The soldier —Ayeda Naqvi

If stories like these don’t force us to rethink the cynicism we seem to have adopted as a nation, then nothing will
He did not return.
The nurse had found him
crying at night
not because of the pain
or because he was dying
He felt he had let his country down.
At home, I could only think of
his blood shot eyes.
Who would tell his family?
I wrote another letter
and posted it in the same letter box.— Shafaq Husain

My mother is no poet. But volunteering to work in an army hospital after the 1965 war, she was so moved by what she saw that she found her voice. She still talks about the lines of volunteers outside the hospitals, the blood donors who gave so much blood that the hospitals ran out of bottles.

And she still talks about this young soldier, lying on a metal bed with a hole in his abdomen, crying because he could not go back and fight.
If stories like these don’t force us to rethink the cynicism we seem to have adopted as a nation — the world-weary “no one deserves our compassion” attitude that continues to plague us — then nothing will.

Yes, many institutions in our country have earned the reputations they carry today. But projecting the scorn onto the young men laying down their lives for us is not just misdirected cynicism, it is treason. Ask anyone who has ever had a loved one serve in the army.

A friend of mine has been an army wife for more than twenty years. Her husband is often posted in such remote areas that he comes home for three days after every four months. She describes the scene as he prepares to leave.

“Your heart is in your throat,” she says, “but you can’t show it. He needs to know that we are all fine. When he sits in that jeep, he can’t look back. Looking back can cost him his life. So I watch him quietly as he puts on his uniform, his belt. Sometimes there is a gun attached. I pray extra hard those days.”
“The house is extra quiet that morning,” she continues. “Even the girls are quiet. I know they are thinking, ‘Is this the last time we will ever see our Baba smile again?’ The youngest one always finds a reason to cry that night.”

A soldier who served in the army for 14 years wrote to me after my last article (“Where is our yellow ribbon?”, May 5). He described the toll army life had taken on his family and him: he suffered from Chronic Mountain Sickness, high blood pressure and loss of memory for years after being stationed at high altitudes. His daughter’s studies suffered from having to move so often. And his wife lost a child because she was unable to get the little girl to the hospital in time.

These are the stories of our soldiers, men who have picked this path not because they have to but because they choose to. Some of these accounts leave images in our minds that are often difficult to get rid of, like the soldier who recovered the dead body of his friend, killed in winter, after the snow had melted. The corpse was lifeless, but the watch on the wrist was still ticking.
A

nother army wife describes how her husband returned after months from a hard area posting. He was quieter than usual. At night, he would twitch in his sleep. He would jump at the slightest sound. She learned later that he had discovered the body of one of his closest comrades, skinned by the Taliban and left at the barracks.
Last month, a 23-year-old soldier in Swat was shot through the head by the Taliban. He survived but is permanently paralysed. He has a young wife and an 18-month-old daughter. He says that he would give his life for his country. But when he turns on his television set at night and sees the negative, cynical coverage, he wonders whether his sacrifice was worth it.

I ask my friend whether giving her life to the army — she was 18 when she got married — has been worth it. She is quiet. “Yes,” she says softly. “I would do it all over again.”
“But there are some things that get to you,” she says. “Like the sound of the army boots, the sound of them thumping on the cement floor. It is difficult to describe it to someone who has never heard it but the boots, they have a certain heartbeat in them.”

When you are stationed in remote places, alone for so long, she explains, you become aware of every sound around you. And at the end it are these sounds that have the power to break you. She describes the loud, metallic thud of the gates as her husband leaves. “I can’t explain the ghabrahat I feel when I hear this sound,” she says.
And yet the slamming shut of the gates has been a part of her life for 22 years. It is always followed by a long period of waiting.
I think of the soldier my mother nursed more than forty years ago. Did his family ever receive the letter she posted? Who was waiting for him? These are the stories that we never hear.

Ayeda Naqvi is a journalist who lives and works in Lahore. She can be contacted at ayedanaqvi@yahoo.com

Along came Zardari….

Technorati Tags: Zardari,Government

http://www.nypost.com/seven/05182009/gossip/pagesix/just_asking_169850.htm

WHICH Pakistani officials, in town for Pakistani President Asif Ali
Zardari’s meeting at the United Nations, spent $14,000 on lap dances
and drinks at a topless bar? The expensive evening came just as
President Obama was pledging billions in aid to that country and the
United Nations was warning of 800,000 new Pakistani refugees . . .

Learning from history May 20

by Anwer Khurshid

Bhutto always said he was a student of history. He had certainly studied many world leaders. From Hitler he got the idea of the Nazi Storm Troopers to raise his FSF. He was so keen to test his new Force in combat conditions, that, against better advice, he used them to violently disrupt a mass opposition rally at the Liaquat Gardens. Little did he know that his own daughter would fall foul of some other, so far unknown. force at the same spot. Later on his FSF laid their claim to fame at the Liberty Roundabout in Lahore.

From Chou En Lai he copied the ‘bund-gala’ jacket and the ‘tang-pajama’ trousers. The trouser legs had coloured stripes running down the side. Some one made so bold as to say, the stripes gave the look of a military band. The criticism was shot down with the contempt that it deserved, but the stripes on his own trousers disappeared.  

From Kim Il Sung of North Korea he learnt that a leader’s portraits must be visible every where. In fact he criticized one of his advisors for not having his photo displayed in the latter’s house. This unfortunate trend has caught on and now one cannot travel a furlong without coming up on ‘cinema house’ like display of cheap, garish, vulgar portraits of the ‘defenders of the faith’.

I wonder what the Quaid would have said if his portraits had been so displayed on Drigh Road. But he was only a Quaid-e-Azam, here we are talking of the Quaid-e-Awam and his royal lineage, which may prove to be longer lasting than even the Mughal dynasty (God forbid, mere mun me khaak).

If only he had copied Ayub Khan more, Pakistan would have been better served.

Khurshid Anwer

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

A ’million dollar question’ from a very worried friend:

SIR THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION IS, HOW TO ENLIGHTEN THE EDUCATEDAND THE ILLITERATES SO THAT THEY REFRAIN FROM VOTING THESE PEOPLE TO  POWER AGAIN AND NOT LET THEM ENJOY THEIR ILL GOTTEN GAINS. I WILL BE ABSOLVED ON THE DAY OF JUDGMENT TO OPPOSE THEM ON EVERY FORUM  IN THE COUNTRY AND ABROAD

And my response:

Sir, the answer is, more people, with more commitment, to come out boldly in the field, against the People’s party for its ruinous economic policies. The trend set by Bhutto and Benazir of pampering the poor, the workers, the students is continuing, leading to indiscipline and inefficiency and stalling progress. Benazir lowered the voting age to 18 for transparently selfish reasons but no one raised a voice (voting age should be 24 when a person is earning and knows what is what).

The scarce money is being spent lavishly to augment the vote bank. Unproductive employment to keep the Jayalas happy is ruining industry and the public sector. But no one is bothered. No one is prepared to sully their hands. I have annoyed many friends in my continuing campaign against this party but get very little support from others (with some notable exceptions).

But that is not enough. We cannot have the cake and eat it too. If we want to defeat this dangerous party at the hustings more of us will have to stand up to be counted, otherwise go on suffering at the hands of a party bent upon taking the country down the drain – all expenditure and no development, total reliance on the expensive and global-warming thermal power, ignoring the huge hydel potential of the country for cheap and clean power plus water. This is tantamount to ‘khuda ki naemat ko thokar marna’. 

To quote Roedad Khan: An irresponsible, inept, corrupt, government is the inevitable consequence of an indifferent electorate. Politics will never be cleaner in this country, unless and until citizens are willing to give of themselves to the land to which they owe everything. Today apathy is the real enemy. Silence is its accomplice. "The thing necessary for the triumph of evil," Edmund Burke had said, "is for good people to do nothing, when bad men combine, the good must associate,"

Love marriage greeted by the torture of a family; girl is abducted by a Punjab MP

Received by email

Those in a position to do something, please get on it and keep everyone updated…

If someone has the Human Rights office in lahore’s email, please pass it on to them and other related organizations.

WAF….please take up this issue.

PAKISTAN: ISSUES: Torture; abduction; illegal detention; disappearance
——————————————————
Dear friends,

CASE DETAILS: (As related by the victims and local NGOs)
Miss Kulsoom Baloch, 25, belongs to a wealthy industrial family in Islamabad, which owns cotton mills and has ties to parliament. Her cousin Mr. Iftekhar Ahmed Baloch is a member of the Punjab assembly (MPA) and is a parliamentary secretary. The AHRC has been informed that Khulsoom’s family were enraged by her decision to marry Mr. Fazal Abbas, 29, who is from a less wealthy family. The pair were married in Sarghodha–Abbas’ home city 400km away–in a civil court on March 22, 2009.

On April 25 a First Information Report (FIR: a document of complaint) was filed against Abbas at the Airport Police Station in Rawalpindi (Punjab province) by Kulsoom’s brother, Mr Mehmood Ur Rehman. It charged Abbas with the girl’s abduction and rape, and the theft of her jewelry and cash.

Early the next morning Baloch, the MPA, with Mehmood Ur Rehman and Kulsoom’s brother-in-law Mr. Nasir Khan Baloch, along with Mr. Basheer, an assistant sub inspector (ASI) and other police officers, raided the house where Kulsoom was staying. She was beaten severely by each member of the raiding party and asked for the address of her husband’s office. Neighbors intervened and Kulsoom managed to escape.

The same group of men then visited the house of her in-laws in Iqbal colony, Sargodha. They forcefully entered the home and badly beat the women and girls there, asking again for the address of Abbas’ office. After some time, officers and the MPA arrived at the house with Abbas, who was reportedly bruised and bleeding.

They then forced Abbas and his sisters, Mrs Riffat Rani (wife of Shafiq Dogar); Miss Nadia, 19, who is a national badminton champion; Miss Shazia Riaz, 16; and Miss Nazia, 12, into three private cars. Shazia Riaz was loaded into a car with Iftekhar Ahmed Baloch, and has not been seen or heard from since.

At Airport Police Station, Rawalpindi, 400 km away, our reports allege that the three women and Fazal were badly and systematically beaten by Station House Officer (SHO) Mr. Choudhry Safdar and Assistant Sub-Inspector, Mr. Basheer. Basheer reportedly told Nadia that if she were to become his ‘friend’–suggesting some kind of sex act–he would give her certain concessions. The women’s clothing was torn, their hair was pulled and they were thrown against walls. The officers continually asked them where their daughter-in-law Kulsoom was hiding.

Baloch, the MPA, visited the station twice during that period, telling the women that unless they could lead the police to Kulsoom, he would never release Shazia from his personal custody.

After three or four days the women were produced before Mr. Azmat Ullah, a civil judge in Rawalpindi for remand and were charged with aiding the abduction of Kulsoom when she married their brother. Remand was granted, and the judge ignored the girls’ claims that they had been severely tortured. Nadia also tried telling the judge that since she was the national badminton champion he should consider the pride of the nation; he reportedly laughed at her.

In the meantime, on April 28, officers at Brana Police Station, Jhang, Punjab arrested Mr. Shafiq Dogar, the husband of Fazal’s elder sister, and charged him with stealing. The case was filed the next day. This police station lies in the electoral constituency of Iftekhar Ahmed Baloch, the MPA. On May 3 Dogar was taken by ASI Basheer of Rawalpindi and two of Kulsoom’s brothers, Mehmood ur Rehaman and Saif ur Rehman to the Airport Police Station, where he was beaten so badly he lost the use of his legs.

He believes that they are broken, but has been given no medical care. On May 12 Dogar was produced in a wheel chair before the same civil judge, Mr. Azmat Ullah, who showed the same indifference to his injuries. He was released on bail for charges of theft, but remanded further on a new charge of aiding Kulsoom’s abduction.

After Dogar’s arrest on the 28th his wife was released from custody. Nadia and Nazia were released on bail on May 6, but when their mother, Mrs. Nasrin Akhtar, 50, collected them at Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, she was arrested. She was taken to the Airport Police Station and beaten by the same SHO and ASI, and bears the torture marks on her back and hands. She is currently in Adiala jail on the orders of civil judge Azmat Ullah.

The family have filed a case regarding the illegal arrest and torture, however the continuous arrest of family members and threats from the Baloch family have sent them into hiding across Pakistan, and they are unable to pursue their case.
SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the relevant authorities demanding the immediate release of two men and one woman from Adiala Jail, and swift action against the officers responsible at Airport Police Station for the illegal arrests and torture. Please demand the immediate recovery of sixteen-year-old Shazia from private captivity, and the charging of her abductor, Iftekhar Ahmed Baloch.

Please also demand that the Punjab provincial government take legal action against Baloch, MPA for the abuse of power. Please note that the Asian Human Rights Commission has already sent a letter to the UN Special Rapporteurs on torture and illegal detention, asking for their intervention.

To support this appeal please click here:

SAMPLE LETTER:
Dear _______
PAKISTAN: Love marriage greeted by the torture of a family; one girl is abducted by a Punjab MP
Names of the victims:
1. Miss Kulsoom, 25, wife of Fazal Abbas: beaten and threatened by police, currently in hiding
2. Mrs. Nasreen Akhtar, 50, mother of Fazal Abbas: tortured and detained in Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi
3. Mrs. Riffat Rani, wife of Mr. Shafiq Dogar: illegally arrested and tortured, now in hiding
4. Mr. Shafiq Dogar: has lost the use of his legs through torture, detained in Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi
5. Miss Nadia, 19, sister of Fazal Abbas and national badminton champion: illegally arrested, tortured, molested and now in hiding
6. Miss Shazia, 16, sister of Fazal Abbas: illegally arrested, beaten and abducted by MPA Iftekhar Ahmed Khan Baloch with the consent of the police
7. Miss Nazia, 12, sister of Fazal Abbas: illegally arrested, tortured, and now in hiding
8. Mr. Fazal Abbas, husband of Miss Kulsoom: illegally arrested, tortured, and detained in Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi
All resident of: House number 268, block ‘Y’, Iqbal Colony, Sargodha, Punjab province
Names of the perpetrators:
1. Mr. Iftekhar Ahmed Khan Baloch, Member of the Punjab Assembly, son of Haji Ahmed Khan, House number 557 S, Defence housing authority, Lahore Cantonment, Punjab province
And:
2. Mr. Mehmood ur Rehman, brother of Kulsoom
3. Mr. Saif ur Rehman, brother of Kulsoom,
4. Mr. Nasir Khan Baloch, brother in law of Kulsoom
All three resident of: House number, 204, street 21, block ‘C’, PWD housing society, Islamabad
And
5. Mr. Choudhry Safdar, Station house officer (SHO), Airport police station, Rawalpindi, Punjab province
6. Mr. Basheer, Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI), Airport police station, Rawalpindi, Punjab province
7. Mr. Azmat Ullah, civil judge, Rawalpindi
Places of incidents:
Iqbal colony, Sargodha, Punjab province
Jhang city, Jhang, Punjab province
Airport Police Station, Rawalpindi, Punjab province 
Date of incidents:
26 April 2009
28 April 2009
I am extremely disturbed to hear of the criminal harm done to one family by officers at Airport Police Station, Rawalpindi, along with one member of the Punjab Assembly and his relatives. According to the information I have received, six members of a family, including three women and a young girl, were arrested on the instructions of MPA Iftekhar Ahmed Khan Baloch in retaliation to a love marriage. All have been severely tortured by police in custody, with one man unable to walk. A seventh member of the family, a sixteen-year-old girl, has not been seen or heard of since her arrest, when Baloch took her away in a car. The AHRC believes she is in danger of being raped. Two men and one woman remains in Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, the others are in hiding and unable to pursue the case of torture and illegal detainment that they have lodged.
According to the reports I have been given, Miss Kulsoom Baloch, 25 married Mr. Fazal Abbas, 29, who is from a less wealthy family, in Sarghodha–Abbas’ home city–in a civil court on March 22, 2009.
On April 25 a First Information Report (FIR: a document of complaint) was filed against Abbas at the Airport Police Station in Rawalpindi (Punjab province) by Kulsoom’s brother, Mr Mehmood Ur Rehman, charging Abbas with the girl’s abduction and rape, and the theft of her jewelry and cash.
Early the next morning Baloch, the MPA, with Mehmood Ur Rehman and Kulsoom’s brother-in-law Mr. Nasir Khan Baloch, along with Mr. Basheer, an assistant sub inspector (ASI) and other police officers, raided the house where Kulsoom was staying. She was beaten severely by each member of the raiding party and asked for the address of her husband’s office. Neighbors intervened and Kulsoom managed to escape.
The same group of men then visited the house of her in-laws in Iqbal colony, Sargodha, forcefully entered the home and badly beat the women and girls there, asking again for the address of Abbas’ office. After some time, officers and the MPA arrived at the house with Abbas, who was reportedly bruised and bleeding.
They then forced Abbas and his sisters, Mrs Riffat Rani (wife of Shafiq Dogar); Miss Nadia, 19, who is a national badminton champion; Miss Shazia Riaz, 16; and Miss Nazia, 12, into three private cars. Shazia Riaz was loaded into a car with Iftekhar Ahmed Baloch and has not been seen or heard from since.
At Airport Police Station, Rawalpindi, 400 km away, the reports allege that the three women and Fazal were severely and systematically beaten by Station House Officer (SHO) Mr. Choudhry Safdar and Assistant Sub-Inspector, Mr. Basheer. Basheer reportedly told Nadia that if she were to become his ‘friend’–suggesting some kind of sex act–he would give her certain concessions. The women’s clothing was torn, their hair was pulled and they were thrown against walls. The officers continually asked them where their daughter-in-law Kulsoom was hiding. Baloch, the MPA,also visited the station twice during that period, telling the women that unless they could lead the police to Kulsoom, he would never release Shazia from his personal custody.
After three or four days the women were produced before Mr. Azmat Ullah, a civil judge in Rawalpindi for remand and were charged with aiding the abduction of Kulsoom when she married their brother. Remand was granted, and the judge ignored the girls’ claims that they had been severely tortured. Nadia also tried telling the judge that since she was the national badminton champion he should consider the pride of the nation; he reportedly laughed at her.
In the meantime, on April 28, officers at Brana Police Station, Jhang, Punjab arrested Mr. Shafiq Dogar, the husband of Fazal’s elder sister, and charged him with stealing. The case was filed the next day. This police station lies in the electoral constituency of Iftekhar Ahmed Baloch, the MPA. On May 3 Dogar was taken by ASI Basheer of Rawalpindi and two of Kulsoom’s brothers, Mehmood ur Rehman and Saif ur Rehman to the Airport Police Station, where he was beaten so badly he lost the use of his legs. He believes that they are broken, but has been given no medical care. On May 12 Dogar was produced in a wheel chair before the same civil judge, Mr. Azmat Ullah, who showed the same indifference to his injuries. He was released on bail for charges of theft, but remanded further on a new charge of aiding Kulsoom’s abduction.
After Dogar’s arrest on the 28th his wife was released from custody. Nadia and Nazia were released on bail on May 6, but when their mother, Mrs. Nasrin Akhtar, 50, collected them at Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, she was arrested. She was taken to the Airport Police Station and beaten by the same SHO and ASI, and bears the torture marks on her back and hands. She is currently in Adiala jail on the orders of civil judge Azmat Ullah.
The family have filed a case regarding the illegal arrest and torture but the continuous arrest of family members and threats from the Baloch family have sent them into hiding across Pakistan, and they are unable to pursue their case.
I urge that you immediately intervene into this horrific display of police brutality. That senior police officers can confidently direct and participate in abductions, illegal arrests, arbitrary violence and torture in custody, should be a matter of deep shame to those who operate the system they work within. They must be fired and charged for their crimes.
As well as signing the UN Convention Against Torture in 2008, the Pakistan Penal Code itself is built to protect civilians from the greedy violence of the power hungry; be they parliamentarians, police officers or civilians. The rights enshrined in the constitution include the right to life and liberty, Article 9, the right for detainees to be produced before the court within 24 hours of arrest, Article 10 sub article 2, and the right to dignity and the inviolable privacy of home, 14, sub section (1). Article 14 (2) declares that no person in Pakistan shall be subjected to torture for the purpose of extracting evidence. I suggest that this information be made available in police stations in Pakistan, where it appears that knowledge of the constitution and of basic criminal procedure is lacking. This information should also be provided to those in the civil court of Rawalpindi, where judges such as Mr. Azmat Ullah, seem to operate regardless of the law and at the behest of politicians, with little or no care for broken legs or assaulted women in his court. I suggest that this judge be investigated and disbarred.
Nasreen Akhtar, Fazal Abbas, Shafiq Dogar must be instantly released from Adiala Jail and given the appropriate medical care for the torture sustained in prison. The civilians and parliamentary member responsible for their ordeal must be swiftly charged and tried. I demand that the Punjab provincial government take legal action against MPA Iftekhar Ahmed Khan Baloch for the abuse of his power, and the mockery he has made of his seat. Sixteen-year-old Shazia Abbas must be recovered unharmed from private captivity. All victims must be given protection, compensation and access to justice.
I look forward to hearing of your action in this matter.
Yours sincerely,
—————-
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. Mr. Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani
Prime minister
Prime Minister House, Islamabad,
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 51 922 1596
Tel: +92 51 920 6111
E-mail: webmaster@infopak.gov.pk
2. Mr. A Rehman Malik
Minister for Interior
R Block Pak Secretariat
Islamabad
PAKISTAN
Tel: +92 51 9212026
Fax: +92 51 9202624
E-mail: ministry.interior@gmail.com or interior.complaintcell@gmail.com
3. Mr. Mian Shahbaz Sharif
Chief Minister of Punjab
H-180 Model Town, Lahore
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 42 5881383
4. Minister of Law
Government of Punjab
Punjab Secretariat
Ravi Road
Lahore
PAKISTAN
E-mail: law@punjab.gov.pk
5. Chief Secretary of Government of Punjab
Punjab Secretariat
Lahore
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 42 7324489
E-mail: chiefsecy@punjab.gov.pk
6. Dr. Faqir Hussain
Registrar
Supreme Court of Pakistan
Lahore
PAKISTAN

7. Mr. Salman Taseer
Governor of Punjab
Governor House
Mall Road, Lahore
PAKISTAN
Fax: +92 42 9200023
E-mail: governor.sectt@punjab.gov.pk

8. Secretary of Law and Parliamentary affairs
Government of Punjab
Punjab Secretariat
Ravi Road
Lahore
PAKISTAN
E-mail: law@punjab.gov.pk

9. Home secretary
Punjab Secretariat
Lahore
PAKISTAN
E-mail: home@punjab.gov.pk

Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrchk.org)

 

The future or our Equilisers

Daily Times By Irfan Ghauri

No plan to capture Pak nukes, says US ambassador

* Anne W Patterson says reports of US contingency plan ‘nonsense’
* Says US to send troops for relief activities if Pakistan requests

ISLAMABAD: US Ambassador Anne W Patterson on Wednesday contradicted reports that the US authorities had prepared a contingency plan to secure Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal upon fears of them falling in Taliban hands.

“I have seen this in media. I will say it is all nonsense,” she said in an interaction with reporters at a roundtable press talk at the US embassy. “It is not even technically possible. These reports have come from very obscure sources. I will call them piles of conjunction,” the US ambassador said.

The envoy said the US was willing to send its troops into Pakistan to help in relief activities in the wake of the ongoing military operation in Swat if Islamabad made a request. “We are in constant contact with the Pakistani authorities on issue of internally displaced persons and willing to send troops [for relief activities] if Pakistan requests,” Patterson said. “I spoke to General Nadeem and others. They have not asked for any military support,” she added, however.

Patterson said the US was not only helping Pakistan in managing the internally displaced persons (IDPs), but also working with the Pakistani authorities on long-term plans for repatriation and rehabilitation of the displaced population.

The US ambassador said Washington would provide military assistance like helicopters, aircraft parts and other equipment to strengthen the capability of Pakistani forces in the war against terrorism.
She confirmed the presence of US troops in Pakistan for training Pakistani forces on counter-terrorism, but did not give the exact number of US trainers in the country.

“The training programne with Pakistan is everyday exercise. It is on reciprocal basis. [Pakistani troops] go [to the US] for training and our troops come here. I don’t know the exact number of US trainers in Pakistan but it is incorrect to say that they are 4,000 or so,” she said in response to a question.

The envoy declined to comment when asked if the US was assisting Pakistan on the security of its nuclear weapons.
Asked about the US policy of drone attacks, she said: “In a dire scenario the US, UK or let us say China can be attacked from Tribal Areas. We have to do everything possible to avoid this scenario.” Responding to a question about Islamabad’s concerns that India was fanning militancy in Pakistan through its consulates in Afghanistan, Patterson said Pakistan should talk directly to India.

Mr. CM Punjab, why do these incidents continue to occur?!!

Daily Times, Lahore 

Police favour law-violating influential person: Hush the generator, demand the annoyed neighbours

* Complainant says it is revolting that EPD officials and police allowed reinstallation of generator despite offender’s harsh attitude towards them
By Afnan Khan
LAHORE: The police are favouring an influential Gulberg resident despite clear violations of law – threatening government officials and using an electricity generator without a soundproof canopy.

Mrs Imtiaz, a resident of 292-A/1, Gulberg III, submitted an application to the Environment Department against her influential neighbour for using generators without installing any additional equipment to curb pollution.

The Environment Protection Department (EPD) officials, after arriving at the spot, issued a notice to the people using illegal generators, however, the offenders not only tore the notice but also abused the officials and warned them to leave or face dire consequences. The EPD inspectors lodged a first information report (FIR) with the Ghalib Market Police against the offenders for violating the law and threatening department officials.

The department later handed over a notice to the offenders and confiscated the generator, on the grounds that it was illegal to use a generator without a soundproof canopy, the pollution was adversely affecting the locals and the offenders threatened and insulted EPD officials.
However, the same area’s police later registered a counter FIR against the EPD officials, alleging that they broke into their premises and stole the offenders’ generator, cancelling the FIR registered by the department. The department’s officials later handed over the generator to the offenders, who have installed it again.

Revolting: Mrs Imtiaz said the way the EPD officials and the police were first insulted by her neighbours and the way they later supported the re-installation of the generator was revolting. She said the offender claimed to be a personal secretary to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, adding that he came into the street and warned all the neighbours against saying anything when the generator was reinstalled.

“The authorities just sent us back and forth from one official to the other. What was the use if the generator was going to get reinstalled anyway? This is exactly the type of acts that have made citizens loose faith in the law enforcing agencies,” the resident said.

EDO (Environment) Tariq Zaman said his department took appropriate action under the powers vested in it by confiscating the generator. He said the problem occurred due to the police officers concerned, as they not only supported the offenders, but also filed counter FIRs against the department’s officials. He regretted being forced to return the generator when the police registered the counter FIR.

Model Town Superintendent of Police Rana Ayaz Saleem denied supporting the offenders. To a question, he said he was not aware of the current status of the case and would explain the situation after discussing it with the Gulberg ASP.!!!!!