Shafqat Inqalabi & Iqbal adv, meet with Emma Nicholson

Shafqat Inqalabi of BNF & Iqbal adv of KNM, meet with Emma Nicholson
On Friday 15th February 2008 former spokesman of Blawaristan National Front Shafqat Ali Inqalabi and Mohd Iqbal Advocate chairman Karakorum National movement were meet with the prominent member of European Parliament Emma Nicholson at Islamabad.First of All the delegates thanks to Emma Nicholson for her efforts to pass the resolution on Kashmir dispute specially for highlighted the basic rights of the peoples of GB .Shafqat Ali Inqalabi and Mohd Iqbal advocate brief the European member about the current political , economical and constitutional problems of Pakistan occupied Gilgit Baltistan.They also discuss about the so-called and bogus package for Gilgit Baltistan by Musharraf Government.Mrs Emma Nicholson MEP promise to the delegation of GB that she visit GB soon and she will try to make more effective report on GB again.Emma Nicholson get information's about the geography of GB,Authority of NA Assembly , Authority of Kashmir affairs Islamabad, Judiciary of GB, Annual Budget, No of Schools, colleges and other educational institute, Non local Bureaucracy.monitoring system,role of Pakistan army , role of Pakistani agencies,dialogs in between India and Pakistan,Kashmir issue , life stander of the local peoples , and so many other issues with shafqat inqalabi and Iqbal advocate.Shafqat Inqalabi and Iqbal Advocate brief her about the demands of the nationalist parties of Pakistan occupied Gilgit Baltistan.This meeting was arranged by the popular leader of IKA Dr shabir choudhry .this is the first time the political activists of GB directly discuss about the problems of POGB with Mrs Emma Nicholson.The nationalist political parties , civil society and local media of Gilgit Baltistan warm well come to this meeting. Now the nationalist forces of GB are hopeful from European union .According to the Editorial of the most popular newspaper Bang-e- Sehar this meeting will be fruitful for the future political developments of GB in light of Kashmir Dispute.

local population should be addressed before starting any work on the KKH. Northern Areas

PRESS RELEASE
An action committee has been formed to safeguard the rights of people who would be affected in Hunza-Nagar by the planned expansion work on Karakuram Highway. Ehsan Ali Advocate has been elected Chairman of the action committee.
The action committee has demanded that all queries of the local population should be addressed before starting any work on the KKH. Northern Areas, the press release states, are disputed and the government can not use land without taking cosent of the local people. It has also been demanded that proper compensation plans should be devised to ensure safety of the farmers. This action committee was formed after the Deputy Commissioner of Gilgit issued a notice in this regard.
Gojal valley would be the most affected area within Gilgit-Baltistan, if the KKH is exapnded. Considerable damage would be caused to agricultural land, houses will have to be demolished and the Khunjerab National Park, home to some of the rarest wild life species, would also be affected to a large extent. No news has yet been recieved about whether Gojal is represented in the action committee or not.

European Union should take a strict action against Government of Pakistan

European Union should take a strict action against Government of Pakistan
Islamabad, January 26,2008:Khushleem Jan Central leader of Balawaristan National Front(BNF) and Ex Chairman Municipal Committee Gilgit said that European Union should take a strict action against Pakistan for violating rights of the people of Balawaristan (Pakistan Occupied Gilgit Baltistan).While speaking in a special discussion to a Gilgit Baltistan based Weekly News paper, Khusleem Jan said that for the last six decades the indigenous people of Balawaristan (Pakistan Occupied Gilgit Baltistan) and Kashmir had been deprived of all basic and constitutional rights,humen rights and the identity of the people of the region was being destroyed. Jan said,our struggle for our rights has always been considered as threats and tried to make it fail by the tyrant Pakistani regime by allillegal means. It was the aim and design ogf government of Pakistan to made unaware the International community about our grave human problems and issues. He appreciated and extended his gratitude's to Emma Nicholson MEP for putting forward the realities of Balawaristan at International level. He further extended thanks to Emma Nicholson and her members of European Parliament from the 2 million deprived people of Balawaristan for her efforts to get pass resolution in the European Parliament. It was the movement of the great pleasure that resolution got pass by gaining maximum votes. He appealed the European Parliament to take strict action against Pakistan for violating the rights of the people of Balawaristan.

Musharraf credibility

Brussels
Musharraf has lost his credibility and he is not president of Pakistani nation as he is very much partial to a specific political group and mafia in the country. His second term selection as president by outgoing Assembly is not constitutional and democratic since entire political opposition, civil Society and Lawyers had accused the entire process of selection. Musharraf simply followed the foot prints of his predecessors like Zia and Yahya. He has always been taking steps contrary to his claims and promises with the world community. His lust for power has led him to remove Judges, imposed martial Law, banned media, and imprisoned political, civil society members and Judges to hold onto the powers through brute force. He is uninvitedly traveling and trying to propagate and translate present social unrest in Pakistan is his personal favor. This is stated by Sardar Shaukat Ali Kashmiri Chairman United Kashmir Peoples National Party (UKPNP), living in exile in Switzerland since military had taken control in Pakistan in 1999.Mr. Kashmiri was commenting on the contents of Musharaf speech before Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament. Mr. Kashmiri has praised the members European Parliament who asked strong question and raised their concern regarding ongoing situation in Pakistan today particularly Pakistani forces ineffectiveness against terrorists' network in every nook and corner in the country. Today Pakistani forces are surrendering before the terrorist groups and leaving an open space so that they can operate independently. Musharraf and his aides are just making lame excuses before the world community. Mr. Kashmiri has cited that when independent news channels carried these double standards of the Government first those were restricted by so called PEMRA ordinance and later they were totally banned so that people in the country as well as world community could not watch what is happening on the streets of Pakistan. Lawyers have been peacefully demonstrating for the restoration of judiciary and rule of law in the country but were brutally targeted and badly beaten by the security forces in plain clothes to hide their identification which can't be observed in any civilized society today. Musharraf was trying to divert the attention of Foreign Affairs Committee towards non-issues in Pakistan's current political crisis having deep impacts on the entire region including Afghanistan and war on terror. He was taking his time on talking on the restructuring of OIC and issue of Palestine which has nothing to do with reinstatement of judiciary in Pakistan or strong demand to install independent election commission or lift up the ban on press and media. Mr. Kashmiri criticized that Musharraf is taking the credit of openness in the field of media by allowing 50 private Television Channels it is the era of globalization and it is international compulsions that no Government can stop legal operation of such media organization to high light prevailing situation anywhere in the world. Musharraf and his caretakers are misleading and misleading world community by saying that that has increased women representation in the last national Assembly of Pakistan in fact those women were not elected but were picked and chose by the establishment. It is pity that despite Government's poor record on rights and abuse of women rights how it believes that by choosing few of women technocrats can empower the majority of the women of country. It believes in charity not in the equal rights. In the field of health, education, infrastructure, and access to fundamental human needs like food, water and shelter Musharraf regime didn't increased budget except numerical and graphical cheating with the people and simultaneously with the world community. Today civil society in the country is badly oppressed where elected representatives of the Lawyers and Judges are under house arrest and majority of them who didn't't endorsed Musharraf legitimacy. Chief Justice of Pakistan Mr. Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhury along with his family is under house arrest and Munir Malik former President of supreme Court Bar Association was poisoned while he was in the jail. President Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Choudhry Atizaz Hussain is still under house arrest. Mr. Ali Ahmed Kurd was put in solitary confinement. Thousands of people from Baluchistan are disappeared and military operation is underway while Musharraf regime is negotiating with terrorists. Sardar Shaukat Ali Kashmiri said that Musharraf and his team can't save himself by saying that former Pakistani prime Minister Ms Benazir Bhutto was assassinated by her own mistake which shows that whether Musharraf is fool or he think entire world is so stupid that they would believe his explanations. Ms Benazir Bhutto during her life had nominated people who could be the possible killers of her. Why Musharraf is denying that he will not allow Scot Land yard or any other international investigation team to interrogate those people who had been pointed out by her? Why the forensic scene was washed so hastily? These are serious flaws with which Musharraf and his aides can't get away. Mr. Kashmiri said that Foreign Affairs Committee has rightly expressed their concern regarding Pakistan role on war against terrorism, Money given to Pakistan in this regard was not being properly used, Media civil society, NGOs are not allowed to work freely. It is ridiculous when Musharraf tells Western world that don't demand rights like West in Pakistan because circumstances do not permit that means Pakistani people are sub-human and they deserve sub-standard life, by the head of that country, which is embarrassing for all Pakistanis. If head of country does not recognize his own people as equal to other people, similarly the way he had called Pakistani Parliament uncivilized when he had failed to address that clearly reflects the mindset of military who always treat civilian like second class citizens. Pakistani living abroad can have serious implications when their own president is trying to substantiate that Pakistani people do not qualify for democratic, socio-economic, cultural and political rights.
Issued byJamil MaqsoodGeneral SecretaryUnited Kashmir Peoples National Party ( Brussels )

Poor groan under winter hardships in N.Areas

Poor groan under winter hardships in N.Areas
SKARDU, Jan 23: Heavy snowfall described as highest in the last 15 years has multiplied the problems people of Northern Areas have to live with each year.Reports gathered from Astore say that the recent snowfall in the area has broken the previous 15 years’ record with 5 to 6 feet snow received in Chillim, Minimarg, Rattoo, Deosai and Gultary in the foothills of the Himalayas.Hilly areas in Ghizer district, Hunza, Gojal, Nagar and Baltistan have also received record snow in the period with temperatures falling below minus 17 degree Celsius at different places in the region. As a result water supply system has been destroyed due to frozen pipes and even freezing of diesel been reported in Skardu and Astore. Running vehicles have stopped due to freezing of water bodies and bursting of hose pipe and radiators.According to hospital sources, complaints of diseases like pneumonia, cough, flue and asthma are also on the rise at different places and hospitals and dispensaries are stated to be running short of essential medicines. Deaths have been reported in government hospitals where there are no heating arrangements. Regions hit hard by the cold season are Gultary, Shila, Duroo, Askoli, Braldo in Skardu district; Hushey, Khorkondo and Thaley in Ghanche district; some villages of Minimarg, Chilim, and Rattoo in Astore district where roads remain blocked for three to four months. The sick in need of medical help face severe hardships as they must be carried on people’s back to places where jeeps are available to rush them to hospitals but most often deaths occur on the way due to severe cold in the open.While this is the lot of people living away from the towns, city dwellers of Skardu, Gilgit, Astore, Diamer and Ghanche are facing the worst inflation in items of daily use, food, fire wood and other fuels.The prices of fire wood, gas cylinders and kerosene oil have soared beyond common man’s reach. One kg of liquefied petroleum gas was being sold at the rate of Rs100, 40kg of fire wood at Rs350. The district administration is being blamed for failing to keep the price of fuel items under control which has made life very hard for the poor when electricity supply is faced with long outages.Meanwhile government employees were nor being paid the ‘hardship allowance’ which is paid to all employees posted at places above 2,600 to 3,600 meters like Murree, Quetta, Abbottabad, Parachinar, Razmat and Badin. Surprisingly government is yet to recognise these highest towns of the country as hard places.People want this discriminatory policy to end. During his tenure as prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had given a Rs20 per month winter allowance to public servants in Northern Areas which has not been enhanced since despite a ten times rise in cost of living over the years. The 40 per cent of basic pay allowance known as Gilgit Allowance was withdrawn in 2005. Government servants are agitating for recognition of Northern Areas as a hardship area and payment of a suitable compensatory allowance to them to meet the additional cost of living incurred during winter months.
(Courtesy Daily Dawn)

Beyond child mortality

Beyond child mortality
NO matter what the government does to sell a positive image of Pakistan to a doubting international community, the country’s socio-economic indicators — particularly those pertaining to children who constitute 44 per cent of the population — will continue to reflect its skewed priorities. Unicef’s latest report on the ‘state of the world’s children’ is not exactly an eye-opener, for it is no secret that Pakistan has failed to protect its children from the ravages of disease and malnutrition. But it does underscore the paradox of the situation — that a nation which frequently flaunts its nuclear prowess as a demonstration of its concern for national security should not even be able to guarantee health security to its children.There are, of course, many reasons why Pakistan has slid to a dismal rank of 42 in the U-5MR index, with Afghanistan being the worst in South Asia. Apart from malnutrition, inadequate access to immunisation programmes, poor health services and complications at birth that untrained midwives are unable to prevent, there is also the issue of gender bias. Not only does the preference for male children mean nutritional deprivation for the girl child, it also has a negative impact on maternal health that is crucial to the wellbeing of the unborn infant.What is a matter of concern though is that despite spending more than 0.5 per cent of GDP — an amount almost equivalent to the total meagre allocation for health — on child and maternal health programmes, progress has been slow. What is impeding better results? Are the budgeted amounts being spent judiciously and honestly? A fair assessment is needed of the programmes and their implementation, because at this rate Pakistan is not going to meet the millennium development goal of reducing child mortality by two-thirds by 2015.At the end of the day, one must come back to the initial point of skewed priorities. Last June, Pakistan increased its defence budget by almost 10 per cent — to 3.13 per cent of the GDP. Predictions are that the allocated amount of Rs275bn will increase in the years ahead as the military continues to battle a never-ending stream of Islamic militants and shores up other defences. It is tragic that the emphasis on defence has diverted the government’s attention from the social sectors which have a direct impact on the quality of life of the people, especially children. If young lives have to be saved, the focus must be on the status of women in Pakistan. Educated and healthy women, who space their children, bear and rear healthy babies who grow up to be productive adults who contribute to the progress of the nation. By investing in its people, the government can show it cares about them. This could prove to be the most effective way of battling militancy that, more than religious indoctrination, has its roots in poverty and growing social discontent.
(Courtesy Dawn Editorial page 25 th January 2008)

Another winter of discontent

Another winter of discontent
AS if rising inflation and growing political instability were not enough, winter has struck with such severity in the northern and other regions of the country that routine life in many parts has come to a virtual standstill. At least six people have died in the bitter cold of southern Punjab while an unspecified number of deaths have been reported from the Northern Areas where hospitals admitting patients with winter-related ailments are without adequate heating. Heavy snowfall and rains have restricted access to better medical amenities, and the supply of basic facilities like food, fuel and water has been badly affected. Matters are equally precarious for the internally displaced. These include the 2005 quake survivors, many of whom, despite some progress in reconstruction, are still living in tent villages as construction work remains affected by the extreme weather.While record low temperatures are being registered this winter at various places, it is not as if freezing weather is an unknown phenomenon in the country. Knowing its repercussions for populations ill equipped to deal with it, why didn’t the government ensure that its medical outlets, especially in remote areas, were stocked with sufficient medicine to administer to patients of pneumonia and other respiratory, winter-related illnesses, and that there was a regular supply of food? Prices of fuel, including firewood, have also gone up and the government has failed to keep these in check. Local communities may be able to brave this winter and get through it as they have been doing for so many years. But the government cannot afford to show complacency. It must have a crisis management plan in hand to ensure that such weather does not cause hardship to the people in future. Additionally, it should profit from experience and be making contingency plans for the time when the snows melt, worsening the threat of floods in riverine areas.
(Courtesy Dawn Editorial page)