News
Thursday, September 22, 2011
‘Kharotabad victims had all legal documents’* NA committee chairman says will resign if directions of committee not implemented
By Ijaz Kakakhel
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Committee on Human Rights was informed through the Russian and Tajikistan embassies that the people killed in Kharotabad on May 17, 2011,were their nationals and their passports were issued from their respective embassies.
They further informed that there was no information about the involvement of the deceased Russians in any kind of extremist activities or their affiliation with any banned organisation in Russia nor were they convicted for any crimes. The Tajikistan embassy informed the committee that according to the Analytical Information Centre of the Tajik Interior Ministry, the deceased Mukumov (killed in Kharotabad) was not involved in any illegal activity, nor was any criminal case registered against him. The embassy officials claimed that all the deceased had all legal documents. The committee on Human Rights pledged to implement their previous recommendations. The committee chairman resolved that parliament/standing committee are custodians of the rights of the lives of 180 million people and expressed concern that so far no action had been taken against the officials held responsible for the Gojra, Abbottabad and Kharotabad incident.
Committee Chairman Riaz Fatyana claimed that if the directions of the committee were not implemented in letter and spirit, he would resign from his post. He said that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and the National Assembly speaker would be informed about the non-implementation of the committee’s directions by the departments concerned.
While commemorating the World Peace Day, the committee called all forums to follow peace, dialogue, justice and tolerance in all walks of life in the greater interest of Pakistan.
The committee condemned the incident of killings in Mastung where 26 people were shot dead in a sectarian attack. The committee recalled the Sialkot incident in which where two brothers were killed by a mob and highlighted the efforts of the committee members for granting punishments to the culprits and also appreciated the judiciary for maintaining the justice.
With regards to the provision of health facilities and dengue fever, the committee, while expressing concern, said that last year 5,000 cases of dengue virus were reported, which had increased to 8,000 victims this year. UN experts have forecast more losses for the next year. The committee expressed concern that no preventive measures have been taken in this regard.
It advised that in addition to distribution of pamphlets to public, electronic media might be used through the Information Ministry for awareness programmes. The committee was informed that people were taking stringent preventive measures to avoid being a victim of dengue.
It was informed that there are 99 confirmed dengue cases in different hospitals of Islamabad. For the treatment of the dengue virus, the committee was informed that the government had allocated Rs 40 million so that necessary machinery could be purchased by the hospitals.
With regard to the heavy rains and floods, the committee expressed dissatisfaction on the arrangements of the departments concerned to contain the damages caused by the floods and observed that inadequate town planning, drainage and sewerage system were causing the floods in many areas.
There is no coordination between the federal, provincial governments and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). The flood situation in Sindh has reached critical levels, with no solution in sight.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk