rotting in death cells can hope to get better living quarters until their appeals are decided.

DSJ Ziauddin Khattak noted that the prisoners were still being kept in death cells when the relevant law had been amended, and directed concerned authorities to lodge them in separate barracks, an official privy to the visit told Dawn.

According to the official the judge heard the grievances of some of the condemned prisoners who have been in death cells for many years waiting for the outcome of their appeals pending before different forums.

The judge pointed out to the prison authorities that the provincial assembly had amended the Prison Act last October following which a condemned prisoner could not be held in death cell unless his/her appeal attains finality.

The judge also decided cases of 25 prisoners held for petty crimes.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly amended the British-era law, Prison Act 1894, in Oct 2010 following which the condemned prisoners should be kept in separate barracks instead of death cells.

The amended section 30(2) of the Prison Act states: “Prisoners under sentence of death shall be kept in separate barracks/cells instead of death cells, till the final decision on their appeals and shall be placed by day and by night under the charge of a guard.”

The official said that the prison superintendent Shahjehan Khan told the judge that they lacked enough space to accommodate the condemned prisoners in separate barracks. The superintendent suggested that the government should construct more barracks for the purpose.

The district judge directed the authorities to take immediate steps for implementing the law, as keeping them in death cells was illegal.

Presently, there are around 65 condemned prisoners in the Peshawar Central Prison some of whom have been languishing in the death cells for over five years. Some of these inmates were convicted by courts in Punjab and their appeals have been pending before the Lahore High Court for the last many years.

It is learnt that there are 23 death cells in the prison and each one houses one to three inmates. There are about 95 prisoners on death row in two other major prisons, including 87 in Haripur and nine in Dera Ismail Khan.

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Via DAWN.com