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Showing posts with label Punjab. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Punjab. Show all posts

Monday, 23 November 2009

Sindhis responsible for 97% of corruption in Pakistan: NRO's message



By Abdul Nishapuri

Once again, it would appear that the rules are different for peoples from Sindh whereas politicians, bureaucrats and military personnel from Punjab and elsewhere are angels who do not have a spot of corruption on their careers. Or at least, that is what the establishment wants us to believe through its "NRO" tool.

NRO list out, 34 politicians among 8,000 beneficiaries
By Amir Wasim

Sunday, 22 Nov, 2009 (Dawn)

ISLAMABAD: A majority of the NRO beneficiaries have been bureaucrats and government officials as a list, released by the government on Saturday, contained names of only 34 politicians out of a total of 8,000.

According to the list, almost 97 per cent of the beneficiaries are from Sindh. The ordinance will lapse on Nov 28 in the light of the Supreme Court’s July 31 verdict in the PCO judges case.

The list shows that a total of 8,041 people — 7,793 from Sindh — have benefited from the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), promulgated by former president Pervez Musharraf on Oct 5, 2007.

These people have got withdrawn 3,478 cases (3,320 in Sindh) registered against them on charges of corruption, financial bungling, misuse of authority and criminal charges.

What do ordinary Pakistanis think about NRO?
(various sources including pkpolitics, friendskorner etc)

Pakistan said:
7,793 from Sindh, this does not mean that sindhis are corrupt.
Ghulam Agmad Bloor from ANP said on a TV show that 99% corruptionwas done in Punjab through loans written off ,by a specific part in punjab, and they built from sugar to terxtile industry.
These corrupt military, civil bureaucrats and government officials should be brought to justice.

This was time when every MNA and MPA in punjab was running to get loan and get write off and then develop a factry.

Worh to see that time a loan beneficiary and calculate the amount with interest toay.
———————————–
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/12-pms+wife+paid+rs455m+against+rs570m+liabilities–bi-07
———————————-

Wahid Doyum said:
How accurate are the cases against those on the list? NAB after all was run through Musharraf’s orders and the history of judiciary is well known.

waw said:
The above list is half of the looters. The list – which consists the gangsters from Sind- was prepared by the looters from Punjab when they (Nawaz and his team) were in government. Now the looters from Sind (Zardari and party) are in government and they are in process of preparing another list of gangsters who belong to Punjab. All these consist of one group- the looters of the nation. Now Nawaz Sharif is protecting them- Then Zardari will be protecting Nawaz. You can say two teams of looters – the lahori group and the larkana group- looting the country for the last 65 years.

agrana75 said:
This list is only for the “idiot” politicians who instead of buying judiciary and other related officials , preffered to get rid of the cases through NRO. There are many shrewd and clever politicians who foresaw long time ago that such ordinances had no long term validity and effect. They “managed” to get clear themselves through the judicary and NAB. Now, question is that no body investigating the “CRIME” even if some got acquittal from the courts, it looks some angels came down to earth and looted the money ands thats all.

i_shah said:
What about generals. they surely arent angles and have had major chunk of the national budget. I guess corruption is legal for them. afterall who needs to deal in cash when they get plots and agricultural land at dirt cheap prices:

http://www.satribune.com/archives/Aug17_23_02/P1_landgrabbing.htm#top

http://antisystemic.org/satribune/www.satribune.com/archives/200504/P1_ss3.htm

sabazbagh said:
Many of us MAY BE familiar with a fact that especially when an officer from the army reaches the rank of a ‘Brigadier’ he (& now a ’she’ also) is LITERALLY ‘OFFERED’ ON A SILVER PLATTER, a prized piece of land in any military cantonment & MAY BE, then or (sometimes earlier or later,) when he reaches the rank of a Major:/Lt:General, he is THEN AGAIN ‘OFFERED’ the best ‘PIECES’ of STUD FARMS/AGRICULTURAL LANDS; that he MAY HAVE NEVER DREAMED-OFF?

A major question is then normally asked by majority of lower rank officers, sitting within or outside GHQ that ‘WHY THEM & NOT US?

What is called a ‘rat-race’ is THUS INITIATED by senior military officers with the backing & greediness of their spouses.

Consequently, there is a lot of ‘heart-burning’ amongst the lower ranks, whether themselves officers, or other ranks (comprising of Jco’s, Nco’s & men.) Is there any JUSTIFICATION for such a dole-out or ‘charity, whatever you may call it?

In order to ‘lessen’ the so-called ‘heart-burning’ among junior officers of the rank of Lt:Colonels & Majors, it was THUS decided about 15/20 years back, to ‘DULY REWARD’ them too, by the ‘CHARITABLE ENDOWMENT’ organization called the GHQ.

This legacy of ‘buying-off’ the LOYALTIES of the officers-lot was left behind by our ‘clever & intelligent’ Britishers, who ‘devastated’ every facet of life, during their, over 200 years rule,) NOT AT THEIR OWN EXPENSE, BUT AT OURS!

Will ever any army officer voluntarily, (whether TODAY or TOMORROW,) return back to GHQ, the PRIZED land ( worth billions in Pak Rs) , house or a residential flat, ( worth millions?)
Your own answer, NOT SURPRISINGLY would be a big, NO !

murtazahasaan said:
The NRO list of Beneficiaries is not as big of an issue as the fight against terrorism. The media can help us unite to raise voice against terrorism. We are Pakistanis and we can do this.

sabazbagh said:
Whatever OTHER BENEFITS that a serving or a retired military officer obtains during his service with the civil govt, ( especially during past martial years of Ayub, Zia or any other, such era; they are usually ‘OVER & ABOVE’ what he gets from GHQ, either during his ‘pre’ or ‘post’ retirement period of service in the military.

I seriously think that the Ministry of Defense should also release a similar LIST, showing the names of beneficiaries of the three services, i.e; Pak Army Navy & Air Force, ‘who had their cake & ate it’ too & also ‘burned both ends of their candles’!

MAY BE, there will be so much of pressure by retired military officers upon the incumbent Service Chiefs,that such a list will NEVER see the light of the day.

MAYBE, (I AGAIN repeat MAYBE,) it could result in a ’swift, short & quick’ move by the military, to SAVE IT” s HOLY COWS , TOO, FROM PUBLIC EXPOSURE?

Adonis said:
Given the backdrop of all the propaganda and the virile hatred that many ignorant and gullible Pakistanis keep expressing about politicians, this list of NRO beneficiaries is an eye opener.

It is time for us to realize that our politicians are not the source of our problems, rather it is the corrupt civil and military bureaucracy.

Politicians are accountable to the people and in every elections they have to defend their deeds. If the political system is not derailed by power-hungry generals, the relatively few corrupt politicians can easily be purged by the democratic process.

hasankhan said:
cases should be reopen but if not proven relative people should be compensated and the people who filed these fake cases should be put in jails.

logical said:
In last sixty years only last PPP govt was corrupt. Other all generals, politicians are clean and most important thing is these cases registered by most honest general Mushraf.
شرم تم کو مگر نہیں اتی

• Is it not the type of NRO in past and future
* In proposed Balochistan package people will be release from jail and all the cases against them will be withdraw and many of them openly admitted that they are doing arm struggle.
*In coming years Taliban will be part of Afghan govt and thousands of Pakistani Taliban will be in political process without any sentences.
*In 1977 military operation in balochistan stopped after five years. All prisoners released. No general or political activist who was openly involved in arm struggle blame for any thing.
*Nawaz family with a deal with Mushraf went to Saudi Arab.
*In history of trade union thousand times after strikes when management and trade union sit on table for agreement first it decided all charge sheets will be withdrawn.
*Pholan davi, a proved dacoit in India got mercy and became Lock Saba member.
*Every dictator in Pakistan got approval for breaking constitution, from assessable.
*when Ayub khan went thousands political activist was in jail with true and false FIR but next day they start releasing them. Same thing happened when Bhutto gone.

All above example are proved crimes not only political but murders, treason etc. this NRO is nothing to do with proved cases even in some cases more then 11 years within two different governments.

If supreme court can say that last supreme court made mistake and their action null and void then if National assembly decide that the approval of ( Mushraf 12th October coup and first PCO ) was wrong and it is null and void then what going to be happened with Ch Iftikhar.
You can find hundreds example in our and in world history where for breaking stalemate with political understanding we have to do this. Opposition for NRO is not about eliminating corruption. This is a political agenda. Generals have no problems with politician’s corruption instead they encourage them so they can blackmail them. Why they hate Zardari? He is trying to make good relation with India and interested in supremacy of civil govt on Military. Fortunate of Pakistani people Nawaz sharif (not all Muslim league) also have same vision. Most of these people are not democrat in nature. They can not remove him democratically so remove him by NRO, by court or by military.

mir munsif said:
..the propaganda and hate compaign against PPP is very old.Mighty establishment and sponsors always tried to corner PPP,the biggest federal party of Pakistan.Inspite of all their efforts of infusing hate and fabricating new cases against PPP,they could not erase the name of PPP.Even today,if elections held,if PPP wont stand as majority party,I assure u,it would be Second largest.

Actually Military Economic Umpire and co sponsors dont want to give free space to democratic system because they fear it,If it succeeds,which will weaken their power control over state.Its war started by Military Alliance (Certain Media+Mullas+agencies+Certain class in bureacracy etc) against PPP led Govt to discredit Govt so that they can cut the roots of democracy.Wake up call for Pro-democratic forces!!

dara said:

Bravo , Bravo pakistanies from whole of Lahore only Jahangir Badar was corrupt all others are angels. Those whose names are not in NRO are the real culprits because they belong to Punjabi Establishment.

In Lahore where since 1990 we only saw Muslim League in power thus all the corruption was done by them only JB . Hamayoon Akhtar Khan, Mian Munir, Haji Maqsood Butt, Liaqat baluch, Salman butt, and numarous Muslim League MPas and MNA’s no matter they were Q or N or XYZ.

Army generals the most corrupt people along with Punjabi establishment and Muslim League are the real culprits.

Nawaz Sharief family are bunch of saints who become the most richest just with hard work and by praying five times. The state pakistan has no courege to make cases against punjabi leaders. This will take Pakistan to its logical end , disintegration.

Pakistan said:
=============================================================
Be realistic….DO NOT BE TRAPD IN THE PROPAGANDA DONE BY THESE JOKERS.
=============================================================
The following are the only clean people in the country.
1: NS
2: CHs.
3: Army Generals,Colns,Capt. etc as they all are living according to theor means.
———–
Case against Rehman A Malik: Illegal detention against complainant and gratfication.
Source: http://www.geo.tv/important_events/2009/nrolist/pages/list.asp
———-
My suggestion to AZ to resign and go to the courts to get clearance.
———
To me: 95% people in NRO will be freed.
———

mir munsif said:
More Corruption stories

Pakistan-armys-multimillionaires

http://politicalpakistan.blogspot.com/2006/01/pakistan-armys-multimillionaires.html

Army Eyes its Biggest Real Estate Catch in Hotbed Islamabad

http://www.satribune.com/archives/200503/P1_butt2.htm

One more corruption story:

High Court Presented With Massive Charge Sheet Against Pakistan Army

http://www.satribune.com/archives/aug10_16_03/P1_chargesheet.htm

mir munsif said:
Pakalert Report update to share you!

EXPOSED!!!

GEO TV, Kamran Khan and the Lies of Dr Shahid Masood

http://pakalert.wordpress.com/2009/09/05/geo-tv-kamran-khan-and-the-lies-of-dr-shahid-masood/

Bawa said:
صدر کیخلاف مقدمات ختم ہو چکے: ترجمان

لاہور /اسلام آباد/ (خبرنگار خصوصی نوائے وقت +خصوصی نامہ نگارنوائے وقت + ریڈیو نیوز) ایوان صدر کے ترجمان فرحت اللہ بابر نے کہا ہے کہ قانون کے تحت صدر زرداری کیخلاف جو کیس ثابت نہیں ہو سکے اور جن کی انوسٹی گیشن ہو رہی ہے وہ ختم ہو چکے ہیں۔ نوائے وقت سے گفتگو کرتے ہوئے انہوں نے کہا اگر عدالتیں اس حوالے سے کوئی دوسرا فیصلہ کرتی ہیں تو وہ ہمکارے لئے قابل قبول ہو گا۔ امریکہ میں پاکستانی سفیر حسین حقانی نے کہا ہے کہ میں نے کبھی این آر او سے فائدہ نہیں اٹھایا۔ میری سمجھ میں نہیں آتا میرا نام این آر او سے فائدہ اٹھانے والوں کی فہرست میں کیسے آ گیا۔ انہوں نے کہا احتساب بیورو نے جو مقدمات میرے خلاف بنائے تھے وہ میں نے عدالتوں سے کلیئر کرا لئے تھے۔ مزید براں پیپلز پارٹی کے سیکرٹری جنرل جہانگیر بدر نے فہرست کو مسترد کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ این آر او سے فائدہ اٹھانے والے کوئی اور ہونگے۔ میرے مقدمات ہائیکورٹ میں ہیں۔ انہوں نے کہا میرے فیصلے کی گھڑی آئی تو میرا نام این آر او میں شامل کر دیا گیا۔ ہم عدالتوں سے گھبرانے والے نہیں‘ مقدمات کا بھرپور دفاع کرینگے۔ پیپلز پارٹی کی سیکریٹری اطلاعات فوزیہ وہاب نے کہا ہے کہ عدالت کو ایسے فیصلے ریورس نہیں کرنے چاہئیں جس سے ملک کا مفاد اور موجودہ نظام متاثر ہو ۔ نجی ٹی وی سے گفتگو میں انہوں نے کہا کہ پیپلزپارٹی مقدمات سے گھبرانے والی نہیں پارٹی رہنماؤں نے ہمیشہ عدالتوں کا سامنا کیا ہے۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ این آر او سے فائدہ اٹھانے والوں کی فہرست پہلے ہی جاری کردینا چاہیے تھی اس میں تاخیر کی گئی۔ ان کا کہنا تھا کہ اکثر مقدمات انتقامی کارروائی کے تحت بنائے گئے

Pakistan said:
After November 28, Nobody will be able to comment on this NRO issue.

As far far as These jokers (from Mullah Media Alliance) are concerned, They will damage the country by spreading false information and propaganda.

Ansar Abasi once mntined that PM stoped AZ to fire COA which was totally wrong and there was no fact at all.Think about the consequences in sight for the vicious propganda and If COA had taken this seriously.

Same thing applied with Saleh Zafar,a biggest joker,Once spread the news that AZ offered 5 crore each MNA to cast a vote in favour of NRO,What the hek this news analyst is?
This Jang group is trying to become a new piller in the country as they think it was the Jang newsgroup brought Musharaf don hence they can do this with each and every governament.
DEFEAT IS YOUR FATE YOU ALL JOKERS…….

mir munsif said:
I am neither against healthy criticism nor I ever consider PPP as Party of angels.Having said that I am also against Biased and abusive approach against PPP and its leadership.Even as per Transparency International and many independent fact finding reports,the Biggest plunders of national assets are Military Establishment Umpire.They are looting it without any accountability and any check & balance and any time they can over throw democratic system on the basis of so called ‘Biggest national interest’..while they are also considered Pure ppl of Pakistan.

Its important to understand the bigger picture,The weakness of any party or democratic system gives stimulus or rejuvenate the role of Military Authority.Since the day one,The Military Alliance has captured the authority over state and they WONT ever allow any Federal party or leadership to earn good names or strengthen the democratic system.It is indeed War of interests between Democratic Camp Vs Military Alliance (Military+Intelligence agencies+Certain Media+Pseduo Political groups+Mullas etc).

Politicians have suffered more and earned bad name,while the Military Alliance have earned not only good name but also plundered at the extreme.Give a break please,whether good or bad,Politicians have to go through democratic process,which may be slow but sooner or later,it will reform,but the wekaness of Political parties should not be an EXECUSE for any Military QUO.Therefore,I suggest you all to be free to criticize any party or leadership but dont be blind in hate/biased mind..dont be a tool of Propaganda Industry of Agencies and Media co which have only objective to discredit Democratic system.

zahidnaqvi said:
The TIME for serious thinking has now arrived. We must admit that due to our religious thinking and attachments, certain communities and regions have blindly voted for Bhuttto Party, and believe me we all are suffering very badly now. In view of Transparency International Report we have been down-graded by 5 points and this is only due to NRO and widespread corrruption.

The corruption is to such a high level that even if you need a new gas or electricity connection you have to bribe from an ordinary office clerk, then SDO and then XEN.

Yes, this corruption has been in ALL previous Govt’s, but my God why is it ‘free for all’ situation when Bhutto Party rules. Peoples Party must change its name to Bhutto Family Corruption Party.

What really annoys me is that for the last few weeks, Zardari has now started to wear Sindhi topi. I personally saw that news item when 2 days ago at Kabul Airport he was wearing Sindhi topi. Zardari must come to his senses, he is now trying to fight Sindhi against Punjabi, and Shia against Sunni. We must now allow this to happen. I urge to all Zardari lovers that they must come to their senses. This latest list of beneficiaries has been prepared by Zardari’s own hand picked PM and this list contains 90% Sindhhi’s.

In the last 2 Govt of Benazir, Sindhi’s were particulary given jobs in PIA, Customs, Airport Immigration, huge loans in the name of Agricultural Loans, free umrah tickets etc. I am not saying that the then Punjab Govt of Pervaiz Elahi was an angel, but the level of corruption with the aid of MQM was at a very high level in Sindh.

mir munsif said:
@Zahid Naqvi

U Said “This latest list of beneficiaries has been prepared by Zardari’s own hand picked PM and this list contains 90% Sindhhi’s.”

I refute ur claims that 90 percent are Sindhis instead the right Phrase should be 90 percent are from SINDH.Dont play with fire of ethncity.

List contains names of only 34 politicians out of a total of 8,000.Only four Sindhi Political figures got benefit from NRO (AZ,Nusrat Bhutto,Agha Siraj Durani,Yusuf Talpur),14 Politicians are from Punjab.The Biggest beneficiary of NRO is MQM not Sindhis…Mind the GAP Please.

Your second claim about Sindhi topi,which creates trouble for you,seeing a President wearing Sindhi cap as if its some cap from India or Jews.Give a break man,President AZ wears this cap on many official events even on the day he took oath as President.Why A sindhi cap gives u suffocation,why you see always boiling Ethenic divide.SIndhis are equal stake holders of this state,who were the first ppl in Indo Sub continent to pass the Pakistan resolution bill in Assembly before prepartition,they always voted for Federal Parties,either PPP or PMLN etx,then why again some ppl want to corner them.Dont Push harder or play with fire,I am sure,if PPP ever lost its strength in Sindh,then if u know the dynamics of Sindh,No other party has any base nor they try to make their foundation…how many times NS or Imran khan visited Sindh…??Except PPP,other strong thriving forces are Nationalists.I personally feel that Sindh can turn another Baluchistan the day PPP loose its credibility in Sindh,coz other credible force left is Nationalists.

mir munsif said:
@Zahid Naqvi,

I respect your opinion but I appreciate if you enlighten us on healthy discussion and pointing out problems with solutions rather fueling Hate,ethnicity and launching personal attacks on PPP leadership through this platform.Grow up dude..Your Qazi sb’s vote bank is less than 5 Percent and every one knows whts their strength and even you will know in future elections where your JI stands

with all Military Mulla alliance Might and propaganda,they could not erase the name of PPP.Keep bashing and shouting as long as you can,coz this wont harm the vote bank of PPP,it will absolutly give some blood pressure to u SInce your agenda seems to find all sort of blames upon PPP and all evils are in PPP while the rest of parties and Military Mullas are angels ..

runaway said:
when is Shahid Masood going to discuss Kiyani’s role in NRO.

Shouldn’t he also resign for his role in NRO?

I dont like Zardari but he is easy punching bag. Just by getting rid of one person won’t fix problems of Pakistan

Read more...

Thursday, 12 November 2009

Good governance in Punjab? Chief secretary blamed for land grabbing


Punjab chief secretary blamed for land grabbing
The News, Thursday, November 12, 2009

ISLAMABAD: The Chief Secretary Punjab Javed Mahmood has blamed for land grabbing in district Qusoor.

In a media briefing in National Press Club here, Barrister Shahid Masood said chief secretary Punjab made changes in 160 years old record with the assistance of revenue department and the property case is under trial in the court.

He claimed that chief secretary did contempt of court by forcefully possessing the property with the help of police and government machinery despite stay order of the court.

Read more...

Thursday, 5 November 2009

A specimen of Shahbaz Sharif's good governance: Cheeni Naheen Hay



Read more...

Wednesday, 4 November 2009

PML-N's dance minister: Rana Sanaullah



Replying a question in the Punjab Assembly raised by MPA Naseer Ahmed on dance clubs, Sanaullah assured the lawmakers that there were no dance clubs in Lahore and no dance parties were being arranged in hotels of the provincial capital. He also made certain (censored) comments about dance and women. MPA Dr Samia Amjad staged a walk out from the House, protesting against the law minister’s harsh wordings.

Read more...

Wednesday, 28 October 2009

LHC orders police to book Khawaja Asif in kidnapping case























LAHORE: A division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) ordered Sialkot police to register a criminal case against PML-N MNA Khawaja Asif and five others on charges of kidnapping Sialkot Executive District Officer (Colleges) Rana Zulfiqar and obtaining his signatures on several appointment letters. The bench, consisting of Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry and Justice Najamul Hasan Sheikh, observed that the allegations levelled by the appellant were of a serious nature. The bench also ordered the Rangpura station house officer to record the complainant’s statement. staff report
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\10\28\story_28-10-2009_pg7_5
Read more...

Tuesday, 27 October 2009

Death of DG Khan - Rasul Bakhsh Rais

dera ghazi khan

The first line of defence against encroachments and occupation of public spaces, and corruption in public projects are the citizens of the towns. But they are not organised or motivated enough to challenge widespread corruption and mismanagement

We often look at the larger picture of
politics, society, corruption and governance, ignoring the most intimate communities and places where we live our lives. For most people, it is the village, the small hamlet; and for us, the urbanites, it is the town, the city. And the quality of the place we live in is determined by the quality of life.

There are many ways to measure the quality of life, and there are universal standards by which cities and communities around the world are compared. We all know how low we are on many measurements, from governance to human development, which is a sad reflection on those that have governed us and continue to govern us — the political-bureaucratic combine. How much we care about knowing and acting to mend things about our towns and cities may be gauged from the fact that these issues are totally missing from our media and socio-political discourses.

In search of the Taliban, Talibanisation and the proliferating madrassa network, I had the opportunity to visit three towns last week, though briefly — Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan and Multan. I must admit my failure in confirming the manufactured political facts about Southern Punjab. But I challenge the ruling groups — the PMLN, which is in power in Punjab, and the bureaucracy — on what I did confirm.

The first thing that hits you in the face is the piles of filth scattered around every part of these towns. Polythene bags, popularly known as “shoppers”, a local perversion of the English language, can be seen flying around like loose kites. You should consider yourself lucky if you escape them while walking on the roadside.

What adds to the stench is not only the debris in the air but open running sewage with thick black water. Parallel to the open sewage are underground sewerage lines, but in many places there are uncapped manholes waiting for the next victim, and filthy water oozing out of the lines. I didn’t see any road clean and unbroken, or not under perpetual repair.

That is also the tragedy of every town and city of Pakistan. Somebody, somewhere has to answer for the death of our cities. A harmless form of protest, which I am trying to register, is to raise voice and bring this problem to the attention of the public and the government.

Why do we live with this daily nonsense, enduring filth and dirt?

This is the central question that we would like to answer in explaining the death of Dera Ghazi Khan. I am focusing on Dera Ghazi Khan because of my four formative years as a college student there, and repeated visits afterwards; comparing what the city was in my days there nearly 42 years ago, what it could have been and what it has actually turned out to be. Nobody can beat my knowledge of this city, which I roamed block to block as a free young man a long time ago.

Surely, its political masters of yesterday or today, or the current lot of bureaucrats serving from their leafy, spacious and clean civil lines, must have had the opportunity to grasp the problems and try to put things right. I didn’t see any sign of that happening.

I am mourning the death of one of my favourite Pakistani cities, Dera Ghazi Khan, for more than one reason. It is now more than a hundred years old in its present location. It was one of the few planned major towns, like Lyallpur (now Faisalabad). After a devastating monsoon flood in the nearby Indus, DG Khan was relocated with a town hall at the centre and four or five very broad four roads leading outward. It had planned residential blocks, market places, mosques and parks.

One could really envy the width of the roads, the well-organised residential blocks with broad avenues, and the beauty of the parks, particularly of a very lavish Company Bagh. The East India Company in almost every major town had established a park mainly for its officers, large parks that became known as Company Baghs.

The Company Bagh of Dera Ghazi Khan was the largest that I had ever seen. It had lush green lawns, flowerbeds, walkways and well-kept grounds where I regularly witnessed volleyball matches in the evening, as well as political rallies and gatherings during the anti-Ayub movement.

Dera Ghazi Khan and its seemingly helpless citizens have lost much of their town and the great Company Bagh to encroachers. Sadly, the residents of the city have encroached outwards onto the margins of the roads and continue to do so without any check from the authorities. If that were not enough, a female DCO posted there a few years ago sanctioned a CNG filling station in a residential area, even in the face of public protest.

While we talk about the accountability of politicians, nobody cares about the accountability of the bureaucracy, which seems to have lost professional autonomy and its traditional role as the defender of public interest.

Yesterday, I witnessed a three-pronged relentless attack on Company Bagh. The first was from the main road, from where you could see the spacious lawns and flowerbeds of the park. Now there is a row of shops blocking the view of the park, leaving only a small gate from that side. On inquiry, I was told that the Town Committee auctioned built shops to supplement its income. It did the same by building hundreds of shops around the famous Town Hall and Committee Building constructed a century ago, which has also blocked the view of the historic buildings.

The second attack is in the form of a sort of school on the land of Company Bagh, and the third one is from the city fire brigade. Who are the real culprits, sanctioning the construction of shops and leasing out park land to a school and the fire brigade?

It is the Town Committee and the bureaucratic and political groups that have alternated in power at the district and provincial levels.

Who can save Dera Ghazi Khan and our other cities?

The first line of defence against encroachments and occupation of public spaces, and corruption in public projects are the citizens of the towns. But they are not organised or motivated enough to challenge widespread corruption and mismanagement. If local communities don’t take ownership of their towns, the situation is not likely to improve.

Our structures of governance are so unresponsive that local populations have lost their faith in organising collective action. Unless that is done, the bureaucrats and their political cohorts would continue to plunder resources, including those we are borrowing on high interest rates in the name of development. Sadly, I cannot do more than mourn the death of Dera Ghazi Khan.

Other cities fare no better, and suffer from the same public apathy and neglect by bureaucracy and political bosses. The choice is between silently suffering and grieving, and organising collective action to hold culprits accountable.

Dr Rasul Bakhsh Rais is author of Recovering the Frontier State: War, Ethnicity and State in Afghanistan (Oxford University Press, 2008) and a professor of Political Science at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. He can be reached at rasul@lums.edu.pk (Daily Times)


Related article:

http://www.wasaib.com/dera-ghazi-khan-.where-waderas-sardars-and-tumandars-live.html


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Friday, 9 October 2009

A specimen of Shabaz Sharif's good governance: "The Humaira Arshad Case"


The power of song
Friday, October 09, 2009
Songstress Humaira Arshad has produced a few discordant notes. The good lady had gone along with her husband - as is the right of every citizen - to register a complaint at the chief minister's complaint cell on Club Road in Lahore. It is alleged that the pair had set up a café in the city but they later discovered that the person who sold them the property was a fraudster and did not have legal title to the property. A common-enough complaint and not something that would attract much by way of media attention or indeed much by way of action by the officials concerned. But it is not every day that you have glamorous singers appearing at the office to register a complaint, so the extremely-concerned-especially-to-be-noticed officials rushed to the assistance of the wronged chanteuse and her husband.

The singer proceeded to register her complaint with Complaints Director Irfan Yousaf and was giving him the details when Shahid Qadir, another complaints director (There are two? There are so many complaints?), entered the office of his colleague and demanded that she make her complaint to him rather than Irfan Yousaf, who probably had not had a shower that morning or pressed his shirt properly. The two then proceeded to exchange what have been described as 'harsh words' and the matter quickly came to the attention of no lesser personage than Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. True to form, he acted swiftly and both men were the subject of quick enquiry, found guilty and suspended, their offices sealed. The singer never got her complaint registered and left in some confusion. Perhaps to prevent future disturbances the complaints cell should create two customer windows, one marked 'Famous people' and the other 'People we are not interested in.' Problem solved. (The News)

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Geo TV Report


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Tuesday, 6 October 2009

President Obama, please send one drone to the Jihadi / sectarian hub in South Punjab please!


Fears rise over militants in Punjab

Tuesday, 06 Oct, 2009 (Dawn)
Despite the ban, and repeated vows by governments to root out militancy, Jaish is thriving. — Photo by Reuters

BAHAWALPUR: Three burly gunmen stand menacingly at the gate of a mosque complex in the town of Bahawalpur as hundreds of men file in listen to a prayer for victory of Muslim fighters around the world.

This is Osman-o-Ali, the headquarters of Jaish-i-Mohammad, an al-Qaeda-linked militant group which has a long record of violence including an assassination attempt on former president Pervez Musharraf.

While Pakistan's attention is focused on the Taliban and al-Qaeda threat on the Afghan border in the remote northwest, there are fears that the militants are quietly expanding their influence and winning recruits in the country's heartland.

‘South Punjab is a fertile ground for extremists and militants,’ said security analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi.

The flourishing Jaish complex in Bahawalpur, in the south of Punjab province, illustrates the ambivalence that Pakistani authorities have long shown towards hardline Islamists.

Islamist factions were nurtured by the security agencies during the 1980s and 1990s when they sent their fighters into Afghanistan to take on Soviet occupiers and later into Indian-administered Kashmir region to battle security forces.

But Jaish was officially outlawed by Musharraf in early 2002 after it and another group, Lashkar-i-Taiba, were blamed for an attack on the Indian parliament which brought Pakistan and India to the brink of their fourth war.

Despite the ban, and repeated vows by governments to root out militancy, Jaish is thriving. It and an allied group are believed to have thousands of young cadres fighting western forces in Afghanistan and the Pakistani army in the northwest.

Plots hatched here on the dusty plains and shabby towns of southern Punjab can reach around the world.

Rashid Rauf, a British-born al-Qaeda operative and suspect in a 2006 plot to blow up transatlantic airliners, was a member of Jaish and was known to have lived in Bahawalpur with his wife.

‘Jihad hub’

Security analyst Ayesha Siddiqa says south Punjab has become ‘the hub of jihadism’ and the authorities are in denial.

The region is critical to planning, recruitment and logistical support for terrorist attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan, she wrote recently in Newsline magazine.

Punjab provincial law minister Rana Sanaullah acknowledged the hardliners have many thousands of sympathisers but he dismisses talk of a threat to the state.

‘There is no challenge to the government,’ Sanaullah, who is also responsible for security, told Reuters in an interview in his office in the provincial capital of Lahore.

‘They can detonate bombs or carry out suicide attacks but they cannot establish their bases in Punjab,’ he said.

On the outskirts of Bahawalpur, the Jaish group has acquired a plot of land of about five acres (1.7 hectares) which some people fear could be a militant training camp.

The plot is surrounded by a brick wall but from a nearby road one can see cows and buffaloes feeding in stables.

A security official said authorities had turned a blind eye to the acquisition of the land by an outlawed group but said they would not be allowed to pursue militant activities.

‘Let me assure you they don't have the guts to challenge the government,’ said the official, who declined to be identified.

Mohammad Riaz Chughtai, a cleric with links to Jaish leaders, said the group planned to build a madrassah on the land and no militant training was going on.

But youngsters are being recruited in Punjab and sent for training on the Afghan border. Police recently detained five teenagers on charges of receiving militant training in South Waziristan, the main stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban.

‘They wanted me to become a suicide bomber. They told me that jihad was obligatory,’ 16-year-old Mohammad Ibrahim told interrogators, according to a police transcript.

Sanaullah said there were tens of thousands of such people all over Pakistan, including many who previous governments trained for war in Afghanistan and then discarded.

‘We can't kill all of them, arrest them or detain them for interrogation,’ Sanaullah said. ‘What we can do is that the one who is very active will be arrested and interrogated.’

Rizvi said government negligence and lingering sympathy for the militants in some quarters were to blame.

‘There is still sympathy for these militant groups,’ Rizvi said. ‘But they cannot establish a mini-state of their own as they did in the tribal areas.’

Also read: http://letusbuildpakistan.blogspot.com/2009/10/need-for-urgent-army-action-against.html


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Sunday, 27 September 2009

An article in appreciation of Shahbaz Sharif


SHAHBAZ SHARIF- THE COMPASSIONATE DOYEN OF PUNJAB

By Qudrat Ullah

In my opinion, Shahbaz Sharif is a man of compassionate destiny who is more known for his hard work, uncompromisingly firm about merit and transparency; while good governance is his most conspicuous hallmark. He belongs to an industrial family of Lahore, which is more known for its hard-work and Islamic identity.

When the elder scion of Ittefaq family, Nawaz Sharif entered into the political arena in the early 80s, the younger Shahbaz was toiling in the industrial business.

The political ingress of Shahbaz Sharif, however, was without any political or ideological fanfare, but he had the explicit experience of running the industrial empire. Shahbaz Sharif soon emerged as a hard task master and proved his worth in the politics of Lahore which was ideologically divided among the tangling rightists and the liberals.

From the outset, Shahbaz Sharif has been a man of vigor and energy and he provided much needed political support to Pakistan Muslim League by organizing the party in provincial metropolis. The discern abilities and supporting role of younger Shahbaz helped Nawaz Sharif in many ways- he helped organize PML in the province, worked hard to bring efficiency and improvement in working of the government machinery and induced good governance which was a new thing then.

The decision to appoint comparatively naïve Shahbaz Sharif as Chief Minister in 1997 was rather a “surprise” for aspiring politicians as well as the political pundits, while ‘Chaudhrys of Gujrat’ were utterly unnerved.

The first stint of Shahbaz Sharif proved the choice as correct and he worked very hard to introduce a coherent system of good governance in the province. His reforms, especially in the areas of education, healthcare, C&W and public-welfare sectors, were innovative and public friendly which set new benchmarks.

For the first time, he practically made the bureaucracy and the administrative machinery answerable to the people, and introduced and strengthened political culture of tolerance and vehemently discouraged corruption and inefficiency. All field postings were made on merit, keeping in view the past record and management skills of officers.

There is no doubt that October 12, 1999 is the most inauspicious date in Pakistan which not only discontinued the process of democracy but also dampened down the process of good governance. The eight years of mismanagement, corruption, inefficiency and cronyism ruined and destroyed each and every institution and the inept and underling rulers made Punjab a land where rule of jungle was law of the day.

The decision of the voters on the day of February 18, 2008 elections was in support of a political leader whose legacy was known for its immaculate track record and public service. However, the belated situation arising out of the February 18 elections was politically problematic and complicated; the unexpected assassination of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and subsequent commotion was a turning point which helped the two main political parties to reaffirm their future political course of action.

As a result of political dialogue between PPP and the PML (N), Shahbaz Sharif emerged as the consensus Punjab Chief Minister after both the parties decided to go along for the larger interest of the people. Because of the broadmindedness of Shahbaz Sharif, Senior Minister Raja Riaz Ahmad of PPP has always spoken high of him, expressing satisfaction and confidence over the leadership of Shahbaz Sharif. During the de-seating of Shahbaz Sharif, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani also spoke high of him and expressed his regrets.

Coalition government is a unique experience in the political history of Punjab as the earlier political foes are now united for the greater cause of democracy. However, Punjab Chief Ministership is not a smooth sailing now as there are many new hurdles and unwarranted misconceptions. In this situation, Shahbaz Sharif has to walk on the political tight rope very tactfully and he has made utmost efforts to keep the coalition intact.

Actually, eight years corruption still poses many hurdles and the new political realities are very much fiddly which needed tangible handling. Shahbaz Sharif has tried his level best to reintroduce the concept of corruption-free governance, aimed at facilitating the indigent masses, which have lost every hope.

Another characteristic of his leadership is that Shahbaz gives full freedom to the field officers to carry out their duties without any undue interference. But he has also shown the doors to the inefficient field officers who failed in managing Ramadan Bazaars.

He is very much touchy about law and order and price situation and takes wholehearted interest in improving law and order and price situation, as no civil society can progress and develop without it. Shahbaz Sharif has made it a point that the field officers must remain neutral and act apolitically, because no sustained democracy can flourish in a system of corruption and nepotism.

There is no doubt that Shahbaz Sharif is a true follower of M.A Jinnah who asked the people to work, work and work. Continuous work is unequivocal hallmark of Shahbaz Sharif’s personality and he keeps the government machinery active by his personal checking and interaction with the people. His continuous touring of different cities, to monitor price and food items’ availability during Ramadan, has helped in price stability.

Shahbaz Sharif has a penchant for the deprived and the vulnerable of other provinces as well. That’s why he has donated a cardiology hospital for the poor patients of Balochistan who cannot afford to travel to other provinces for their medical treatment. He has also given 30000 ton free wheat to Sindh to help overcome their food needs. Punjab has also provided ample material support, medical equipment, medicines, doctors and paramedics and other items of daily use including tents to the internally displaced people of Malakand Division.

Law and order cannot be improved without an efficient police force and for this purpose; the Chief Minister has increased salaries and allowances of police force to encourage them to work with more commitment.

The political future of Shahbaz Sharif is bright and keeping in view the political vision, untiring efforts and track record of Shahbaz Sharif, it is expected that he will achieve the goal of good governance and public welfare in Punjab province where people want a messiah like him to get rid of poverty, unemployment and disarray.

______________________________________________________________________________

(Mr. Qudrat Ullah is a PhD fellow with Punjab University, Lahore)


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Thursday, 24 September 2009

Shame on you Shahbaz Sharif for appointing criminal Rana Maqbool as Prosecution secretary

It would appear that the PML-N government in Punjab is a government of the criminals and for the criminals.

Controversial Rana Maqbool appointed as Prosecution secy

* Former Sindh IGP is accused of torturing Asif Zardari during his imprisonment in Karachi

Aaj Kal Report


LAHORE: The Punjab government has appointed former Sindh inspector general of police (IGP) Rana Maqbool Ahmed as the Public Prosecution Department secretary.

Rana Maqbool and several other high ranking police officials are accused of unlawfully obtaining the physical custody of Asif Ali Zardari, when he was being held in a Karachi prison, in 1999 and subjecting him to torture and forcing him to record incriminatory statements. According to the prosecution, Zardari suffered injuries to his tongue and other parts of his body due to the torture while the police refused to register an FIR against the officials, attributing the injuries to Zardari’s bid to commit suicide instead.

On April 19, 2008, a close aide to PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif had told Daily Times that Nawaz had conveyed a message to General (r) Ziauddin Butt – the former director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) who was appointed chief of army staff by Nawaz triggering the coup by Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf in 1999 – and Rana Maqbool that they would be “accommodated at an opportune time”.

Talking to Aaj Kal, political observers said the move could destabilise the reconciliation process initiated by the Pakistan People’s Party. They said the decision was “a matter of additional concern” as it was made while President Zardari was out of the country. (Daily Times)

.....

Prosecution seeks suspension of police officer’s bail

The Prosecution Department filed an application in the Sindh High Court (SHC) seeking suspension of the former Superintendent, Prisons, Najaf Mirza’s bail in PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari’s attempt-to-murder case.


Ex-Senator Saifur Rehman, ex-IG Rana Maqbool along with Najaf Mirza and others are facing trial before the Sessions Court following the SHC’s direction. The Prosecutor-General, Shahdat Awan, filed an application for suspension of the bail of defendant police officer and transfer of the trial to another sessions court. He contended that the Sessions Court had erred in granting bail to the defendant as previously the trial court had already dismissed the bail. He also assailed the order of transfer of trial and prayed the court to set aside the transfer order.

Additional District and Sessions Judge, South, on September 13, 2006, granting police report submitted by Investigation Officers under Section 173 Cr.P.C for C class disposed of attempt to murder case filed by Asif Ali Zardari against ex-Senator Saifur Rehman, his brother Mujeebur Rehman, ex-IG, Sindh, Rana Maqbool, DIG, Karachi, Farooq Amin Qureshi, and ex-Superintendent, Jail, Najaf Mirza, observing that -no sufficient evidence was found against the defendants.

However, the SHC set aside the trial court order on PPP Co-Chairman’s plea who sought trial of the defendants as they attempted to kill him during his incarceration in May 1999.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=198761


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Tuesday, 15 September 2009

Punjab: young Christian man accused of blasphemy killed in prison


by Fareed Khan

Fanish, 20, was arrested last Saturday. His death was “judicial murder” according to human rights activist. The day before a Muslim mob attacked members of the dead man’s Christian community, setting fire to their church. Pakistani extremists are funded by Saudi “charities.”

Sialkot (AsiaNews) – The young Christian man who was arrested on 12 September in a village in Punjab accused of blasphemy was killed last night in prison. Police had Fanish, 20, remanded into their custody in order to continue their investigation. This morning prison guards in Sialkot district prison found the lifeless body of the young man with visible signs of injuries.

For Nadeem Anthony, member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), his death was judicial murder. Condemning in the strongest terms the latest anti-Christian outrage, the activist told AsiaNews that for police the young committed suicide by hanging himself in jail, something that for him does not make sense. Instead, “it is a torture killing” because “we can see signs of torture on his body in the picture.”

AsiaNews also received photos of the lifeless body. In it the type of injuries that can be seen appear unrelated to strangulation by hanging.

The body is at the disposal of the legal authority, which has ordered an autopsy at Sialkot’s Civil Hospital.

Fanish (pictured in prison) was arrested last Saturday after accusations of blasphemy were made against him. A day earlier a Muslim mob had gathered in front of the church in the village of Jaithikey, not far from the town of Samberial, in the district of Sialkot (Punjab), to teach the local Christian community a “lesson”.

Extremists damaged the building before setting it on fire. They also pillaged two homes near the church.

A relationship between the 20-year-old Christian man and a young Muslim woman appears to be the cause of the turn of events.

Fanish was accused of provoking the young woman and of throwing away a copy of the Qur‘an she had in her hands.

Fr Emmanuel Yousaf Mani, director of the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) of the Catholic Church, said that “Muslims cannot stand the idea that a Muslim woman might fall in love with a Christian.”

Yesterday the NCJP expressed “grave concern’ over the rising tide of violence against religious minorities, all in the name of the blasphemy law.

For Catholic activists, urgent government measures are need. It is increasingly clear that profanations of the Qur‘an are just excuses used to attack non-Muslims, who are increasingly victimised and persecuted by Islamic fundamentalists.

In another incident, also last Saturday but reported only today, a Christian settlement in Ghaziabad, a neighbourhood in Orangi Town, near Karachi (Sindh), was attacked by a mob of Muslims, enraged by blasphemy charges against a 40-year-old Christian man called Lawrence.

After repeatedly attacking the man’s house with stones and rocks, the mob attacked local Christians and tried to storm the local Catholic Church. Only a quick intervention by police prevented a blood bath. Still police arrested Lawrence’s nephew, Shahkeel. The accused man went into hiding.

Violence action by Pakistani Islamists is funded by foreign jihadist organisations. In fact, the Arab Herald recently reported that a Saudi charity gave 15 million dollars to a pro al-Qaeda militant organisation.

The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is said to be preparing to strike Punjab’s main cities.

In conjunction with the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), the TTP is also planning to attack Pakistani Shiites.

Sources told AsiaNews that the al-Qaeda-linked SSP was involved in the anti-Christian attacks in Gojra where several people were killed.

The Al-Haramain Foundation, an organisation banned by the UN Security Council for its links to al-Qaeda, reportedly funded the attacks.

Source

پولیس کی حراست میں مسیحی نوجوان ہلاک

چرچ

فالش مسیح نے اپنی شلوار کے ازار بند کو جنگلے سے باندھ کر پھانسی کا پھندا بنایا: پولیس

ضلع سیالکوٹ کی جیل میں قید وہ مسیحی نوجوان پراسرار حالات میں ہلاک ہوگیا ہے جسے سمبڑیال میں مسلمان اور مسیحی افراد کے درمیان کشیدگی کے بعدگرفتار کیا گیا تھا۔

جیل انتظامیہ نے اس ہلاکت کو خودکشی قرار دیا ہے جبکہ چند مسیحی رہنماؤں نے اسے مذہبی بنیادوں پر ہونے والا قتل قرار دیا ہے۔

سمبڑیال کے نواحی گاؤں ’جیٹھیکے‘ میں گزشتہ ہفتے مشتعل مسلمانوں نے ایک گرجا گھر نذرآتش کردیا تھا۔ پولیس کا کہنا تھا کہ کشیدگی مدرسے سے لوٹنے والی ایک نوجوان مسلمان لڑکی سے مبینہ چھیڑخوانی اور اس کے سپارے کی بے حرمتی کی وجہ سے پیدا ہوئی تھی۔

متوفی فالش مسیح چھیڑخوانی اور قرآن پاک کی مبینہ بےحرمتی کے واقعہ میں نامزد واحد ملزم تھا۔ مقامی میڈیا کے نمائندوں کے مطابق پولیس نے اس کے بدلے اس کے والد کو حراست میں لیا تو انہیں چھڑانے کے لیے وہ ازخود تھانے پیش ہوگیا تھا۔

پولیس نے اسے اگلے ہی روز عدالتی تحویل میں جیل بھیجوادیا تھا جہاں اسے ایک علیحدہ سیکورٹی سیل میں رکھاگیا تھا۔ ڈسٹرکٹ جیل سیالکوٹ کے ڈپٹی سپرنٹنڈنٹ پولیس اشتیاق احمد نے بتایا جیل کے اس ایک الگ بلاک میں کل دس سیکورٹی سیل ہیں جو مذہبی نوعیت کے مقدمات میں ملوث قیدیوں کےلیےمخصوص کیےگئے ہیں تاکہ انہیں دوسرے قیدیوں کے اشتعال سے بچایا جاسکے۔

ڈسٹرکٹ جیل کے اس سیکورٹی بلاک میں اس روز پانچ قیدی تھے جن میں دو احمدیہ جماعت کے کارکن، دو توہین قرآن پاک اور ایک توہین رسالت کےمقدمے میں ملوث تھے۔ اس بلاک پر ایک جیل اہلکار ڈیوٹی پر ہوتا ہے۔

فالش مسیح نے خودکشی نہیں کی بلکہ یہ ایک’ مذہبی قتل‘ ہے۔ اسے پولیس اور جیل اہلکاروں کی مبینہ ملی بھگت کے بعد مارا گیا ہے اور ان کی تنظیم اس قتل کے مقدمے کی پیروی کرے گی۔

پاکستان مسیحی اتحاد

جیل حکام کا کہنا ہے کہ وہ سرکاری اہلکار صفائی والے کو بلانےگیا اور جب واپس آیا تو اس نے فالش مسیح کی لاش پھندے سےلٹکتی پائی۔ جیل اہلکار کےمطابق اس کی اپنی شلوار کے ازار بند کو جنگلے سے باندھ کر پھانسی کا پھندا بنایا گیا تھا۔ ڈی ایس پی جیل خانہ جات کا کہنا ہے کہ یہ خودکشی کا واقعہ ہے۔

مقامی سپیشل مجسٹریٹ ابوبکر صدیق اور ڈسٹرکٹ پولیس آفیسر نے جائے وقوعہ کا معائنہ کیا۔ جیل اور پولیس حکام مسیحیوں کے نمائندوں اور چند مذہبی رہنماؤں کو بھی جائےوقوعہ پر لے کرگئے ہیں تاکہ وہ حالات کا اپنے طور پرجائزہ لے سکیں۔

پاکستان مسیحی اتحاد کے صدر ایمنوئیل اطہرجولیس نے کہا ہے کہ فالش مسیح نے خودکشی نہیں کی بلکہ یہ ایک’ مذہبی قتل‘ ہے۔ انہوں نے بی بی سی سے ٹیلی فون پر گفتگو کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ اسے پولیس اور جیل اہلکاروں کی مبینہ ملی بھگت کے بعد مارا گیا ہے اور ان کی تنظیم اس قتل کے مقدمے کی پیروی کرے گی۔ ایمنوئیل ان مذہبی رہنماؤں میں شامل نہیں ہیں جنہوں نے جیل کا دورہ کیا تھا۔

انہوں نے چیف جسٹس لاہورہائی کورٹ سے اپیل کی ہے کہ وہ اس معاملے کی انکوائری کروائیں اور میڈیکل بورڈ فالش مسیح کی لاش کا پوسٹ مارٹم کرے۔

واضح رہے کہ سمبڑیال پولیس نے چرچ جلائے جانے والے واقعہ کا نہ تو کوئی مقدمہ درج کیا ہے اور نہ ہی کسی مسلمان کوگرفتار کیاگیا۔ واحد مقدمہ فالش مسیحی کےخلاف توہین قرآن پاک کا درج ہوا تھا اور واحد باقاعدہ گرفتاری بھی اسی کی عمل میں آئی تھی۔

وزیر اعلٰی پنجاب شہباز شریف چرچ جلائے جانے کے واقعہ کی جوڈیشل انکوائری کا حکم دے چکے ہیں۔ سمبڑیال کے ڈپٹی سپرنٹنڈنٹ پولیس طارق محمود چیمہ کا کہنا ہے کہ ضلعی پولیس ایک دو روز میں ڈسٹرکٹ سیشن جج کو ایک خط ارسال کردے گی جس میں چرچ جلائے جانے کے واقعہ کی تحقیقات کے لیے جوڈیشل افسر مقرر کرنے کی سفارش کی جائے گی۔


...

Lack of prosecution to encourage attacks on minorities: HRCP
Source

ISLAMABAD: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) raised concern on Monday that vigilante attacks were increasing against religious minorities in Pakistan after a church in Sialkot was attacked last week, almost a month after an angry mob killed seven Christians in Gojra.

About 100 people, mostly youths, attacked a church in Sambrial area of Sialkot district on Friday after accusing a Christian man of desecrating the holy Quran, police said.

"They set fire to prayer mats and some religious books but the timely arrival of police prevented the situation from taking an ugly turn," local police official Rafaqat Ali told AFP.

Police arrested a man accused of "snatching and desecrating" a copy of the holy Quran from a girl while she was going to school, he added.

Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti visited the area on Monday and vowed that the government would "reconstruct" the church.

The HRCP statement said: "It is unfortunate that our fears of recurrence of such violence again proved to be true in Sambrial," said the rights group.

The HRCP demanded the government prosecute those responsible and act to prevent such violence. “Effective prosecution would serve as a deterrent to future attacks, while a lack thereof would encourage impunity.” staff report/afp

Death of blasphemy accused

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan chairwoman, Ms Asma Jahangir, has called on the government to take notice of the death in custody of a Christian accused of blasphemy in Sialkot. Fanish Masih, 25, was arrested to satisfy the blood lust of the mob in Sambrial that had attacked and burned a church in a Sambrial village.

The district jail superintendent explained the death: “Masih, being accused of blasphemy, was put in a separate cell where he committed suicide by using a string”. So much for procedure. Knowing full well that the boy was framed, he was treated as an ordinary death-row prisoner. He was also probably also treated shabbily, which may have forced him to lose hope.

People who are treated by the state as pariahs are losing hope. Punjab’s Minister for Minority Affairs, Mr Kamran Michael, says the police in Sialkot mishandled the case: “I have seen the body and there were torture marks on it”. The local Christians are now scared to death about their own future, and claim Masih was “tortured to death by the jail staff”. This has happened before.

Christians killed in the name of Islam never get justice. The only way an accused can be saved is to bundle him out of the country after releasing him on bail. The Muslims of Pakistan are killed like flies by the Taliban warlords and Al Qaeda. Instead of uniting against the curse of Muslim-kills-Muslim they turn around and target the most impoverished community among the minorities of Pakistan.

The latest death has burdened the conscience of Pakistan with one more collective crime. The state, forewarned, has instead relied on its old reflex of looking away and letting an innocent man die. (Daily Times)


analysis: To kill with impunity —Abbas Rashid

Clearly, over the last few months, extremists have seen public support for their positions erode as more of their activities have come to light. Inciting people in this fashion would be a way for them to regain this lost space

The most recent victim of those who have frequently used the blasphemy law and the social sanction derived from it for their own ends has been a young man named Fanish Masih, aged 19, a resident of Sambrial-Sialkot, a citizen of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and a Christian. On an accusation of blasphemy, he was put in jail and was subsequently found dead in his cell. And, the police claims, he committed suicide.

For his family, his tragic death will probably remain the most traumatic incident of their lives. But what is equally unfortunate is that his death is not entirely exceptional. Just over the last few weeks there have been horrendous incidents of organised and targeted violence in Punjab; the worst in Gojra, where a number of men and women were burnt alive when a mob apparently used chemicals to set homes on fire. The Gojra victims, too, were members of the Christian community. Of course Muslims have also been victimised under this law by those who obviously think little of taking a religious cover for perpetrating such crimes with impunity.

But then we need to recall that the ‘law-giver’ in this case was none other than General Zia-ul Haq, a military dictator who used Islam liberally in order to secure desperately needed legitimacy for his government. The laws imposed by Zia with the stated objective of making better Muslims of us all essentially targeted the poor and the defenseless, particularly women and minorities. It was a cynical policy used with abandon to gain political leverage.

That successive civilian governments have left the law in place does them little credit. At one point during Benazir Bhutto’s government there seems to have been some discussion about imposing a five- to seven-year jail sentence on anyone who was found guilty of false accusation in such a case. It seemed an eminently fair proposal given that the law prescribes the death sentence for blasphemy and furthermore there is a high likelihood of the accused being killed in any case, regardless of whether the charge is eventually proven in court or not. The idea was dropped because of pressure from clerics. And, of course, this is a group from whom we hear very little about how this law, imposed by a dictator and used relentlessly as a cover to terrorise minorities, serves Islam or the ends of justice.

Time and again, it has been established in such cases that in the background there was a dispute over property or some other personal antagonism that provided the motive for someone to make the accusation. And yet, once again, we have Maulana Hamid Kazmi, the federal minister for religious affairs, defending the law, as it stands.

Does anyone really think that in a country with a Muslim majority of about 95 percent, anyone would even dare blaspheme? Why did we hardly ever hear of an incident of blasphemy prior to the advent of Zia-ul Haq? With or without the law, people would have been outraged if they found someone blaspheming. The reason is that blasphemy was not common then nor is there any reason for it to be common now. The difference between the two eras obviously lies elsewhere.

But this was not just a case of mob hysteria. Fanish Masih was in jail and kept in isolation. There seems to be no motive whatsoever for him to commit suicide, even if he were to somehow acquire the means to do so. There must be a proper and credible enquiry into the circumstances of his death.

Was he killed by those who were deputed by the state to protect him? In which case what would be the distinction between them and a mob? Those found guilty of committing or abetting such a serious crime must be brought to book. It is not enough to adopt the usual course of suspension and transfer. The message must go through that however aggravated anyone may feel, they have not been accorded the mandate of judge and executioner.

But is there another sinister dimension to these killings?

It could well be that some of the leading extremist groups in Punjab are now anticipating the state moving against themselves as the military operation in FATA and the NWFP against the militants proceeds successfully. According to a provincial minister, some banned extremist groups were involved in the violence in Gojra and that masked men had been spotted among the rioters. So, as the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has also pointed out, this was not quite spontaneous outrage but an organised attack.

Clearly, over the last few months, extremists have seen public support for their positions erode as more of their activities have come to light. Inciting people in this fashion would be a way for them to regain this lost space. All the more reason then that the government should be vigilant — not quite what it has been so far — against efforts by such groups to foment anger against minority groups as a tactical move. Much better intelligence would be needed by the state to check this strategy.

There is no question that the blasphemy law needs to be reviewed. For a start, we could go back to the recommendation of the Islamic Ideology Council whereby it would be possible to register blasphemy cases only with the High Court, with only senior investigators charged with the task of establishing the truth of the matter.

The other issue is that of imposing punishment for making a false accusation or providing wrongful testimony in such a case. Both should serve as a deterrent to this cruel persecution of minorities in particular and restrain those disposed to using the law for their own ulterior purposes.

Abbas Rashid lives in Lahore and can be contacted at abbasrh@gmail.com (Daily Times)
Read more...

Saturday, 12 September 2009

Mob sets church set on fire near Sialkot. Shame on the pro-Taliban government of Punjab. Shame on Sharif brothers.



This site has moved to http://criticalppp.com, click this link if you are not redirected
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Sunday, 2 August 2009

Sipah-e-Sahaba (the Deobandi-Wahhabi alliance) burns 8 Christians alive in Gojra. Shame on you Shahbaz Sharif.


8 Christians burnt alive in Gojra riots

* Rangers called in after mob torches Christian homes
* Punjab law minister says preliminary investigation shows no desecration of holy Quran

By Ali Usman


LAHORE: The government deployed the Rangers to the town of Gojra on Saturday after at least seven (eight according to BBC Urdu.com) Christians, including three women, were burnt alive and dozens injured following the second incident of violence against Christians in Punjab in one month.

The latest riots, which started almost a week ago following allegations that a copy of the holy Quran was defiled, escalated on Saturday as locals shouting slogans against Christians took to the streets in Christian Town, a Christian-only locality. Following the escalation, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, on directions of President Asif Ali Zardari, ordered the Punjab Rangers to reach Gojra and help the civil administration maintain law and order. Eyewitnesses said a protesting mob turned violent when armed men from Jhang reached the spot and started attacking Christian houses. Locals claimed the attackers were members of a banned organisation, adding they carried sophisticated weaponry. Emboldened by the attackers, the mob started throwing acid and petrol bombs on the houses, forcing the people to come out. A local resident said dozens were feared dead, adding the exact number could not be confirmed as several bodies were buried under debris.

Claiming the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba group was involved in the rioting, Federal Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti told the Associated Press he had directed police to ensure protection for the Christian community but they had ignored his instructions.

Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said authorities had investigated the allegation of a Holy Quran being defiled “and our initial reports say that there has not been any incident of desecration”. He said the situation had calmed down on Friday, but extremists had entered the city on Saturday and pushed people toward armed clashes. Faisalabad Commissioner Tahir Hussain told local TV channels that representatives of the two communities would meet on Saturday in an effort to calm the situation.

http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\08\02\story_2-8-2009_pg1_1


گوجرہ: مسلم عیسائی جھگڑے میں آٹھ ہلاک

مسیحی احتجاج

عیسائی آبادی والے اضلاع میں سکیورٹی سخت کر دی گئی ہے: صوبائی وزیر

پاکستان کے صوبہ پنجاب کے شہر گوجرہ کے ایک گاؤں میں اطلاعات کے مطابق مسلمانوں اور عیسائیوں کے درمیان پرتشدد جھڑپوں میں ہلاک ہونے والے عیسائیوں کی تعداد آٹھ ہو گئی ہے۔حکام کے مطابق شہر میں رینجرز کو طلب کر لیا گیا ہے۔

کلِکگوجرہ میں مسلم عیسائی جھگڑا

ہلاک ہونے والے افراد کے جنازے اتوار کو ہوں گے۔ صوبائی وزیر قانون رانا ثنا اللہ نے بی بی سی کو انٹرویو دیتے ہوئے کہا کہ مقامی ڈی ایس پی کو معطل کر دیا گیا ہے اور اس واقعے کے سلسلے میں چار لوگ گرفتار بھی ہوئے ہیں۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ مزید افراد کی گرفتاری کے لیے بھرپور کارروائی کی جائے گی۔

وفاقی وزیر برائے اقلیتی امور شہباز بھٹی نے بی بی سی سے بات کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ گوجرہ میں ہونے والے حملے چالیس گھر جلا دیے گئے ہیں۔انہوں نے ایک سوال کا جواب دیتے ہوئے کہا کہ اس واقعے میں وہ عناصر شامل ہیں جو مذہبی رواداری اور قومی یکجہتی کے خلاف ہیں۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ ان لوگوں کی نشاندہی کرنا قبل از وقت ہے۔ ’یہ وہ لوگ ہیں جو نہیں چاہتے کہ امن ہو‘۔

صوبائی وزیر قانون رانا ثنا اللہ نے متراثرہ علاقے کا دورہ کرنے کے بعد کہا کہ وہ اس واقعہ کی وجوہات معلومات کرنا چاہتے تھے اور یہ جاننا چاہتے تھے کہ اسے کیسے روکا جا سکتا تھا اور کیا انتظامیہ نے اپنی ذمہ داری پوری کی ہے۔

صوبائی وزیر نے کہا کہ انہوں متاثرین، عام لوگوں اور انتظامیہ کا جن میں پولیس کے اعلیٰ حکام شامل ہیں موقف سنا ہے۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ وہ اس نتیجے پر پہنچے ہیں کہ پہلے واقعے میں کوئی جانی نقصان نہیں ہوا تھا اور زیادہ تشویش محسوس نہیں کی گئی۔

انہوں نے بتایا کہ ابتدائی طور مقامی ڈی ایس پی کو معطل کر دیا گیا اور واقعے کے ذمہ دار افراد میں سے چار کو گرفتار کیا گیا ہے۔ انہوں نے کہ جو لوگ اس واقعے کے ذمہ دار ہیں ان کی شناخت ہو چکی ہے اور ان کے بارے میں کسی کو ابہام نہیں ہے۔

صوبائی وزیر نے کہا کہ اتوار کو ہلاک ہونے والے آٹھ افراد کے جنازے ہوں گے اور ان سے فارغ ہو کر انتظامیہ دیگر افراد کی گرفتاری کے لیے ’کریک ڈاؤن‘ کرے گی۔

ایک سوال کے جواب میں صوبائی وزیر نے کہا کہ مقامی واقعے کے لیے مقامی انتظامیہ کی نااہلی ہو سکتی ہے لیکن بدنیتی نہیں ہے۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ جہاں نا اہلی ہوئی ہے اس کی سزا دی جائے گی۔

مزید عیسائی مسلم فسادات کے خدشات کے بارے میں انہوں نے کہا کہ اس کو خارج از امکان تو قرار نہیں دیا جا سکتا اور ان تمام اضلاع میں جہاں عیسائی آبادی موجود ہے انتظامیہ کو سکیورٹی کے مکمل انتظامات کرنے کا حکم دے دیا گیا ہے۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ وسیع پیمانے پر اس طرح کے واقعات کا خطرہ نہیں ہے اور نہ ہی پہلے کبھی ہوا ہے بس اکا دکا واقعات ہو جاتے ہیں

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/2009/08/090801_gojra_update.shtml

گوجرہگوجرہ
گوجرہ

Fear and shame of Gojra

After a week of simmering Muslim-Christian dispute over the alleged desecration of the Holy Quran in tehsil Gojra in Toba Tek Singh district in Punjab, violence has broken out simply because the local administration ignored orders from Lahore to control the situation. The Punjab Chief Minister, Shahbaz Sharif, has suspended the persons responsible for letting this very familiar type of incident get out of hand. Seven Christians have been burnt alive and their houses torched. There may be more casualties.

As usual a “banned organisation” — Federal Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti says it was Sipah Sahaba — came in from outside the town and took over and used acid and petrol bombs to destroy property and kill Christian women and children, while the local government and police simply did nothing. The federal government has taken serious note by sending in the Rangers and the Punjab government has ordered an inquiry into what really transpired. Compensation for the destroyed property has already been announced.

There is a pattern of violence against Christians in Punjab that cannot be ignored. First of all, let us ask why it happens mainly in Punjab? Some facts are illustrative. The Christians of Pakistan are the largest religious minority in Pakistan. The total number of Christians in Pakistan was at least 2 million in 2008, or 1.1 percent of the population. An examination of birth records yields a total number of Christians at 2.8 million. More than 90 percent of the country’s Christians reside in Punjab, making them the largest religious minority in the province. And 60 percent of them live in the villages, and in most cases are more indigenous to their areas than the Muslims.

Charges of blasphemy and desecration of the Quran are “used” against them, but the latter is used against them collectively, followed by organised dispossession and destruction of property. In 1997, the twin villages of Shantinagar-Tibba Colony 12 kilometres east of Khanewal, Multan Division, were looted and burnt by 20,000 Muslim citizens and 500 policemen acting together after an incident of alleged desecration of the Quran was reported. The police first evacuated the Christian population of 15,000, then helped the raiders use battle-field explosives to blow up their houses and property. Sipah Sahaba was also blamed by the Christians for that holocaust.

In 2005, the Christian community of Sangla Hill in Nankana district in Punjab experienced a most hair-raising day of violence and vandalism. After allegations of desecration of the Quran, a mob of 3,000 led by the local elected politician and police burnt down three churches, a missionary-run school, two hostels and several houses belonging to the Christian community. Lahore’s archbishop stated that the attackers had been brought there by buses from outside. The Punjab government once again acted quickly to compensate for the neglect and complicity of the local administration, but was prevented from proceeding fairly by a renowned Sunni cleric of Lahore who took his own lashkar of youths to “defend” the Muslims in Sangla Hill. Ironically, he has since fallen to a suicide-bomber of the Taliban.

These were big incidents that not only shook Pakistan but the world too. The Archbishop of Canterbury, already expressing sympathy with Pakistan after the earthquake in Azad Kashmir, was forced to say after Sangla that Pakistan was in the process of redefining who could be its citizens. Smaller incidents of persecution of the Christians have never stopped, but Gojra tells us that holocausts can repeat themselves as civic virtue declines in Pakistan under the influence of extremism.

We don’t know whom the laws of blasphemy and desecration were supposed to target, but their intent was to stop the crime mentioned in them. Tragically, blasphemy cases have proliferated after the promulgation of the blasphemy law, and action taken against the accused is not by the state but by the vigilantes the state cannot control. Section 295-B Defiling of copy of the holy Quran says: “Whoever wilfully defiles, damages or desecrates a copy of the Holy Quran or an extract therefrom, or uses it in a derogatory manner or any unlawful purpose, shall be punishable with imprisonment for life”. But the punishment has been inflicted without trial on people who had nothing to do with it.

These are signals of doom. And the crime is being committed by the non-state actors that were once considered “assets” of the military-state. Their dominance in Punjab is well established and their control over local population to the detriment of local administration is also well known. The laws mean nothing under these circumstances. * (Daily Times, 3 Aug 2009)

....

Wusatullah Khan's analysis on BBC Urdu.com

جنگل کی راہ !

مسیحی احتجاج

گوجرہ میں مشتعل مسلمان ہجوم نے عیسائیوں کے درجنوں گھر نذرِ آتش کردیے

یہ بات ہے سترہ جنوری انیس سو ستانوے کی۔ پولیس نے شراب کی غیرقانونی فروخت کے الزام میں جنوبی پنجاب کےضلع خانیوال کے گاؤں شانتی نگر میں راج مسیح کے گھر چھاپہ مارا۔لیکن کوئی بوتل برآمد نہ ہوسکی مگر تلاشی کے دوران انجیل کو اٹھا کر پھینک دیا گیا اور راج مسیح کو تھانے میں بند کردیا گیا۔ مقامی عیسائی آبادی نے انجیل کی بے حرمتی کے خلاف جلوس نکالا۔جس کا نوٹس لیتے ہوئے مقامی انتظامیہ نے کچھ پولیس اہلکاروں کو ڈیوٹی سے معطل کردیا۔مگر پولیس والوں نے دھمکی دی کہ اگر الزامات واپس نہ لئے گئے تو عیسائیوں کو خمیازہ بھگتنا پڑے گا۔

تین ہفتے بعد پانچ فروری کو شانتی نگر کی ایک مقامی مسجد سے اعلان ہوا کہ عیسائیوں نے قران کے دو یا تین صفحات جلا دیے ہیں اور یہ صفحات مسجد کے باہر پائے گئے ہیں۔ خبر پھیلتے ہی اردگرد کے چودہ دیہاتوں سے تقریباً بیس ہزار افراد نے عیسائیوں کے دو دیہات شانتی نگر اور ٹوبہ کی جانب مارچ شروع کردیا۔ خانیوال شہر اور دونوں عیسائی دیہاتوں میں پندرہ سو گھراور دوکانیں، بارہ چرچ ، ایک ہاسٹل اور ڈسپنسری تباہ کردی گئی۔ درجن بھر خواتین کی بے حرمتی ہوئی۔اخبار فرائیڈے ٹائمز کے مطابق پولیس نے پہلے پندرہ ہزار عیسائی آبادی کو علاقہ چھوڑ کر محفوظ مقامات پر جانے کو کہا اس کے بعد بلوائیوں کو کھلی چھوٹ دے دی گئی۔ انسانی حقوق کمیشن نے کہا انیس سو سینتالیس کے بعد سے پاکستان میں یہ اپنی نوعیت کا بدترین واقعہ تھا۔

آئیے آگے بڑھیں۔

عیسائی پاکستان کی آبادی کا ڈیڑھ فیصد ہیں۔جب سے پاکستان میں مقدس کتابوں اور انبیاء کی بے حرمتی پر سزائے موت کا قانون لاگو ہے، تقریباً ایک ہزار افراد اس کی زد میں آ چکے ہیں اور ان میں سے نوے فیصد سے زائد ملزم عیسائی ہیں۔ زیادہ تر الزامات کے پیچھے لڑکی، ذاتی و سیاسی رنجش، جائیداد کا جھگڑا یا مذہبی نفرت کا اظہار بتایا جاتا ہے مگر بے حرمتی کا معاملہ اتنا حساس ہے کہ صرف الزام ہی کافی ہے۔ عدالت تک پہنچنے سے پہلے ہی مجمع ملزموں سے انفرادی اور اجتماعی انصاف کرچکا ہوتا ہے۔اور ایسے اکثر واقعات میں پولیس موقع واردات پر پہنچنے والا آخری ادارہ ہوتا ہے۔

یہ بات نومبر دو ہزار پانچ کی ہے۔ فیصل آباد کے نواحی قصبے سانگلہ ہل میں جہاں نوے فیصد مسلمان اور دس فیصد عیسائی رہتے ہیں، یوسف مسیح نامی شخص نے دو مسلمانوں سے تاش کے جوئے میں بھاری رقم جیت لی۔ اگلے روز ان میں سے ایک ہارا ہوا جواری ایک مقامی جلد ساز کے پاس قرآن کا خستہ حال نسخہ لے کر پہنچا اور کہا کہ یوسف مسیح نے اس کی بے حرمتی کی ہے۔ مقامی مسجد سے اعلان ہوا کہ یوسف مسیح نامی ایک شخص نے قرآن کے صفحات جلائے ہیں۔ یہ سنتے ہی تقریباً ڈیڑھ ہزار افراد جمع ہوگئے۔ ایک درجن گھر، پانچ گرجے، تین سکول، ایک کانونٹ اور ایک ڈسپنسری تباہ ہوگئی۔ تین ماہ بعد لاہور کی انسدادِ دہشت گردی کی ایک عدالت نے یوسف مسیح کو ناکافی ثبوت کی بنیاد پر بری کردیا۔ ساتھ ہی عیسائی املاک کو نقصان پہنچانے کے الزام میں پکڑے گئے اٹھاسی افراد بھی ناکافی ثبوت کی بنیاد پر بری ہوگئے۔

عیسائی پاکستان کی آبادی کا ڈیڑھ فیصد ہیں۔جب سے پاکستان میں مقدس کتابوں اور انبیاء کی بے حرمتی پر سزائے موت کا قانون لاگو ہے، تقریباً ایک ہزار افراد اس کی زد میں آ چکے ہیں اور ان میں سے نوے فیصد سے زائد ملزم عیسائی ہیں۔ زیادہ تر الزامات کے پیچھے لڑکی، ذاتی و سیاسی رنجش، جائیداد کا جھگڑا یا مذہبی نفرت کا اظہار بتایا جاتا ہے مگر بے حرمتی کا معاملہ اتنا حساس ہے کہ صرف الزام ہی کافی ہے۔ عدالت تک پہنچنے سے پہلے ہی مجمع ملزموں سے انفرادی اور اجتماعی انصاف کرچکا ہوتا ہے۔اور ایسے اکثر واقعات میں پولیس موقع واردات پر پہنچنے والا آخری ادارہ ہوتا ہے۔

اس پورے ڈرامے میں ایک عنصر یہ شامل ہوا ہے کہ پہلے جو مجمع صرف ملزم کا تعاقب کرتا تھا اب وہ ملزم کی برادری کا بھی اسی جوش و جذبے سے تعاقب کرتا ہے۔فیصل آباد کے قریب گوجرہ میں ہونے والے واقعات اس رجحان کا تازہ ثبوت ہیں۔

بہت ہی کم مقدمات میں جرم ثابت ہوسکا لیکن جھوٹا الزام لگانے والے کسی ایک مدعی کو بھی قرار واقعی سزا نہیں مل سکی۔اس کے برعکس بے گناہی ثابت ہونے کے باوجود عموماً ملزم کو ہی علاقہ یا ملک چھوڑنا پڑا۔یا بے حرمتی کے قوانین کے تحت نظربند متعدد ملزموں کو عدالت کے احاطے یا جیل میں ہی پولیس کی موجودگی میں قتل ہونا پڑا۔

اس پورے ڈرامے میں ایک عنصر یہ شامل ہوا ہے کہ پہلے جو مجمع صرف ملزم کا تعاقب کرتا تھا اب وہ ملزم کی برادری کا بھی اسی جوش و جذبے سے تعاقب کرتا ہے۔فیصل آباد کے قریب گوجرہ میں ہونے والے واقعات اس رجحان کا تازہ ثبوت ہیں۔

اس تناظر میں جب میڈیا فلسطین میں اہلِ یہود کے ہاتھوں مسلمانوں سےہونے والے سلوک پر تشویش کا اظہار کرتا ہے۔ جب مقامی دانشور بوسنیا میں سرب عیسائیوں کی جانب سے مسلمانوں کی نسل کشی کا رقت آمیزحوالہ دیتا ہے۔جب وزارتِ خارجہ بھارتی ریاست گجرات میں ہندو بلوائیوں کے ہاتھوں دو ہزار مسلمانوں کی ہلاکت یاد دلاتی ہے اور جب امام صاحب پوری دنیا میں مسلمانوں سے زیادتی کرنے والوں کے خلاف نگاہیں آسمان کی جانب اٹھا کر خدائی مدد مانگتے ہیں تو جی چاہتا ہے کہ گریبان پھاڑ کر قہقہے لگاتے ہوئے جنگل کی راہ لی جائے۔

Haroon-ur-Rashid's Analysis on the Gojra Massacre
Jang, 4 August 2009

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Outlawed terrorists in Gojra


As the government moved on Sunday to register cases against 800 people involved in killing 7 Christians in Gojra, sources in Gojra have revealed that the killers came from outside the city, from Jhang, the hometown of Sipah Sahaba. According to them, the government had received information that “a group of armed men with masked faces had come from Jhang to lead the violence against Christians on the pretext of desecration of the Holy Quran”.

The outsiders first made provocative speeches to arouse the Muslim community against the local Christian community before setting fire to the houses of the Christians while they were still inside. Improvised bombs of the sort stocked by jihadi organisations were used and one was actually shown in a photograph printed by a national daily. The mischief was started by a “maulvi” who arrived in the targeted Gojra village six months ago. There is no “external hand” here, as announced by an official in Lahore.

Christians and Muslims of the village are mostly brick-kiln workers living peacefully, but for the three mosques in the village where the outsiders set up their group. Maulvi Imran Aslam and his two followers first alleged that Christians had torn up the Quran and thrown it up in the air during a wedding. Then, instead of taking the matter to the police, they went on the loudspeakers and asked the Muslims to attack and kill “all the Christians”.

The Gojra case follows on the heels of a similar recent case in Kasur near Lahore. But the Punjab administration, which should have known better, remained sleeping. The Gojra police simply hoped the trouble would blow over with a few Christians hurt and Muslim passions satisfied, but it did not happen. Christians have been killed according to plans made by Al Qaeda and its followers, as witnessed in the churches of Islamabad, Murree and Bahawalpur. The pattern of violence resembles the one witnessed in Shantinagar in 1997 and Sangla Hill in 2005.

The federal and provincial governments must remain steadfast in their resolve to punish the culprits and compensate the dirt-poor Christians of Gojra. Last time, in Shantinagar and Sangla Hill, the help they finally extended to the victims was neither enough nor well organised. (Daily TImes, 4 August 2009)



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(Tanvir Qaiser Shahdi, Express, 5 Aug 2009)


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