Day: October 22, 2011

ISLAMABAD: Women of Jammu and Kashmir from both the sides of the Line of Control (LoC) expressed their desire for peace, security and economic stability in the region and demanded an immediate end to the protracted conflict.

The women during a two-day intra-Kashmir conference held at Gulmarg demanded their participation in all the peace-building initiatives and peace negotiations on Kashmir.

They demanded of the governments of India and Pakistan to simplify the procedures of trade, communication and travel across the LoC by opening other trade and travel routes like Kargil-Skardu, Chamb-Bhimbar and Leh-Khaplu.

They said that the ceasefire should be respected with immediate halt to violations. They also demanded resolution of all the outstanding issues like landmine, release and return of stray crossers and urged that all the civilian areas should be de-militarised and the Draconian acts like AFSPA and PSA should be repealed.

They also demanded an end to human rights abuses and violations; women representation in legislative assemblies, councils, local bodies, autonomous and independent state institutions to monitor and report gender-based issues; establishment of legal aid committees and village helpline by the state to immediately address issues of half-widows and sexual assault; coverage of state compensation under civil law; people-friendly police reforms; student and faculty exchange programmes across the LoC; and increase in women’s access to micro-financing schemes.

According to Mrs N Malik, Coordinator of Conference from AJK, the second intra-Kashmir dialogue could not take place in AJK due to strained India-Pakistan relations after the Bombay blasts. However, after four years, the conference was held at Gulmarg which was jointly organised by the Center for Dialogue and Reconciliation (CDR) and Women for Peace, an indigenous Srinagar-based NGO with the financial assistance of EU.

The theme of the two-day dialogue was, ‘Women Roles in Society: Issues of Mutual Concern.’ The participants discussed women’s roles in peace-building, policy-making and socio-economic and legal issues in women’s empowerment. The women speakers from both the sides of LOC presented their papers and finally recommendations were finalised by the working groups, says Mrs Mailk.

A delegation of 15 women including educationists, medical practitioners, social workers, lawyers, retired and serving government servants, entrepreneurs, students and housewives from AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan attended the conference. Some 40 participants from all the regions of Indian-held Jammu and Kashmir and Ladak attended the conference.

In 2007, women of AJK representing cross section of the civil society made an informal group and shared mutual concerns over the increasing socio-economic instability, deteriorating economic conditions and atrocities being inflicted upon the women of IHK.
Source: Dawn
Date:10/22/2011

By: Shakeel Anjum

ISLAMABAD: The government has appointed Maj (retd) Mushtaq Husain Shah (BS-21) as Inspector General of Police (IGP), Sindh, withdrawing the services of Wajid Durrani (IGP, Sindh) and Saud Mirza (Additional IGP, Sindh) from the Sindh province.

Both the officers have been asked to report to the Establishment Division as officer on special duty (OSD), Establishment Division sources said. The ED has issued the notification in this regard.

The newly-appointed IGP has enjoyed a good reputation during his service and acknowledged as a professional and upright officer. The sources said that Wajid Durrani (BS-21), a PSP officer, who would retire from service in May 2012, was likely to be appointed as director general (DG), Intelligence Bureau (IB), for seven moths while the services of Saud Mirza (BS-21) could be handed over to the Punjab government.
Source: The News
Date:10/22/2011

A newly-wed woman was shot dead by her brother in the Sohrab Goth police limits on Friday, police said.

Laila, 21, and her husband Azhar suffered bullet wounds when her brother along with his friend barged into her residence near a bus stop in Ayub Goth, opened fire on them and fled.

Some residents of the area informed the police, who were taking the couple to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital when Laila died.

Police said that the couple had fallen in love three months back and got married. However, the woman’s brother was not happy with their marriage.
Source: The News
Date:10/22/2011

By: Rameez Khan

LAHORE: Several traders having businesses on The Mall on Friday attacked lady health workers picketing the road at Chairing Cross for over five hours in protest against government’s failure to release their salaries as promised to them during an earlier protest on Tuesday.

Several Mall Road Traders Association members attacked the protesting LHWs with batons, some pelted the protesters with corncobs and other trash dumped on the roadside. The confrontation was preceded by an argument between protesters and Hasan Ahmed, a jewellery shop owner. Ahmed said he had asked the protesters to end their blockade. He said he was joined by more traders after health workers refused to entertain his requests.

Police contingents led by Superintendent of Police Umer Saeed and Assistant Superintendent of Police Riffat Bukhari soon reached the scene but could not immediately restore order.

“These protesters are destroying our business as the road is blocked every other day,” said Haji Qadeer Bhatti, another trader. He said protests on The Mall were now illegal and that traders would not accept pickets and sit-ins any longer.

Around five hundred LHWs had earlier marched from Nasser Bagh to Charing Cross on The Mall, where they blocked the road. They chanted slogans against the government for its failure to honour a commitment, it had made after an earlier protest on October 18, that a month’s salary of LHWs would be released in a day.

National Programme for Family Planning and Primary Healthcare Association’s Punjab president Rukhsana Anwar told The Express Tribune that a Health Department team led by Director General Aslam Chaudary had met them after the protest and assured them that the promised salary had been released on Friday.

She said the team said they lacked funds to regularise the services of LHWs working against contracts. She said the team also asked the association for suggestions for finalisation of a Planning Commission performa-1.

Anwar said a driver and an LHW with a qualification of intermediate and an LHS with a qualification of bachelors and masters were being given the same salary. This, she said, was unjust. She demanded that their pay scales be revised. She said if government’s apathy towards their demands continued next protest would be staged in Islamabad.

Anwar said a call for boycott of all public healthcare programmes earlier given by the association had been withdrawn in view of the inconvenience it would cause to the people.

An LHW from Multan condemned the government for not using the World Health Organisation funds to clear their salaries. She said services of contractual employees had not been regularised despite court orders to the effect.

Traffic remained suspended for several hours because of road blocks at Charing Cross by LHWs and on Mozang Road by students protesting against errors in results announced by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education.
Source: The Express Tribune
Date:10/22/2011