Govt blamed for lawlessness | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

Govt blamed for lawlessness

QUETTA, Feb 28: Lawyers and journalists on Wednesday held the government responsible for growing lawlessness in the province owing to which precious lives were lost in suicide attacks and bomb blasts.

Speaking at a condolence reference held at the press club for victims of the February 17 tragic incident, the speakers said the terrorists could be defeated through national unity.

The programme was organised by the Quetta Union of Journalists. Senior lawyer Raja Rab Nawaz presided over the meeting.

Pakistan Human Rights Commission (Balochistan) vice-chairperson Malik Zahoor Shahwani, Balochistan Bar Association president Malik Sikandar Khan, Baloch Bar Association chairman Mohammad Sadiq Raisani, Amanullah Shadazai, Azam Ulfat and Haji Saifullah of the Quetta Union of Journalists spoke on the occasion.

They condemned the suicide attack in a courtroom in which 17 people, including a senior judge, had been killed and many others suffered injuries.

They said that the wrong policy of the military government to appease the United States was the main reason for growing terrorism acts in different parts of the country.

They said that neighbours Afghanistan and Iran were not satisfied with actions taken by the government to address complaints of both countries.

The speakers criticised the federal government’s military operation in Balochistan due to which innocent people were killed besides the government had put behind bar political activists without fulfilling legal procedures.

They said that injustice and deprivation and denial of just rights to the people of Balochistan were the main grievances that caused unrest among the people against the federal government.

They demanded that the government should accept the ground realities by determining the policies that could restore the confidence of people to maintain peace in the country.

COMMITTEE: A committee comprising representatives of three lawyers’ bodies has been formed for resolving the issues of security measures in courts and payment of compensation to heirs of lawyers killed in the recent suicide attack on the court of senior civil judge.
Source: Dawn
Date:3/1/2007