KBCA Chief meets ABAD delegation

Chief Controller of Karachi Building Control Authority Mr Manzoor Qadir meets a delegation of Assocaition of Builders and Developer headed by ABAD chairman Mr. Farooq uz Zaman at KBCA office. Senior officers of KBCA were also present in the meeting.

4 Jundallah members apprehended for attacks on Ashura procession: CCPO Waseem Ahmed

CCPO Karachi Waseem Ahmad has informed that four members of Jundallah who had been arrested have admitted there involvement in attacks on the Ashura procession in Karachi. The criminals were also allegedly involved in attacks on Core Commander Karachi.
Speaking to a press conference CCPO said that Jundallah was also involved in attacks on Gulistan-i-Johar Police station, Awari Hotel, Core Commander and PACC. The criminals including Murtaza Arif Shakeel, Muhammad Shakib Faroqi Arif Adil, Murad Shah Arif Farhan Mota and Wazir Muhammad Arif Shakir were arrested from Hawks Bay Road, 500 Quarters on Saturday night. The terrorist were tracked down with the help of their Cell-phone Sim and a bomb was also found from their information. The terrorist also admitted that a bomb in Shadman was to be used to target a Aalim.
CCPO also said that fool proof security arrangements were made for Ashura procession

Sindh Government activates sports relief fund

By Syed Khalid Mahmood

The Sindh government has activated the Pakistan Sports Foundation Relief Fund (PSFRF) for the specific purpose of providing financial assistance to the athletes facing financial hardships due to physical disabilities or protracted ailment.

Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui, Secretary Sports, Government of Sindh, has revealed that besides helping the deserving athletes in need, the Regional Committee of the PSFRF was also taking care of the legal heirs of the deceased ones.

“The seven-member Regional Committee of the PSFRF was formed in November 2008 with a revolving grant of Rs 500,000 at our disposal with the objective of helping the deserving sports-persons of repute and to legal heirs of those stalwarts who have died. We have been providing financial assistance in the form of monthly scholarships as well as lump sum grant-in-aid,” he disclosed.

Shoaib Siddiqui himself is a member of the Regional Committee of the PSFRF that also includes former Test cricketer and present chief selector, Iqbal Qasim, besides, Mir Haider Ali Talpur, Shah Riazuddin and Rahat Ali Shah.
“The families of former Pakistan hockey captain, Munawwar-uz-Zaman and former Test cricketer, Taslim Arif, were provided financial grant of Rs 50,000 each. Similarly a payment of Rs 50,000 was made to the family of cricket coach Khushi Mohammad,” Shoaib Siddiqui disclosed.

“Footballers Mahboob Khan and Turab Ali were paid Rs 20,000 each to take care of their illness. Boxer Mahboob Khan and hockey player Khwaja Wasimuddin were also extended financial support to the tune of Rs 20,000 each while judo player Sajjad Hussain Baloch was paid Rs 15,000,” he added.

“The athletes and coaches having been extended monthly assistance of Rs 3,500 each include Lal Mohammad Baloch, Nazar Mohammad, Mohammad Ali Shah, Mohammad Wasim, Mahboob Khan, Noor-ul-Haq, Zaki Anwar, Shabbir Hussain, Abdul Rauf Qureshi, Abdul Rasheed, Shaikh Hasan Mohammad, Abeera Ali Shaikh, Abdul Ghafoor and Ismail Rosho,” Shoaib Siddiqui said.

It’s indeed quite heartening to note that the government has started taking care of the unpriveleged athletes who certainly deserve the monetary support after having spent their life in the sporting arena.

Numerous sporting greats have had to struggle to make their ends meet because only a few of them had the luxury of jobs and that too during the peak of their career. The majority of them couldn’t save for the rainy day and life has remained tough for them generally.

Sports has become an industry worldwide but the same cannot be said about Pakistan with cricket being the sole exception. Under the circumstances the state does have the responsibility of looking after the athletes.

The amount being disbursed by the Pakistan Sports Foundation Relief Fund (PSFRF) at the moment certainly looks peanuts but it’s a mighty big move in the right direction. As they say it’s never too late to do something good.

The government should allocate more funds to this scheme in order to assist greeater number of athletes. This will go a long way in encouraging more youngsters to take to sports.

CITY NAZIM HANDS OVER KEYS OF SHOPS TO OWNERS IN 9 RESTORED BUILDINGS OF M.A JINNAH ROAD

City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal handed over keys of restored and renovated shops to owners in 9 of the arson hit buildings including old cloth market at Light House on Tuesday. He also laid the foundation stone for the reconstruction of damaged Quetta Market and said that restoration work at remaining 20 markets would also begin as soon as the buildings are handed over to city government after the assessment of amount of damage. City Nazim said that we already have 20 organizations that would perform the reconstruction of damaged buildings.

He said this while addressing a huge gathering at the handing over of shops in 9 restored markets to their owners. DCO Karachi Javed Hanif Khan, Saddar Town Nazim Muhammed Dilawar, M.D KESC Tabish Gohar and large number of affected traders and people were also present on this occasion.
City Nazim said that from the first day he was sure that we would soon succeed in restoration and rehabilitation of affected commercial center at M.A Jinnah Road. Within 20 days we could be able to do all this under the guidance of Quaid-e-Tehreek Altaf Hussain Bhai who had felt the pain of affected business community. “So far all the rehabilitation work has been done by the people of Karachi on self help basis as not a penny has been received in this head from the provincial or federal government” City Nazim said adding that the government formalities took their time and he expect early payment of announced relief to affected shopkeepers.

He said though bomb blasts occurred all over the country but the people in Karachi by taking part in the whole process of rehabilitation of affectees set up a unique example for such events in Pakistan. He said that this incident has thought us a lot. We have seen people here crying vehemently after they lost their all earnings over night. The critics had tried to put all the responsibility of incident on us by leveling all kinds of charges but we left this matter on Almighty Allah who knows better.

City Nazim said that it was only due to the availability of effective surveillance system the law enforcement agencies today catching the criminals on the basis of their pictures in video footage. We had provided 72 hour long video footage before and after the incident recorded by the City Government’s Command and Control Room to police and all intelligence agencies. City Nazim said that the people of Karachi knew well about their well wishers and enemies as they successfully thwarted the evil designs of anti state forces with their mutual harmony and unity. He also prayed for those martyred in the bomb blast on Ashura saying that the people of Karachi were brave enough to face and help each other in such incidents.

City Nazim said that we have completed the repair and renovation work at 9 out of 20 affected markets. The shop owners of old cloth market at Light House who had themselves performed restoration of their shops have been given Rs.7 Lac as compensation. M.D KESC Tabish Gohar on this occasion announced to wave off 4 months electricity bill of the affected traders and distribution of 10 thousand energy savers in the affectees.

CID arrested 3 wanted men

The Sindh Police Crime Investigation Department (CID) here on Friday claimed to have arrested three suspects, wanted in murder, attempt-to-murder, kidnapping-for-ransom, robberies and other heinous crimes.
According to details, the culprits were identified as Mohammad Rafique alias Chacha, the son of Yasin, Sharif alias Kobra, the son of Hussain and Aftab Siddiqui, the son of Shamsuddin.
According to the CID officials, on a tip-off, the arrests were made after separate encounters took place in Bhittai Colony and Liaquatabad area. The Police also recovered three TT pistols and one motorcycle from their possession.
According to the preliminary investigation, culprits - Aftab and Sharif told the investigators that they along with their other accomplices namely Obaid, Shahjahan, Emran Kala, on a suspicion of being the police informant, kidnapped a person namely Taimur in 2008 from Mochko area and later shot him dead in Sector 9-E.
In the same year, they gunned down a man namely Murid Hussain in Gulshan-e-Iqbal area as he offered resistance during a robbery bid.
The officials further said that the culprits also confessed having involved in over 40 cases of robbery in various parts of the City including Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Abul Hassan Isphani Road, Liaquatabad, Korangi, FB Area and North Karachi.
Cases have been registered against them while further investigation is underway, the officials added. (Nation)

Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases to start OPD service on 24/7 basis

On the directive of City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal Health Department of City District Government Karachi has decided to open the OPD at Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases on 24 hour basis and without any gap. The department has also decided to implement the directives of City Nazim regarding availability of specialist doctors at each department of ASH and KIHD and stationing a fleet of CDGK ambulance service 1122 at Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases.
Earlier City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal had directed EDO Health Services Dr. Shahab Imam to take immediate measures for provision of better and on time health care services to citizens. He said that the opening of 24 hour OPD at ASH and KIHD would ensure availability of better medical facilities to people while the presence of specialist doctors and ambulance service 1122 would also facilitate the patients in critical moments.

Nazim Karachi said that city government has spent billions of rupees on the provision of better health care services to citizens and therefore they should avail the benefits of measures taken by city government for their convenience.

Is KESC implying all Karachiites are thieves?

By Irfan Aligi

As part of its efforts to curb power theft, the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) has come up with a unique way of reminding consumers that stealing electricity results in negative consequences, however, the power utility has ignored the fact that in the process it is humiliating the bill-paying and law abiding consumers.

The KESC has printed a shameful slogan on electricity bills, which goes as: “Hum bijli churatay hain tub hi hamaray bachay iskoolon main garmi say behaal hotay hain” (Since we [KESC’s consumers] steal electricity, our children have to suffer the heat in schools.)For those who pay their bills on time and still endure long hours of load shedding, this is like rubbing salt into the wounds.

Those consumers who are being sent a bill obviously have legal connection, and even if they are stealing power through the kunda (hook) system, then it is the KESC’s inefficiency of not being able to take stern action against power thieves that is to blame.

Humiliating the law-abiding citizens through implying that they are power thieves is a strategy that makes little sense.Instead of hurting the self-esteem of legal consumers, the KESC should take measures to improve flaws in its distribution system and reduce line losses.

Talking to DT, many citizens said they felt offended by the humiliating slogans printed on the KESC bills.They said if the government was unable to address the citizens’ woes, which have been worsened due to the tariff increase; it should at least ask the KESC to remove such language from bills.

FIA arrested ex-chairman of Pakistan Steel Moin Aftab

FIA Crime Circle has rounded up the former chairman Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) Moin Aftab Sheikh from the home of his daughter on four charges of corruption – worth of billions of rupees, here in Defence Housing Authority late on Tuesday night.

According to FIA team, he was hiding in his daughter home in Karachi for fear of detention when the crackdown was launched in view of his arrest warrants issued in four corruption cases being under trial in courts and he sought bail before arrest. He was an absconder from Rawalpindi, sources said.

Asif Zaradari reviews Karachi situation, meets PPP workers from Lyari

There is need to work together to maintain peace in Karachi, President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari said while presiding the meeting of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leaders and Mutahida Qaumi movement (MQM) leaders on the situation of the city in Bilawal House on Tuesday.

All the political parties must play its role in maintaining peace in the city. The political parties must not blame each other but help the government to indicate to the criminal elements, President Zardari added.

The democracy should not be blamed in any way. All the problems must be solved with the negotiations, President Zardari added.

The policy of reconciliation is the need of time for all the political parties in the country. All the policies would be made with the consultation of all the political representatives.

President Asif Ali Zardari presided the meeting of the PPP leaders in Bilawal House.

The meeting was joined by Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Qadir Patel, Rafiq Enginner, Qasim Baloch, Najmi Alam and Saeed Ghani.

The leaders of the PPP demanded the President Zardari to order to stop the operation in Lyari. The PPP leaders handed over the list of 14 martyred workers of PPP to President and demanded the families of the victims should be compensated. The PPP leaders also requested President Zardari to establish the party fund to help the families of the victims.

Raza Haroon, MQM leader said that we are grateful to President Zardari that he invited us for the meeting in Bilawal House on the situation of the city.

We have conveyed our reservation to President Zardari and he listened our view point and agreed with us on many points. President Zardari assured us that the action would be taken against the criminal elements in the city. We agreed that the leaders of both parties would settle all the matters collectively, he added.

We have agreed to take action against the criminals.This is not the conflict between the PPP and MQM. We only want that the action must be taken against the criminals, land grabbers and drugs sellers, he added.

This operation would not be against any community or any particular area. This operation would be against all the criminal elements, he added.

Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq, Education Minister Sindh and PPP leader said that the peace committee would be formed which would include PPP and MQM leaders. The both parties have decided that they would follow the root of dialogue to solve all its matters. The both parties would follow the policy of reconciliation. Both parties would collectively work to maintain peace in the city, he added

The both parties would have reached near conciliation on the issue of local government. There would be meeting on the issue of local government on Wednesday, he added.

Meanwhile, target killing continues in the city despite announcement of the government to take stern action against those involved. Two more people were killed in Lines Area.

Body found from Jet Line was identified as Abdul Shakoor. He was shot dead. Another person was killed in Brigade police station limits whereas two people were injured in firing by unidentified people in Lyari. (SAMAA)

MUSTAFA KAMAL APOLOGIES FOR COMMENTS IN LIVE BEEPER

City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal has apologized to his supporters especially all those who may have felt offended by his comments during a recent interview (live beeper) on a private TV Channel.

In a statement Nazim Karachi said that at the time of receiving the query he was busy in the rehabilitation of affected traders and the concerned anchor had asked such a question on that any human would have got sentimental. However, the post which I hold demands me that I should have more patience and endurance. Therefore I apologize to all my Pakistani brethren and sisters who could have felt offended by my words.

Meanwhile, City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal has praised the efforts of federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik for bringing improvement in the present condition and maintaining peace in Karachi. He also expressed hope that his efforts would bring about improvement in the law and order condition in Karachi.