Mianwalinews

میانوالی ( قیصر ٹھیٹھیہ سے) لاہور ہائی کورٹ نے یونین کونسل واں بھچراںکا پرانا نوٹی فکیشن منسوخ کر دیا۔میرٹ پر فیصلے کے لیے کمشنر سرگودھا کوڈی سی او میانوالی کی طرف سے ارسال کردہ سفارشات کی روشنی میں سات دن کے اندر فیصلہ کرنے کا حکم دے دیا۔
1998میں 28ہزار سے زائد آبادی تھی اب تو 60ہزار تجاوز کر رہی ہے ، موسٰی خیل اور دیگریونین کونسل بنائی جا سکتی ہیں تو واں بھچراں کی دو یونین کونسل کیوں نہیں بنائی جا سکتیں درخواست گزاران کا موئقف۔
تفصیلات کے مطابق لاہور ہائی کورٹ نے یونین کونسل واں بھچراںکا پرانا نوٹی فکیشن منسوخ کر دیاہے اور میرٹ پر فیصلے کے لیے کمشنر سرگودھا کوڈی سی او میانوالی کی طرف سے ارسال کردہ سفارشات کی روشنی میں سات دن کے اندر فیصلہ کرنے کا حکم دے دیا ، لاہور ہائی کورٹ میں اپیلانٹ ملک اللہ داد گھنجیرہ نے ملک مشتاق گھنجیرہ ایڈووکیٹ کے توسط سے انٹرا کورٹ اپیل دائر کی تھی جس کی سماعت گذشتہ روز جسٹس عائشہ ملک اور جسٹس اعجاز الاحسن نے کی ،اپیل میں موئقف اختیار کیا گیا تھا کہ واں بھچراں کی آبادی بہت زیادہ ہے اسے دو یونین کونسلوں میں تقسیم کر کے نئی یونین کونسل بنائی جائے، 1998میں اس کی آبادی 28ہزار سے زائد آبادی تھی اب تو 60ہزار تجاوز کر رہی ہے اس لیے ہماری عوام سے زیادتی ہے ، اسی آبادی پر موسٰی خیل اور دیگر یونین کونسلوں کی دو دو یونین کونسل بنائی جا چکی ہیں ۔درخواست گزاران نے میڈیا کو بتایا کہ ہم حق پر ہیں اور انشا ءاللہ حق کی فتح ہو گی ۔اس موقع پرموجود پی ٹی آئی کے ممبر صوبائی اسمبلی ملک احمد خان بھچر نے میڈیا سے گفتگو کرتے ہوئے کہا کہ ہم عوام کے حقوق کےلئے ہر فورم پر جائیں گے۔سیاسی مخالفت کی بنا پر ہمارے حقوق چھینے نہیں جا سکتے ۔ہمیں سیاسی انتقام کا نشانہ بناکر عوام کے حقوق غصب نہیں کرنے دیں گے ۔عوام کو بنیادی سہولیات کی فراہمی کے لیے حکومت مثبت اقدامات کی بجائے ان کے لیے مشکلات پیدا کر رہی ہے

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court observed on Friday that the incumbent assemblies had no mandate to create new provinces. The court was hearing petitions questioning the legal status of a parliamentary commission on new provinces.

Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan pointed out that political parties represented in the parliament had not contested the previous election with the manifesto of new provinces. “The parties should contest the upcoming elections with their proposals for new provinces,” the judge said.

The judge said the bid for creation of new provinces as a general election approached had raised doubts regarding the motivation of the political parties involved.

Lead counsel for the petitioners, Advocate Azhar Siddique, argued that neither the Constitution nor Rules of Business allowed the National Assembly speaker to form a commission to deliberate creation of new provinces.

The counsel said people in Mianwali had been observing strikes to protest the recommendations of the “illegal” parliamentary commission. He said the situation might get worse if the commission was not suspended.

Justice Khan asked a deputy attorney general to produce the notification regarding the formation of the parliamentary commission. The law officer could not produce the notification. He said authorities in Islamabad had been contacted but nothing had come forth so far. He sought more time to produce the notification.

The judge observed that the court could not issue a stay order till it knew who had issued the notification using which law.

He adjourned the hearing till Monday (February 4) and directed the deputy attorney general to come up with the notification, the recommendations and the terms of references of the Parliamentary Commission.

Earlier, the petitioners’ counsel had reiterated that the president’s spokesman and PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar was heading the commission and that the majority party in the Punjab had boycotted it. He said both the ANP and the MQM, represented on the commission, had no representation in the Punjab at any level.

The counsel pointed out that Punjab Assembly had passed two resolutions on the matter and demanded the restoration of Bahawalpur province. He said Senator Babar had denied the existence of a Bahawalpur province in the past.

Advocate Siddique argued that the incumbent leaders had no mandate for creating a new province. He reiterated that Article 239 of the Constitution empowered the Parliament to change the boundaries of provinces.

He said that Mianwali was a lot closer to Lahore than Multan but some political parties were recommending including Mianwali in the new province to gain political mileage.

THE Lahore High Court on Thursday issued notices to Attorney General of Pakistan and Advocate General Punjab and sought their assistance on a petition challenging inclusion of Mianwali district in proposed Bahawalpur Janobi Punjab province.

Justice Muhammad Khalid Mahmood Khan issued this order on a petition moved by a local lawyer. The petitioner submitted that Article 239 of the Constitution empowered the parliament to change geographical limits of provinces. While the incumbent political parties sitting in assemblies had no mandate to create new provinces. Neither President nor Prime Minister or Speaker National Assembly had power to form a parliamentary commission on provinces issue and such commission had no jurisdiction to amend the Constitution, the advocate contended.

At this, CJ observed that formation of parliamentary commission on new provinces seemed unconstitutional. The petitioner pointed out that Mianwali was closer to Lahore than Multan but political parties bent on to include Mianwali in new proposed province only to gain political mileage in the upcoming general elections.

In order to save Mianwali, the residents had launched a movement while strikes were also being observed against the decision of the parliamentary commission, the advocate pointed out.

The counsels argued that the legislators would have to amend the Article 1 of the constitution. They said the parliamentary commission was formed by few political parties to woo voters in their favour. He said by creation of new province the country would suffer huge loss and riots could erupt in the respective areas.

They requested the court to turn down the formation of the parliamentary commission and also declare its report as unconstitutional. The petitioner also requested the court to stay the implementation of the recommendations of the commission till the final disposal to the petition.

MIANWALI:

More than 300 shopkeepers observed a shutter-down strike across the district on Monday to protest against the proposal of including Mianwali in the proposed Bahawalpur-South Punjab province.

The protesters organised sit-ins at several areas in the city with the biggest sit-in at Jahaz Chowk. The protesters included university students, members of the district bar council, traders, representatives of the civil society and religious organisations and members of Jamaat-i-Islami, Tehreek-i-Insaf and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. They gathered at the chowk and blocked the roads leading to Multan, Lahore and Rawalpindi.

They said that the people of the Mianwali district did not want to be part of the Bahawalpur-South Punjab province.

Rawalpindi: The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) on Thursday arrested a passenger at Benazir Bhutto International Airport after recovery of 2.5 kilograms of heroin concealed in his baggage, ANF sources said.The ANF said that Muhammad Kamal, hailing from Mianwali and bearing passport number AP-4206292, was proceeding to Bahrain by GF-771 at 7:15 a.m. when he was intercepted at the ANF counter for luggage search.

LAHORE, Oct 31: The provincial police chief on Wednesday transferred and posted eight superintendents of police and 13 deputy superintendents of police across the province.

The IG has appointed Dera Ghazi Khan SP Investigation Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi, who originally belongs to Mianwali district, as new Lahore Sadar SP (Operations).

The capital city police chief and the DIG (operations) had recommended the name of Lahore SP Headquarters Hasan Mushtaq Sokhaira for the slot.

A source at the Central Police Office told Dawn that Mr Niazi’s name was finalised for the slot in a sudden move as Sokhaira had been given a ‘green signal’ for the post by the authorities.

Sokhaira had earlier served as Sadar SP Investigation for a year.

According to notifications issued from the Central Police Office, Chuhng Police Training College SSP/Principal Suleman Sultan Rana has been transferred and posted Punjab Counter Terrorism Department SSP; Bahawalpur Region Legal SP Nasir Mahmood Afzal Kalyar has been transferred and posted Punjab Investigation Branch SP; awaiting posting Syed Ali Nasir Rizvi has been transferred and posted Elite Police Force Lahore deputy director monitoring; awaiting posting Umer Riaz has been posted Sheikhupura SP Investigation in place of SP Flt-Lt Qaiser Bashir Makhdoom (retired) who has been transferred and posted Punjab Special Branch SP; DG Khan SP Investigation Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi has been transferred and posted Lahore Sadar SP operations; and awaiting posting Mrs Rehana Kausar has been posted as Elite Police Force Lahore deputy director.

AIG Legal Human Rights Cell Central Police Office Qamarul Zaman will continue his present posting.

Similarly, Bahawalnagar’s Chishtian Circle SDPO Khawar Zaman has been transferred and posted Rahim Yar Khan’s Khanpur Circle SDPO; Khanpur Circle SDPO Abid Akhtar has been transferred and posted Chishtian Circle SDPO; awaiting posting Arif Rasheed has been posted Chakwal’s Talagang Circle SDPO; awaiting posting Abdul Latif has been transferred and posted Chakwal DSP Headquarters; Farooqabad PTS DSP Legal Khizar Hayat has been transferred and posted Kasur DSP Legal; Kasur DSP Legal Muhammad Iqbal has been transferred and posted Faisalabad DSP Legal; Sheikhupura City Circle SDPO Qudoos Beg has been transferred and posted Sheikhupura DSP Headquarters; Punjab Constabulary DSP Muhammad Saleem Shah has been transferred and posted Muzaffargarh DSP Headquarters; Gujranwala CTP Civil Lines Circle DSP Mrs Hameeda Begum has been transferred and posted at Punjab Constabulary, Lahore; awaiting posting Amanullah Khan has been transferred and posted Punjab PHP DSP; awaiting posting Muhammad Ishaq has been posted Bahawalpur City Circle SDPO; Gujranwala DSP Organised Crime-II Ms Farhat Naseem has been transferred and posted DSP Elite Police Force; whereas Sheikhupura DSP Headquarters Muhammad Tariq has been transferred and directed to report to the Central Police Office, Lahore.

Dr Sher Afgan Niazi had indeed been missing from our political scene for more than 20 months. Still, he deserved significant time and acknowledgement from the National Assembly on the day of his death. The casual and desultory manner some of his old colleagues adopted while talking about his person and contribution sounded almost cruel.

As a struggling reporter in 1985, I had heard about him while visiting Mianwali close to holding of the first general election that Gen Zia allowed after taking over in 1977.

Most villagers fondly mentioned his name and associated him with the now forgotten movement, Baghochi Mohaz, which attempted to check the tyranny of local landlords by picking up arms.

Although inspired by the person and ideology of a Barelvi cleric, Maulana Abdussattar Khan Niazi, this Mohaz (front) of the small and landless peasants had all the appearances of a Maoist kind of rebellion.

After returning to the National Assembly for the first time in 1985, Dr Niazi took no time in grabbing headlines by joining a group of energetic parliamentarians that refused to blindly obey Zia’s dictates. Thanks to his consistent defiance, voters of Mianwali again elected him to the National Assembly 1988.

Although elected on the JUP ticket, Niazi joined Ms Benazir Bhutto’s first government and aggressively conducted the parliamentary business of her first government as federal minister. Until 2002, he remained steadfastly loyal to Ms Bhutto, in spite of the fact that in a highly conservative Mianwali district the PPP hardly had any vote bank.

After holding of election in 2002, though, he developed differences with some of her powerful aides and switched sides. After turning into a supporter of General Musharraf, he also stood by him like a rock and close to his death was extremely frustrated after discovering that the former dictator had no will and courage to wage political battles while down and out of government.

After briefly remembering Dr Niazi, the assembly switched to dispensing with the routine stuff. The regulators of the parliamentary business for the PPP-led government remained confused. Ostensibly, they had summoned the current session of the National Assembly for the explicit purpose of being prepared to elect another prime minister, in case Raja Ashraf were to be disqualified a la Gilani.

After agreeing to write ‘the letter,’ the Raja from Gujar Khan had now protected his job until formation of the interim government that will supervise holding of the next election. Besides furnishing ‘contingency numbers,’ the parliamentary managers also intended to get a newly drafted law to regulate ‘accountability.’ The PML-N opposition is furious with this law, however. It wants the same law to be passed that had been discussed and massively amended in a National Assembly committee for more than three years.

Some parliamentary managers desire that taking advantage of its numerical strength in both houses of parliament, the government should get the new law passed in a bulldozing manner. The doves are suggesting otherwise. In case confusion on this issue continues, this session of the National Assembly can be prorogued after the Friday sitting. The government needs the break anyway; for most of our pious and God-fearing legislators plan to go for Hajj to atone for their private and collective sins.

In ministerial chambers and parliamentary lobbies, most reporters were also seen combing sources to find out the latest on Zardari-Gilani relations.

The former prime minister had been sent home by the Supreme Court for defying its order for writing a letter to the Swiss government. After becoming the first prime minister of this country, who had not been sacked by the military but through a judicial process, Gilani started considering himself a ‘martyr’. He remained too confident in fancying that PPP would flaunt his ‘martyrdom’ to attract votes in next elections and use it to fire up its hardcore base. After inviting him to a residential quarter in the Presidency, Asif Ali Zardari hardly took any time in forgetting him, however.

Then, he allowed Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to humbly submit to the Supreme Court’s direction on ‘the letter.’

Gilani had been feeling cheated and abandoned since then and quietly slipped out of the presidency. The former prime minister had come to Islamabad Wednesday evening for a brief, private, visit. After knowing about his arrival, Prime Minister Ashraf went to him without any protocol and persuaded him to have a meeting with President Zardari.

The reporters were keen to know the ‘next’ after the said meeting.

Yours truly was not pushed, though. We don’t need any Plato for realizing that Gilani is almost a prototype of the conspiracy-driven elite, which turned more deadly if born and grew up in Seraiki Wasaib. Gilanis of this world take centuries to react and journalists must wait.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2012.