City Council condemns gang-rape at Quaid’s mausoleum | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

City Council condemns gang-rape at Quaid’s mausoleum

The convener and senior presiding officer, Masood Mehmood, in the absence of City Naib-Nazim Nasreen Jalil, announced the approval of one of the tabled resolutions, while two other resolutions were unanimously approved by the City Council. The house session was later adjourned till the next meeting on Thursday (today).

The house unanimously condemned the rape incident at the Quaid’s mausoleum, saying that the victim and her family should get justice without any delay and the incident should not be used for any political gains.

The house members further said that Islam gives full rights to women but unfortunately there were some elements in society that did not give respect to women.

On the occasion, the women members from both treasury and opposition condemned the culprits and demanded harsh punishment for them.

“A pragmatic approach must be adopted. We do not need only lip-service. The government should adopt harsh measures against the criminals to prevent others from engaging in such nefarious activities,” they said.

In the second resolution, the council members congratulated the newly elected Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani, first Muslim woman Speaker of National Assembly Dr Fahmida Mirza, Deputy Speaker Faisal Karim Kundi and all four nominated chief ministers. The resolution was approved unanimously by the house.

Saeed Ghani, the opposition leader, said that they were pleased with the victory of Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani. He, however, added that they were strongly feeling the absence of their late party leader Benazir Bhutto.

He further said that the newly elected prime minister would face some challenges like high inflation rate, unemployment, increased fuel prices and load-shedding. Ghani hoped that the elected government would tackle all these issues.

Opposition member Rafiq Engineer said that the time had changed with the oath-taking ceremony at parliament and now the country would be moving towards democracy from dictatorship.

Treasury member Asif Siddiqui said that the prime minister should look into the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) affairs at earliest. He added that the Karachiites were facing eight to 10 hours load-shedding on regular basis and no serious efforts were being made to improve the situation.

Opposition member Ramzan Awan asked the convener to release the development funds for his town as soon as possible. Another opposition member Majeed Baloch (Union Council-6, Lyari) said that the law and order situation was getting worse day by day. He said that after sunset nobody could think of coming out of his house in his town because the entire area was controlled by the armed gangs, while police had no presence in the area to control the situation.

Opposition member Juman Darwan asked the convener to allow him discussion on land-grabbing issue. According to him, the Malir Development Authority (MDA) had taken the control of 9-Deh, which was unfair for the residents of these Goths.

He alleged that in 1993, MDA had 9,510 acres land and now it owns 27,000 acres, most of which belonged to the people of Gadap and Malir Town and this piece of land was being used for agriculture purpose.

He was disallowed for speaking further on the issue by the presiding officer who said that the matter was already under consideration and it could not be discussed at this point. The opposition disliked the interruption and walked out from the house but came back later. However, they again walked out in protest.

The treasury members alleged that Al-Kidmat was not sincere with the issues related with the Karachiites. “They are also misusing the Awam Dost Panel. They have always boycotted the proceedings whenever a resolution was tabled for bringing improvement in the system.”

According to treasury member Ashan Siddiqui, the city needs its own power generation units as the KESC could not be relied upon. Abdul Jalil said that the government should allow the CDGK to produce its own electricity through wind mills at the costal belt.

However, on the request of Asif Siddiqui, the discussion was stopped till the next meeting. He said that since the opposition members were not present, the matter should be discussed in front of the full house.

However, a resolution regarding the change of use of land was approved by the house in the absence of opposition. The resolution was drafted to convert ST-12 plot for parking plaza.

The land was earmarked for a park but due to space constraint for parking the council suggested that the land should be utilized for parking plaza along with ST-4 plot.

Nadeem Hashmi, Chairman Transport Committee, said that there were already two parks near the said land, adding, the CDGK would not have to invest money on the project as it would be completed under Build, Operate and Transfer (BTO) basis.
Source: The News
Date:3/27/2008