Thursday, November 20, 2008
Saturday, November 15, 2008
SOS…...SOS.......SOS........SOS.......SOS......SOS.......Emancipation from the nuisance of noise
A public service matter......For suo moto action by the authoriies.
We, the residents of Hayatabad submit the following for your sympathetic consideration:
1. That we hail and appreciate this action on part of the government and term it a good omen to prevent the public from the harmful effects of the noise these pressure horns were causing.
It is, therefore, brought to your kind notice to relieve the public in general and residents of Hayatabad in particular from this nuisance once for all and educate these so-called educated heads of these educational institutions that horns are disallowed in habitation areas even if these are normal ones, what to speak of pressure horns which are strictly prohibited under all circumstances under the law.
Moreover, if the government is actually serious about the eradication of this nuisance, then cosmetic efforts like isolated checks of vehicles and removal of pressure horns therefrom would not serve the purpose, the actual ban on the import and smuggling of such items could, however, solve the problem once for all.
1. Secretary to GoNWFP, Home & Tribal Affairs Dept.
2. Secretary to GoNWFP, Environment Department.
3. DG, CM &DD, Hayatabad.
4. AIGP, Traffic, NWFP,
5. Press
Saturday, August 16, 2008
What You and I Can Do in Mobilizing to Save Civilization?
What You and I Can Do in Mobilizing to Save Civilization?
What Lester R. Brown, the President of Earth Policy Institute recommends in his record-breaking book, the "PLAN B 3.0"
One of the questions I am frequently asked when I am speaking in various countries is, given the environmental problems that the world is facing, can we make it? That is, can we avoid economic decline and the collapse of civilization? My answer is always the same: it depends on you and me, on what you and I do to reverse these trends. It means becoming politically active.
Saving our civilization is not a spectator sport. We have moved into this new world so fast that we have not yet fully grasped the meaning of what is happening. Traditionally, concern for our children has translated into getting them the best health care and education possible.
But if we do not act quickly to reverse the earth’s environmental deterioration, eradicate poverty, and stabilize population, their world will decline economically and disintegrate politically.
The two overriding policy challenges are to restructure taxes and reorder fiscal priorities. Saving civilization means restructuring taxes to get the market to tell the ecological truth. And it means reordering fiscal priorities to get the resources needed for Plan B.
Write or email your elected representative about the need for tax restructuring to create an honest market. Remind him or her that corporations that left costs off the books appeared to prosper in the short run, only to collapse in the long run.
Or better yet, gather some like-minded friends together to meet with your elected representatives to discuss why we need to raise environmental taxes and reduce income taxes. Before the meeting, draft a brief statement of your collective concerns and the policy initiatives needed. Feel free to download the information on tax restructuring in this chapter from our Web site to use in these efforts.
Let your political representatives know that a world spending more than $1 trillion a year for military purposes is simply out of sync with reality when the future of civilization is in question. Ask them if $190 billion a year is an unreasonable expenditure to save civilization. Ask them if diverting one sixth of the global military budget to saving civilization is too costly.
Introduce them to Plan B. Remind them of how we mobilized in World War II.
Make a case for the inclusion of poverty eradication, family planning, reforestation, and renewable energy development in international assistance programs. Urge an increase in these appropriations and a cut in military appropriations, pointing out that advanced weapons systems are useless in dealing with the new threats to our security.
Someone needs to speak on behalf of our children and grandchildren, because it is their world that is at stake.
In short, we need to persuade our elected representatives and leaders to support the changes outlined in Plan B. We need to lobby them for these changes as though our future and that of
our children depended on it—because it does.
Educate yourself on environmental issues. If you found this book useful, share it with others. It can be downloaded free of charge from the Earth Policy Institute Web site. If you want to know what happened to earlier civilizations that also found themselves in environmental trouble, read Collapse by Jared Diamond or A Short History of Progress by Ronald Wright.
If you like to write, try your hand at an op-ed piece for your local newspaper on the need to raise taxes on environmentally destructive activities and offset this with a lowering of income taxes. Try a letter to the editor. Put together your own personal listserv to help you communicate useful information to friends, colleagues, and local opinion leaders.
The scale and urgency of the challenge we face has no precedent, but what we need to do can be done. It is doable. Sit down and map out your own personal plan and timetable for what you want to do to move the world off a path headed toward economic decline and onto one of sustainable economic progress.
Set your own goals. Identify people in your community you can work with to achieve these goals. Pick an issue that is meaningful to you, such as restructuring the tax system, banning inefficient light bulbs, phasing out coal-fired power plants, ending the use of tax money for bottled water, or working for “complete streets” that are pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly in your community. What could be more exciting and rewarding?
The choice is ours—yours and mine. We can stay with business as usual and preside over an economy that continues to destroy its natural support systems until it destroys itself, or we can adopt Plan B and be the generation that changes direction, moving the world onto a path of sustained progress. The choice will be made by our generation, but it will affect life on earth for all generations to come.
Past Plan B Updates and all of the Earth Policy Institute’s research, including this book, are posted on our Web site www.earthpolicy.org for free downloading.
Lester R. Brown is President of Earth Policy Institute, a nonprofit, interdisciplinary research organization based in Washington, D.C., which he founded in May 2001. The purpose of the Earth Policy Institute is to provide a plan for building a sustainable future and a roadmap of how to get from here to there.
(Copyrights permitted by the Organization)
What Lester R. Brown, the President of Earth Policy Institute recommends in his record-breaking book, the "PLAN B 3.0"
One of the questions I am frequently asked when I am speaking in various countries is, given the environmental problems that the world is facing, can we make it? That is, can we avoid economic decline and the collapse of civilization? My answer is always the same: it depends on you and me, on what you and I do to reverse these trends. It means becoming politically active.
Saving our civilization is not a spectator sport. We have moved into this new world so fast that we have not yet fully grasped the meaning of what is happening. Traditionally, concern for our children has translated into getting them the best health care and education possible.
But if we do not act quickly to reverse the earth’s environmental deterioration, eradicate poverty, and stabilize population, their world will decline economically and disintegrate politically.
The two overriding policy challenges are to restructure taxes and reorder fiscal priorities. Saving civilization means restructuring taxes to get the market to tell the ecological truth. And it means reordering fiscal priorities to get the resources needed for Plan B.
Write or email your elected representative about the need for tax restructuring to create an honest market. Remind him or her that corporations that left costs off the books appeared to prosper in the short run, only to collapse in the long run.
Or better yet, gather some like-minded friends together to meet with your elected representatives to discuss why we need to raise environmental taxes and reduce income taxes. Before the meeting, draft a brief statement of your collective concerns and the policy initiatives needed. Feel free to download the information on tax restructuring in this chapter from our Web site to use in these efforts.
Let your political representatives know that a world spending more than $1 trillion a year for military purposes is simply out of sync with reality when the future of civilization is in question. Ask them if $190 billion a year is an unreasonable expenditure to save civilization. Ask them if diverting one sixth of the global military budget to saving civilization is too costly.
Introduce them to Plan B. Remind them of how we mobilized in World War II.
Make a case for the inclusion of poverty eradication, family planning, reforestation, and renewable energy development in international assistance programs. Urge an increase in these appropriations and a cut in military appropriations, pointing out that advanced weapons systems are useless in dealing with the new threats to our security.
Someone needs to speak on behalf of our children and grandchildren, because it is their world that is at stake.
In short, we need to persuade our elected representatives and leaders to support the changes outlined in Plan B. We need to lobby them for these changes as though our future and that of
our children depended on it—because it does.
Educate yourself on environmental issues. If you found this book useful, share it with others. It can be downloaded free of charge from the Earth Policy Institute Web site. If you want to know what happened to earlier civilizations that also found themselves in environmental trouble, read Collapse by Jared Diamond or A Short History of Progress by Ronald Wright.
If you like to write, try your hand at an op-ed piece for your local newspaper on the need to raise taxes on environmentally destructive activities and offset this with a lowering of income taxes. Try a letter to the editor. Put together your own personal listserv to help you communicate useful information to friends, colleagues, and local opinion leaders.
The scale and urgency of the challenge we face has no precedent, but what we need to do can be done. It is doable. Sit down and map out your own personal plan and timetable for what you want to do to move the world off a path headed toward economic decline and onto one of sustainable economic progress.
Set your own goals. Identify people in your community you can work with to achieve these goals. Pick an issue that is meaningful to you, such as restructuring the tax system, banning inefficient light bulbs, phasing out coal-fired power plants, ending the use of tax money for bottled water, or working for “complete streets” that are pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly in your community. What could be more exciting and rewarding?
The choice is ours—yours and mine. We can stay with business as usual and preside over an economy that continues to destroy its natural support systems until it destroys itself, or we can adopt Plan B and be the generation that changes direction, moving the world onto a path of sustained progress. The choice will be made by our generation, but it will affect life on earth for all generations to come.
Past Plan B Updates and all of the Earth Policy Institute’s research, including this book, are posted on our Web site www.earthpolicy.org for free downloading.
Lester R. Brown is President of Earth Policy Institute, a nonprofit, interdisciplinary research organization based in Washington, D.C., which he founded in May 2001. The purpose of the Earth Policy Institute is to provide a plan for building a sustainable future and a roadmap of how to get from here to there.
(Copyrights permitted by the Organization)
Friday, August 15, 2008
Monday, August 4, 2008
SCF Press release-4.8.2008
SENIOR CITIZENS’ FORUM HAYATABAD
(Registered by the Govt. of NWFP)
Office at the Public Library
P-1, St-8, Behind Paraplegic Hospital, Phase-4
Hayatabad, Peshawar
Phones: 091/5823938, 0300-5866717, 0345-9224050
******************************************************************
Press release
Peshawar: Monday, August 04, 2008
A meeting of the General Body of the Forum was held in its office yesterday under the chairmanship of Mr. Saalim Khan Khalil, ex-MNA. The meeting was also attended by Mr. Atifur Rehman, MPA, who was specially invited on the occasion as Hayatabad falls in his constituency.
As usual the meeting was started with recitation from the Holy Quran. Progress on previous proceedings was assessed and it was decided to continue follow-up of the pending issues.
Following decisions were taken:
1. Mr. Atifur Rehman, MPA promised to attend all the future general body meetings of the Forum.
2. He promised to distance himself from the so-called association of the private educational institutions established in residential area illegally and in violation of the master plan and the judgements of the superior judiciary.
3. The MPA promised to help solve the problems faced by the residents of the Town by drawing attention of the concerned authorities in the government and highlight them on the floor of the provincial assembly, if and when needed.
4. He also promised to assure attendance of the CD&MD high officials in the next meetings to solve the problems of Hayatabad Township.
- 5. Since most officials of CD&MD live in Hayatabad but unfortunately their name-plates are not displayed on their houses and the residents don’t know about their identity. So, it was resolved to approach the DG to instruct all of the officials living in Hayatabad to display their name-plates on their houses to reveal their identity and facilitate the residents of the town to approach them for their problems related to CD&MD.
Cc:
- Minister for LG&RD, NWFP
- Mr. Atifur Rehman, MPA, Tehkal Payan
- DG CD&MD
- Daily Jang, Rawalpindi
- Daily The NEWS, Islamabad
- Geo TV news
- Dawn, Peshawar Bureau
- Daily Mashriq, Peshawar
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Qoutes
- Impossible word is composed of “im” + “possible” i.e. “I am possible”---------- meaning “Everything is possible”.
Constitution of Senior Citizens’ Forum, Hayatabad, Peshawar
WHEREAS it is expedient to set up a welfare organization for the senior citizens of Hayatabad in the manner hereinafter appearing;
NOW THEREFORE, it is decided to form the Senior Citizens’ Forum Hayatabad.
1. (i) This Forum may be called the Senior Citizens' Forum, Hayatabad.(ii) It extends to the whole of Hayatabad; and(iii) It shall come into force at once.
2. In this constitution, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions shall have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them, that is to say:
a. Chairman, means ‘Chairman” of the Forum.
b. Executive Body means ‘Executive Body” of the Forum consisting of the following:
(i) Chairman
(ii) Vice Chairman
(iii) Secretary
(iv) Treasurer
(v) Press Secretary; and
(vi) Members of the Executive Body.
c. Forum means the Senior Citizens' Forum Hayatabad.
d. Member means a Member of the Forum and includes office bearers of the Executive Body.
e. Honorary Member means a Member who has been conferred membership of the Forum.
f. General Body means all members of the Forum.
3. Aims and objectives
The aims and objectives of the Forum shall be as under:
a. It shall be a non-political and non-profitable body component and shall have powers to acquire and hold property, shall have perpetual succession and common seal and shall by the same name sue and be sued.
b. To promote social justice and to eradicate social evils from Hayatabad.
c. To help in establishment of libraries, reading rooms and recreation centers in various sectors of Hayatabad.
d. To endeavor against narcotics and other social evils.
e. To take steps to facilitate keep the environment free of pollution.
f. To promote social and economic well being of members of the forum and residents of Hayatabad.
g. To express solidarity with the residents of Hayatabad on occasions of death and other calamities.
h. To liaise with other federal and provincial organizations formed for the welfare of pensioners.
4. Membership
(i) Retired officers of the Federal and Provincial governments, Local Bodies, Autonomous and Semi-Autonomous bodies residing at Hayatabad shall be eligible to become members of the Forum provided they agree with the aims and objectives of the Forum and apply for membership in the prescribed form (Annex-A); provided further that the Executive Body approves the membership. Provided further that in exceptional cases, the Executive Body shall have special powers to allow any person to become a member/ honorary member of the Forum if he subscribes to the aims and objectives of the Forum.
(ii) Every member shall be required to pay an enrolment fee of Rs. 500/- and monthly membership of Rs. 50/- or Rs. 500/- annual fee, if paid in advance. These rates may be revised by the General Body. Failure to pay membership subscription fee consecutively for a period of six months shall render the membership as having been ceased automatically. Honorary members shall, however, not be required to pay enrolment fee or monthly subscription.
(iii) A person may resign his membership by tendering resignation to the Chairman.
5. Executive Body
a. There shall be an Executive Body of the Forum consisting of the following:
(i) Chairman
(ii) Vice Chairman
(iii) Secretary
(iv) Treasurer
(v) Press Secretary
(vi) Members of the Executive Body; three or any number as decided by the General Body.They shall be elected for a period of one year according to the Gregorian calendar ending on 31st of December each year. They shall not be eligible for re-election for more than two consecutive terms. The tenure of the first Executive Body shall, however, expire on 31st December, 1998.
b. An individual member of the Executive Body or the entire Executive Body may resign by tendering resignation to the Chairman. He/ it shall, however, continue to hold office until his/ its successor(s) enter upon office.
6. Election of the Executive Body
(i) The normal election to the office bearers of the Executive Body may be held not earlier than 30 days and not later than 15 days before the expiration of the term of the Chairman and Executive Body in office.
(ii) The election of the office bearers of the Executive Body shall be conducted in the General Body meeting on the basis of simple majority, provided that the elections would be valid only if at least half the members of the Forum are present in the Forum meeting.
(iii) In case valid elections as at para 6(ii) above are not held, the incumbent Executive Body shall continue to function till valid elections are held. However, Executive Body will convene another meeting of the General Body to elect the new Executive Body not later than a fortnight after the last meeting of the General Body.
7. Removal of Executive Body
The Chairman or an individual member of the Executive Body or Executive Body en bloc, may be removed from the office in the following manner:
Not less than 1/3rd of the total membership of the Forum may give to the Secretary of the Forum written notice of its intention to move a resolution in the General Body meeting for the removal of individual member of the Executive Body/ the entire Executive Body. Such notice shall set out the particulars of the charges against him/ it. The Secretary shall transmit a copy of the same to the Chairman within 3 days and convene a meeting of the General Body not earlier than 7 days or not later than 14 days after the receipt of the notice. If a resolution is passed at the meeting of the General Body by votes not less than simple majority of the membership, the individual member of the Executive Body or entire Executive Body, as the case may be, shall cease to hold office immediately. He/ it shall, however, notwithstanding the expiration of their term continue to hold office until his/ its successor(s) enter upon office.
8. Chairman
There shall be a Chairman of the Forum. He shall have the following duties:
(i) He shall be the chief executive of the Forum.
(ii) He shall have the powers to hire and fire employees of the Forum.
(iii) He shall be responsible for the administration, social welfare and organizational activities of the Forum.
(iv) He shall report to the General Body, the cases of the office bearers of the Executive Body who are either not performing their duties or are involved in activities prejudicial to the aims and objectives of the Forum.(v) He shall be competent to sanction suitable expenditure not exceeding Rs. 2000/- per month in connection with affairs of the Forum. He shall obtain approval of the expenditure in the next meeting of the General Body.
(vi) He shall take appropriate steps that the activities of the Forum achieve the objectives laid down in the constitution.
(vii) He shall arrange to convene all meetings of the General Body at least once in every 3 months, viz. 1st week of January, April, July, October and in December each year. He shall also convene special meetings if required.
9. Vice-Chairman
He shall assist the cm in the performance of his duties and shall, in the absence of cm, perform his functions and shall preside over the meetings of Executive Body, General Body and special meetings.
10. Secretary
He shall be responsible for:
(i) Convening meetings of the General Body, special meetings and Executive Body meetings in consultation with the cm and to maintain their record.
(ii) Draw up agenda for all the meetings.
(iii) Prepare, maintain and record the minutes of all the meetings.
(iv) Carry out all the correspondence of the Forum.
11. Treasurer
The duties of the Treasurer shall be as under:
(i) Sign cheques to meet the day to day expenditure.
(ii) Maintain proper accounts of the Forum including cash book and the cheque books.
(iii) Prepare the annual budget of the Forum and statement of Accounts for placement before the General Body meetings.
(iv) Open and operate a cash account in a scheduled bank.
(v) Keep impress money not exceeding Rs. 1000/- only to meet day to day expenditure.
12. Press Secretary
He shall be responsible for:
(i) Publicity of the activities through mass media.
(ii) Coordinate with other government and non-government organizations to achieve the aims and objectives of the Forum.
13. Members of the Executive Body
They shall assist the other office bearers of the Executive Body in achieving the aims and objectives of the Forum and perform any functions assigned to them by the Executive Body.
14. Funds
The Forum shall have proper funds. These shall be generated through enrolment fee, monthly subscriptions from the members and voluntary donations.
15. Meetings of the General Body
General Body shall consist of all the members at the given time. The Secretary shall convene all the meetings of the General Body in consultation with the cm. the meetings of the General Body shall, however, be regularly convened in the 1st week of January, April, July and October each year for the following:
(i) Review the achievements of the Forum during the preceding period.(ii) To consider removal of any problems facing the Forum.
(iii) To consider any other proposal made by the members.
(iv) In the meeting of the General Body to be held in December, election of the office bearers of the Executive Body shall be held. In addition, the expenditure incurred since 1st January, the budget for the next calendar year shall also be examined and approved.
(v) Special meetings may also be convened by the Secretary in consultation with the cm to consider solution to any emergent problem arising at a particular time.
16. Amendments in constitution
No amendment in the constitution shall be effective unless passed by 2/3rd majority of the members. If an amendment has been approved, it shall be presented to the cm for his assent/ countersignature. The latter shall do the needful not later tan 7 days of the presentation of amendment to him. If he fails to do so, he shall be deemed to have assented to have assented thereto at the expiration of that period. The constitution shall stand amended in accordance with the terms thereof.
17. Rules
For purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this constitution, the General Body of the Forum shall have the powers to make rules on all or any of the matters consistent with the constitution.
18. Approval
This constitution has been approved in the meeting of the General Body held on 17th June, 1997.
NOW THEREFORE, it is decided to form the Senior Citizens’ Forum Hayatabad.
1. (i) This Forum may be called the Senior Citizens' Forum, Hayatabad.(ii) It extends to the whole of Hayatabad; and(iii) It shall come into force at once.
2. In this constitution, unless the context otherwise requires, the following expressions shall have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them, that is to say:
a. Chairman, means ‘Chairman” of the Forum.
b. Executive Body means ‘Executive Body” of the Forum consisting of the following:
(i) Chairman
(ii) Vice Chairman
(iii) Secretary
(iv) Treasurer
(v) Press Secretary; and
(vi) Members of the Executive Body.
c. Forum means the Senior Citizens' Forum Hayatabad.
d. Member means a Member of the Forum and includes office bearers of the Executive Body.
e. Honorary Member means a Member who has been conferred membership of the Forum.
f. General Body means all members of the Forum.
3. Aims and objectives
The aims and objectives of the Forum shall be as under:
a. It shall be a non-political and non-profitable body component and shall have powers to acquire and hold property, shall have perpetual succession and common seal and shall by the same name sue and be sued.
b. To promote social justice and to eradicate social evils from Hayatabad.
c. To help in establishment of libraries, reading rooms and recreation centers in various sectors of Hayatabad.
d. To endeavor against narcotics and other social evils.
e. To take steps to facilitate keep the environment free of pollution.
f. To promote social and economic well being of members of the forum and residents of Hayatabad.
g. To express solidarity with the residents of Hayatabad on occasions of death and other calamities.
h. To liaise with other federal and provincial organizations formed for the welfare of pensioners.
4. Membership
(i) Retired officers of the Federal and Provincial governments, Local Bodies, Autonomous and Semi-Autonomous bodies residing at Hayatabad shall be eligible to become members of the Forum provided they agree with the aims and objectives of the Forum and apply for membership in the prescribed form (Annex-A); provided further that the Executive Body approves the membership. Provided further that in exceptional cases, the Executive Body shall have special powers to allow any person to become a member/ honorary member of the Forum if he subscribes to the aims and objectives of the Forum.
(ii) Every member shall be required to pay an enrolment fee of Rs. 500/- and monthly membership of Rs. 50/- or Rs. 500/- annual fee, if paid in advance. These rates may be revised by the General Body. Failure to pay membership subscription fee consecutively for a period of six months shall render the membership as having been ceased automatically. Honorary members shall, however, not be required to pay enrolment fee or monthly subscription.
(iii) A person may resign his membership by tendering resignation to the Chairman.
5. Executive Body
a. There shall be an Executive Body of the Forum consisting of the following:
(i) Chairman
(ii) Vice Chairman
(iii) Secretary
(iv) Treasurer
(v) Press Secretary
(vi) Members of the Executive Body; three or any number as decided by the General Body.They shall be elected for a period of one year according to the Gregorian calendar ending on 31st of December each year. They shall not be eligible for re-election for more than two consecutive terms. The tenure of the first Executive Body shall, however, expire on 31st December, 1998.
b. An individual member of the Executive Body or the entire Executive Body may resign by tendering resignation to the Chairman. He/ it shall, however, continue to hold office until his/ its successor(s) enter upon office.
6. Election of the Executive Body
(i) The normal election to the office bearers of the Executive Body may be held not earlier than 30 days and not later than 15 days before the expiration of the term of the Chairman and Executive Body in office.
(ii) The election of the office bearers of the Executive Body shall be conducted in the General Body meeting on the basis of simple majority, provided that the elections would be valid only if at least half the members of the Forum are present in the Forum meeting.
(iii) In case valid elections as at para 6(ii) above are not held, the incumbent Executive Body shall continue to function till valid elections are held. However, Executive Body will convene another meeting of the General Body to elect the new Executive Body not later than a fortnight after the last meeting of the General Body.
7. Removal of Executive Body
The Chairman or an individual member of the Executive Body or Executive Body en bloc, may be removed from the office in the following manner:
Not less than 1/3rd of the total membership of the Forum may give to the Secretary of the Forum written notice of its intention to move a resolution in the General Body meeting for the removal of individual member of the Executive Body/ the entire Executive Body. Such notice shall set out the particulars of the charges against him/ it. The Secretary shall transmit a copy of the same to the Chairman within 3 days and convene a meeting of the General Body not earlier than 7 days or not later than 14 days after the receipt of the notice. If a resolution is passed at the meeting of the General Body by votes not less than simple majority of the membership, the individual member of the Executive Body or entire Executive Body, as the case may be, shall cease to hold office immediately. He/ it shall, however, notwithstanding the expiration of their term continue to hold office until his/ its successor(s) enter upon office.
8. Chairman
There shall be a Chairman of the Forum. He shall have the following duties:
(i) He shall be the chief executive of the Forum.
(ii) He shall have the powers to hire and fire employees of the Forum.
(iii) He shall be responsible for the administration, social welfare and organizational activities of the Forum.
(iv) He shall report to the General Body, the cases of the office bearers of the Executive Body who are either not performing their duties or are involved in activities prejudicial to the aims and objectives of the Forum.(v) He shall be competent to sanction suitable expenditure not exceeding Rs. 2000/- per month in connection with affairs of the Forum. He shall obtain approval of the expenditure in the next meeting of the General Body.
(vi) He shall take appropriate steps that the activities of the Forum achieve the objectives laid down in the constitution.
(vii) He shall arrange to convene all meetings of the General Body at least once in every 3 months, viz. 1st week of January, April, July, October and in December each year. He shall also convene special meetings if required.
9. Vice-Chairman
He shall assist the cm in the performance of his duties and shall, in the absence of cm, perform his functions and shall preside over the meetings of Executive Body, General Body and special meetings.
10. Secretary
He shall be responsible for:
(i) Convening meetings of the General Body, special meetings and Executive Body meetings in consultation with the cm and to maintain their record.
(ii) Draw up agenda for all the meetings.
(iii) Prepare, maintain and record the minutes of all the meetings.
(iv) Carry out all the correspondence of the Forum.
11. Treasurer
The duties of the Treasurer shall be as under:
(i) Sign cheques to meet the day to day expenditure.
(ii) Maintain proper accounts of the Forum including cash book and the cheque books.
(iii) Prepare the annual budget of the Forum and statement of Accounts for placement before the General Body meetings.
(iv) Open and operate a cash account in a scheduled bank.
(v) Keep impress money not exceeding Rs. 1000/- only to meet day to day expenditure.
12. Press Secretary
He shall be responsible for:
(i) Publicity of the activities through mass media.
(ii) Coordinate with other government and non-government organizations to achieve the aims and objectives of the Forum.
13. Members of the Executive Body
They shall assist the other office bearers of the Executive Body in achieving the aims and objectives of the Forum and perform any functions assigned to them by the Executive Body.
14. Funds
The Forum shall have proper funds. These shall be generated through enrolment fee, monthly subscriptions from the members and voluntary donations.
15. Meetings of the General Body
General Body shall consist of all the members at the given time. The Secretary shall convene all the meetings of the General Body in consultation with the cm. the meetings of the General Body shall, however, be regularly convened in the 1st week of January, April, July and October each year for the following:
(i) Review the achievements of the Forum during the preceding period.(ii) To consider removal of any problems facing the Forum.
(iii) To consider any other proposal made by the members.
(iv) In the meeting of the General Body to be held in December, election of the office bearers of the Executive Body shall be held. In addition, the expenditure incurred since 1st January, the budget for the next calendar year shall also be examined and approved.
(v) Special meetings may also be convened by the Secretary in consultation with the cm to consider solution to any emergent problem arising at a particular time.
16. Amendments in constitution
No amendment in the constitution shall be effective unless passed by 2/3rd majority of the members. If an amendment has been approved, it shall be presented to the cm for his assent/ countersignature. The latter shall do the needful not later tan 7 days of the presentation of amendment to him. If he fails to do so, he shall be deemed to have assented to have assented thereto at the expiration of that period. The constitution shall stand amended in accordance with the terms thereof.
17. Rules
For purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of this constitution, the General Body of the Forum shall have the powers to make rules on all or any of the matters consistent with the constitution.
18. Approval
This constitution has been approved in the meeting of the General Body held on 17th June, 1997.
Appropriate use of the land reclaimed in consequence of narrowing of stream in Hayatabad
A public service matter for the attention of the authorities.
CD&MD has constructed a retaining wall along both the banks of the nullah (KHWAR) running through the centre of the Hayatabad Township.
The construction of this wall was not warranted and justified for the following reasons:
CD&MD has constructed a retaining wall along both the banks of the nullah (KHWAR) running through the centre of the Hayatabad Township.
The construction of this wall was not warranted and justified for the following reasons:
- It was not provided in the Master Plan of the Town.
- No feasibility study was made to establish as to whether narrowing of the stream wont overflow its banks in maximum flood causing damage to the surrounding life and property.
- The residents were not taken into confidence about its purpose and objective.
Now that the retaining wall has been constructed notwithstanding the above reservations, it is expedient to plug up the loopholes in misusing the reclaimed pieces of land.
There is likelihood of this reclaimed land to be allotted to influential people for houses, plazas, markets or any other purposes.
The only plausible and credible use could be the construction of a road along the stream on the reclaimed land to ease out the congestion of traffic on the existing roads of the Town on the following grounds:
- The original Plan of the Town didn’t cater for more than five phases namely; Phase 1 to 5.
- Two more phases, namely phase 6 and 7 were added to the Town later on, thereby increasing traffic burden on the existing roads.
- The Ring Road was also not thought of at the time of embarking upon the Master Plan.
- Even if the international traffic is diverted from this road, the local traffic will remain plying on this and other roads of the Town.
- A bigger Town is being planned in the adjoining Shah Kas, which will also use the existing roads of the Town thus further congesting the roads.
- Frontier Corps headquarters and FATA Secretariat are being shifted to the adjoining Shah Kas area and thus the existing roads will attract the ensuing traffic.
- The remaining patches of the reclaimed land be utilized for community and children parks, green belts and rest places, flower beds, parking lots etc.
It is, therefore, requested to kindly direct the CD&MD and other concerned authorities to utilize the reclaimed land along both sides of the stream for construction of road to ease out the congestion of traffic on the existing roads of the Town and the remaining patches for community benefits.
Restrain the CDMD from destroying the environment of Peshawar
Hayatabad Township is ironically known as the clean, green and posh town of the province but it is being turned into one of the dirtiest area and that too at the hands of the gardeners of the ‘garden’, the CD&MD.
There is a post of Director Horticulture in CD&MD responsible for the planning, planting and maintenance of all plants, trees and parks but unfortunately this post has long been kept vacant and now entrusted to the mercy of an un-qualified person who doesn’t know even a shred of the subject.
In wake of the deteriorating condition of the greenery in Hayatabad its Union Council unanimously resolved to privatize the Horticulture Wing of the town but neither the CD&MD appointed qualified specialist nor the resolution of the Union Council was agreed to, rather the greenery of the town was butchered further.
A huge amount of taxpayers’ money has been invested on the planting, raising, nursing, nurturing and maintenance of the trees and the green hedge along the roads and on the median of the double roads of Hayatabad Township.
Not only money but also TIME was invested on the development of these trees and hedges over a span of about three decades.
The CD&MD has started un-necessary and indiscriminate uprooting of these trees and hedges without assigning any reason or prior notice to the residents of the Town or the general public being the stakeholders.
They have up-rooted he live green hedge from the median of the main roads and they are in the process of replacing the hedge with a seasonal and deciduous grass intermingled with beds of seasonal flowers, which will thus give a deserted look in autumn, winter and even summer when these will dry off.
Not only this but they have also planted the costly palms, which were tried a few years back by CDA in Islamabad that miserably failed. The fate of these in Peshawar will not be less than those in Islamabad, because these costly palms are susceptible to frost, which is common in Peshawar.
The previous plantation had attained sustainability, required less water in a water-deficient town and no recurrent expenditure was needed therefor, whereas an army of malis, labour and heavy expenditure will be required for the new unsuitable and unsustainable plantation.
The contiguous hedge protects the eye sight of drivers’ and road users from the dazzling light beams of the oncoming vehicles at night and un-necessary distraction at day time thus helping in diminishing chances and risk of accidents.
They did not fulfill the legal requirement of conducting of IEE (Initial Environmental Examination) or EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) under the Pak Environmental Protection Act 1997 before dismantling the old established plantation.
The authorities are, therefore, requested to direct the CD&MD to restrain from further destroying the environment of Peshawar, especially Hayatabad by not cutting down the green hedge and trees on and along the median of the roads and replacing it with un-suitable species like grass or seasonal flowers or other plants, reclaim and compensate for the damage already caused to and inflicted on the environment, restore and rehabilitate the destroyed evergreen live hedge and trees on and along the roads and median of Hayatabad and any other order deemed just in the circumstances of the case may also be passed.
There is a post of Director Horticulture in CD&MD responsible for the planning, planting and maintenance of all plants, trees and parks but unfortunately this post has long been kept vacant and now entrusted to the mercy of an un-qualified person who doesn’t know even a shred of the subject.
In wake of the deteriorating condition of the greenery in Hayatabad its Union Council unanimously resolved to privatize the Horticulture Wing of the town but neither the CD&MD appointed qualified specialist nor the resolution of the Union Council was agreed to, rather the greenery of the town was butchered further.
A huge amount of taxpayers’ money has been invested on the planting, raising, nursing, nurturing and maintenance of the trees and the green hedge along the roads and on the median of the double roads of Hayatabad Township.
Not only money but also TIME was invested on the development of these trees and hedges over a span of about three decades.
The CD&MD has started un-necessary and indiscriminate uprooting of these trees and hedges without assigning any reason or prior notice to the residents of the Town or the general public being the stakeholders.
They have up-rooted he live green hedge from the median of the main roads and they are in the process of replacing the hedge with a seasonal and deciduous grass intermingled with beds of seasonal flowers, which will thus give a deserted look in autumn, winter and even summer when these will dry off.
Not only this but they have also planted the costly palms, which were tried a few years back by CDA in Islamabad that miserably failed. The fate of these in Peshawar will not be less than those in Islamabad, because these costly palms are susceptible to frost, which is common in Peshawar.
The previous plantation had attained sustainability, required less water in a water-deficient town and no recurrent expenditure was needed therefor, whereas an army of malis, labour and heavy expenditure will be required for the new unsuitable and unsustainable plantation.
The contiguous hedge protects the eye sight of drivers’ and road users from the dazzling light beams of the oncoming vehicles at night and un-necessary distraction at day time thus helping in diminishing chances and risk of accidents.
They did not fulfill the legal requirement of conducting of IEE (Initial Environmental Examination) or EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) under the Pak Environmental Protection Act 1997 before dismantling the old established plantation.
The authorities are, therefore, requested to direct the CD&MD to restrain from further destroying the environment of Peshawar, especially Hayatabad by not cutting down the green hedge and trees on and along the median of the roads and replacing it with un-suitable species like grass or seasonal flowers or other plants, reclaim and compensate for the damage already caused to and inflicted on the environment, restore and rehabilitate the destroyed evergreen live hedge and trees on and along the roads and median of Hayatabad and any other order deemed just in the circumstances of the case may also be passed.
Save the Hayatabad parks from further deterioration
A public service litigation/ matter
For the suo moto action by the authorities
Following is submitted for the kind and earliest attention of the authorities at the helm of affairs:
1. That an application addressed to DG, CD&MD is being circulated in Sector D-2 of Phase-1, Hayatabad for the signatures of the residents of the area.
2. That the contents of the said application are as under:(i) the park in sector D-2 is being misused by children for cricket and other games and they throw balls etc at the houses of the residents;(ii) thus request the addressee for changing the present use of the park in Sector D-2 to “some other suitable use” at the discretion of the DG.
3. That this application is circulated for taking signatures by a boy who is the nephew of the tube-well operator of the tube-well constructed at one corner of this park.
4. That initiation of this application by the employee of the CD&MD and not by the bonafide residents smells fishy and it transpires that it has been done by or at the behest of the authorities and the vested interests to convert the park into a use other than the one designated in the Master Plan.
5. That the authorities seems to put the gun at the shoulders of the residents by getting their signatures for changing the original status of this park to a “suitable” use and that too at the discretion of the authorities.
6. That in the Master Plan it was designated as park and it remained so as a lush green park till recently duly maintained by CD&MD through posting of two malis but these vanished in thin air and resultantly the park turned into a desert.
7. That the authorities then started allowing it to be used for social functions like marriages etc, thereby subjecting the residents, inter alia, to the following severe physical and mental torture:
(i) polluting and contaminating of the environs by burning fire for cooking those meals, leaving the debris and garbage on site;
(ii) parking of a fleet of vehicles of the hosts and “guests” in the street disturbing the residents; and
(iii) above all the deafening loud live/ recorded music for days and whole nights coupled with the admiring slogans and noise of the participants/ spectators depriving the residents of their sleep and rest.
8. That the residents individually and collectively approached the authorities from time to time for the correction of the situation but to no avail.
It is, therefore, requested to take your personal interest in reviving the original status of the park by re-posting the malis/ chowkidars at the earliest, relieving the residents of the nuisance.
Dated: 04/4/2007
For the suo moto action by the authorities
Following is submitted for the kind and earliest attention of the authorities at the helm of affairs:
1. That an application addressed to DG, CD&MD is being circulated in Sector D-2 of Phase-1, Hayatabad for the signatures of the residents of the area.
2. That the contents of the said application are as under:(i) the park in sector D-2 is being misused by children for cricket and other games and they throw balls etc at the houses of the residents;(ii) thus request the addressee for changing the present use of the park in Sector D-2 to “some other suitable use” at the discretion of the DG.
3. That this application is circulated for taking signatures by a boy who is the nephew of the tube-well operator of the tube-well constructed at one corner of this park.
4. That initiation of this application by the employee of the CD&MD and not by the bonafide residents smells fishy and it transpires that it has been done by or at the behest of the authorities and the vested interests to convert the park into a use other than the one designated in the Master Plan.
5. That the authorities seems to put the gun at the shoulders of the residents by getting their signatures for changing the original status of this park to a “suitable” use and that too at the discretion of the authorities.
6. That in the Master Plan it was designated as park and it remained so as a lush green park till recently duly maintained by CD&MD through posting of two malis but these vanished in thin air and resultantly the park turned into a desert.
7. That the authorities then started allowing it to be used for social functions like marriages etc, thereby subjecting the residents, inter alia, to the following severe physical and mental torture:
(i) polluting and contaminating of the environs by burning fire for cooking those meals, leaving the debris and garbage on site;
(ii) parking of a fleet of vehicles of the hosts and “guests” in the street disturbing the residents; and
(iii) above all the deafening loud live/ recorded music for days and whole nights coupled with the admiring slogans and noise of the participants/ spectators depriving the residents of their sleep and rest.
8. That the residents individually and collectively approached the authorities from time to time for the correction of the situation but to no avail.
It is, therefore, requested to take your personal interest in reviving the original status of the park by re-posting the malis/ chowkidars at the earliest, relieving the residents of the nuisance.
Dated: 04/4/2007
Restrain the CD&MD from destroying the environment of Peshawar
A public service litigation/ matter
For suo moto action by the authorities, especially the:
1. Supreme Court of Pakistan
2. Peshawar High Court
1. Restraining it from further destroying the environment of Peshawar by not cutting down the green trees and evergreen hedge on and along the roads and median of the roads in Hayatabad and replacing them with un-suitable species like grass etc;
2. Compensating for the damage already caused to and inflicted on the environment by restoring and rehabilitating the destroyed trees and the evergreen live hedge on and along the roads and median of these roads.
Respectfully sheweth,
Following is submitted for sympathetic consideration and necessary action:
1. That Hayatabad Township is ironically known as the clean, green and posh town of the province but it is being turned into one of the dirtiest area and that too at the hands of the gardeners of the ‘garden’, the CD&MD.
2. That there is a post of Director Horticulture in CD&MD responsible for the planning, planting and maintenance of all plants, trees and parks but unfortunately this post has long been kept vacant and now entrusted to the mercy of an un-qualified person who doesn’t know even a shred of the subject.
3. That in wake of the deteriorating condition of the greenery in Hayatabad its Union Council unanimously resolved to privatize the Horticulture Wing of the town but neither the CD&MD appointed qualified specialist nor the resolution of the Union Council was agreed to, rather the greenery of the town was butchered further.
4. That a huge amount of taxpayers’ money has been invested on the planting, raising, nursing, nurturing and maintenance of the trees and the green hedge along the roads and on the median of the double roads of Hayatabad Township.
5. That not only money but also TIME was invested on the development of these trees and hedges over a span of about three decades.
6. That the CD&MD has started un-necessary and indiscriminate uprooting of these trees and hedges without assigning any reason or prior notice to the residents of the Town or the general public being the stakeholders.
7. That they are in the process of replacing the hedge with a seasonal and deciduous grass intermingled with beds of seasonal flowers, which will thus give a deserted look in autumn, winter and even summer when these will dry off.
8. That the previous plantation had attained sustainability, required less water in a water-deficient town and no recurrent expenditure was needed therefor, whereas an army of malis, labour and heavy expenditure will be required for the new unsuitable and unsustainable plantation.
9. That the contiguous hedge protects the eye sight of drivers’ and road users from the dazzling light beams of the oncoming vehicles at night and un-necessary distraction at day time thus helping in diminishing chances and risk of accidents.
10. That they did not fulfill the legal requirement of conducting of IEE (Initial Environmental Examination) or EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) under the Pak Environmental Protection Act 1997 before dismantling the old established plantation.
It is, therefore, humbly prayed that CD&MD be directed to:
(i) Restrain from further destroying the environment of Peshawar, especially Hayatabad by not cutting down the green hedge and trees on and along the median of the roads and replacing it with un-suitable species like grass or seasonal flowers or other plants etc;
(ii) Reclaim and compensate for the damage already caused to and inflicted on the environment;
(iii) Restore and rehabilitate the destroyed evergreen live hedge and trees on and along the roads and median of Hayatabad;
(iv) Any other order deemed just in the circumstances of the case may also be passed.
For suo moto action by the authorities, especially the:
1. Supreme Court of Pakistan
2. Peshawar High Court
1. Restraining it from further destroying the environment of Peshawar by not cutting down the green trees and evergreen hedge on and along the roads and median of the roads in Hayatabad and replacing them with un-suitable species like grass etc;
2. Compensating for the damage already caused to and inflicted on the environment by restoring and rehabilitating the destroyed trees and the evergreen live hedge on and along the roads and median of these roads.
Respectfully sheweth,
Following is submitted for sympathetic consideration and necessary action:
1. That Hayatabad Township is ironically known as the clean, green and posh town of the province but it is being turned into one of the dirtiest area and that too at the hands of the gardeners of the ‘garden’, the CD&MD.
2. That there is a post of Director Horticulture in CD&MD responsible for the planning, planting and maintenance of all plants, trees and parks but unfortunately this post has long been kept vacant and now entrusted to the mercy of an un-qualified person who doesn’t know even a shred of the subject.
3. That in wake of the deteriorating condition of the greenery in Hayatabad its Union Council unanimously resolved to privatize the Horticulture Wing of the town but neither the CD&MD appointed qualified specialist nor the resolution of the Union Council was agreed to, rather the greenery of the town was butchered further.
4. That a huge amount of taxpayers’ money has been invested on the planting, raising, nursing, nurturing and maintenance of the trees and the green hedge along the roads and on the median of the double roads of Hayatabad Township.
5. That not only money but also TIME was invested on the development of these trees and hedges over a span of about three decades.
6. That the CD&MD has started un-necessary and indiscriminate uprooting of these trees and hedges without assigning any reason or prior notice to the residents of the Town or the general public being the stakeholders.
7. That they are in the process of replacing the hedge with a seasonal and deciduous grass intermingled with beds of seasonal flowers, which will thus give a deserted look in autumn, winter and even summer when these will dry off.
8. That the previous plantation had attained sustainability, required less water in a water-deficient town and no recurrent expenditure was needed therefor, whereas an army of malis, labour and heavy expenditure will be required for the new unsuitable and unsustainable plantation.
9. That the contiguous hedge protects the eye sight of drivers’ and road users from the dazzling light beams of the oncoming vehicles at night and un-necessary distraction at day time thus helping in diminishing chances and risk of accidents.
10. That they did not fulfill the legal requirement of conducting of IEE (Initial Environmental Examination) or EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) under the Pak Environmental Protection Act 1997 before dismantling the old established plantation.
It is, therefore, humbly prayed that CD&MD be directed to:
(i) Restrain from further destroying the environment of Peshawar, especially Hayatabad by not cutting down the green hedge and trees on and along the median of the roads and replacing it with un-suitable species like grass or seasonal flowers or other plants etc;
(ii) Reclaim and compensate for the damage already caused to and inflicted on the environment;
(iii) Restore and rehabilitate the destroyed evergreen live hedge and trees on and along the roads and median of Hayatabad;
(iv) Any other order deemed just in the circumstances of the case may also be passed.
Terrorists’ weapons on open sale
What has prompted us to draw your kind attention to the menace of firecrackers and their rampant availability on most streets of the Peshawar metropolitan.
The firecracker business is a lucrative cottage industry, and there is a great demand for its product at weddings and festivals like Shab-e-Barat, Eid etc.
Any attempt to tackle the network of the firecracker industry is not an easy task, but the Sind government has taken some strict measures to curb this menace.
However, with the advent of Shab-e-Barat and Eid, the sale and use of firecrackers witnessed a tremendous increase and the metropolitan, especially Hayatabad turned into a battlefield with the ear-deafening explosions of these firecrackers, which not only deprived the citizens of their rest and sleep but also disturbed the patients, men, women, children and people on Etikaf in the month of Ramadan.
There were even quarrels between the citizens due to this menace.The matter was reported to the local police and it was good on their part to seize some sizeable cache of these crackers from the Karkhano market but the quantity of the nuisance is so huge that it seems difficult for the SHOs to curb it completely.
The recent twin blasts at two foreign eateries in Karachi were carried out by homemade explosives, which were probably made at factories functioning in private homes all over the city.
Terrorists can use the cover of these firecrackers to carry out their activities, by using the more powerful homemade "bombs", which are sold at high prices, but which are quite in demand with the youth because of their impact.
The Sind government issued orders to SHOs to arrest and detain any children and their fathers who "ignite or display or resort to aerial firing".
The Sind Government also has issued orders for the closing down of firecracker factories and punishing the owners as per law.
The government should also use the media to inform the masses of the deadly consequences that these factories pose for their areas.
People must be made conscious that in the case of a fire hazard the narrow streets can become infernos if the electricity wires, faulty gas pipelines and CNG fitted cars catch fire and it will be near impossible for the fire brigade vehicles from entering.
The major source of this menace is the Karkhano Market near Hayatabad where full containers of these crackers are imported and sold in wholesale to the shop-keepers of entire NWFP, some are even exported to rest of the country while others are exported to Afghanistan.
This all is said to be ‘legally’ imported from China through all the channels, check-posts of the Government of Pakistan, the Ministry of Commerce, Land and Sea Customs and several others including the surveillance of the Police Department but remains un-checked and find ways into the hands of children but can easily be available to the terrorists for making bombs and targeting innocent people, vital installations and important personalities.
It is, therefore, requested to use your good offices and force to wipe out the source of these firecrackers in the larger interest of all and sundry.
The firecracker business is a lucrative cottage industry, and there is a great demand for its product at weddings and festivals like Shab-e-Barat, Eid etc.
Any attempt to tackle the network of the firecracker industry is not an easy task, but the Sind government has taken some strict measures to curb this menace.
However, with the advent of Shab-e-Barat and Eid, the sale and use of firecrackers witnessed a tremendous increase and the metropolitan, especially Hayatabad turned into a battlefield with the ear-deafening explosions of these firecrackers, which not only deprived the citizens of their rest and sleep but also disturbed the patients, men, women, children and people on Etikaf in the month of Ramadan.
There were even quarrels between the citizens due to this menace.The matter was reported to the local police and it was good on their part to seize some sizeable cache of these crackers from the Karkhano market but the quantity of the nuisance is so huge that it seems difficult for the SHOs to curb it completely.
The recent twin blasts at two foreign eateries in Karachi were carried out by homemade explosives, which were probably made at factories functioning in private homes all over the city.
Terrorists can use the cover of these firecrackers to carry out their activities, by using the more powerful homemade "bombs", which are sold at high prices, but which are quite in demand with the youth because of their impact.
The Sind government issued orders to SHOs to arrest and detain any children and their fathers who "ignite or display or resort to aerial firing".
The Sind Government also has issued orders for the closing down of firecracker factories and punishing the owners as per law.
The government should also use the media to inform the masses of the deadly consequences that these factories pose for their areas.
People must be made conscious that in the case of a fire hazard the narrow streets can become infernos if the electricity wires, faulty gas pipelines and CNG fitted cars catch fire and it will be near impossible for the fire brigade vehicles from entering.
The major source of this menace is the Karkhano Market near Hayatabad where full containers of these crackers are imported and sold in wholesale to the shop-keepers of entire NWFP, some are even exported to rest of the country while others are exported to Afghanistan.
This all is said to be ‘legally’ imported from China through all the channels, check-posts of the Government of Pakistan, the Ministry of Commerce, Land and Sea Customs and several others including the surveillance of the Police Department but remains un-checked and find ways into the hands of children but can easily be available to the terrorists for making bombs and targeting innocent people, vital installations and important personalities.
It is, therefore, requested to use your good offices and force to wipe out the source of these firecrackers in the larger interest of all and sundry.
Emancipation from the nuisance of noise
A Public Service matter
For suo moto action by the authorities
What has prompted us to address you has been a news item in the press a few days back that your dept, police and GTZ jointly removed and destroyed pressure horns from buses on the main roads.
We, the residents of Hayatabad submit the following for your sympathetic consideration:
1. That we hail and appreciate this action on part of the government and term it a good omen to prevent the public from the harmful effects of the noise these pressure horns were causing.
2. That it requires to be enforced not only on public transport plying on main roads and highways but it is needed more in the residential areas, especially Hayatabad, which was built specifically for its residents to take a sigh of relief from the noise and other forms of pollution of the congested areas of the metropolis.
3. That almost all the public transport plying on the roads, especially in the streets of Hayatabad are fitted with pressure horns and the drivers blow them incessantly causing nuisance to the young children, senior citizens, students, reciters of the holy books, prayers and people in their houses, hospitals, schools and colleges etc.
4. That the most disturbing are the school buses which ply not on roads only but they enter practically every street every morning from 5 AM to 9 AM at the time of collection of students and then at 12 PM to 3 PM when they drop them back at their homes.
5. That these buses use their pressure horns as an indication of their arrival to the waiting students, whereas horn is meant internationally as indication to the road users when they violate traffic laws and that too normal horn and not the ear drum bursting siren like these.
6. That we approached the authorities of these educational verbally and then in writing but they did not respond positively.
7. That we were then compelled to report the matter to the law-enforcing authorities including police, PDA, Emergency Response Centre but none heard our voice.
8. That the buses which violate the laws by blowing pressure horns belong to the following educational institutions:
1. Frontier Children Academy Hayatabad
2. Frontier Public School Hayatabad
3. Saint John School Hayatabad
4. Peshawar Model School, Warsak Rd
5. Khyber Model School, Warsak Rd
6. Beaconhouse school, Jamrod
7. University Model School
8. Khyber Medical College
9. Jinnah College for Women
10. Home Economics College
11. University Public School, and
12. Many other institutions, which engage private buses
9. That another source of nuisance is the blasts of the crackers by the children, mostly Afghans, who blast these round the clock, especially during the holy days.
10. That these crackers are sold by the shops in and around Hayatabad, especially in the Karkhano market and some are sold by the hawkers right at the door steps in the town.It is, therefore, brought to your kind notice to relieve the public in general and residents of Hayatabad in particular from this nuisance once for all and educate these so-called educated heads of these educational institutions that horns are disallowed in habitation areas even if these are normal ones, what to speak of pressure horns which are strictly prohibited under all circumstances under the law.
Moreover, if the government is actually serious about the eradication of this nuisance, then cosmetic efforts like isolated checks of vehicles and removal of pressure horns therefrom would not serve the purpose, the actual ban on the import and smuggling of such items could, however, solve the problem once for all.
Raid on the shops which sell these items and complete ban on their sale can get rid of the existing available stock.
For suo moto action by the authorities
What has prompted us to address you has been a news item in the press a few days back that your dept, police and GTZ jointly removed and destroyed pressure horns from buses on the main roads.
We, the residents of Hayatabad submit the following for your sympathetic consideration:
1. That we hail and appreciate this action on part of the government and term it a good omen to prevent the public from the harmful effects of the noise these pressure horns were causing.
2. That it requires to be enforced not only on public transport plying on main roads and highways but it is needed more in the residential areas, especially Hayatabad, which was built specifically for its residents to take a sigh of relief from the noise and other forms of pollution of the congested areas of the metropolis.
3. That almost all the public transport plying on the roads, especially in the streets of Hayatabad are fitted with pressure horns and the drivers blow them incessantly causing nuisance to the young children, senior citizens, students, reciters of the holy books, prayers and people in their houses, hospitals, schools and colleges etc.
4. That the most disturbing are the school buses which ply not on roads only but they enter practically every street every morning from 5 AM to 9 AM at the time of collection of students and then at 12 PM to 3 PM when they drop them back at their homes.
5. That these buses use their pressure horns as an indication of their arrival to the waiting students, whereas horn is meant internationally as indication to the road users when they violate traffic laws and that too normal horn and not the ear drum bursting siren like these.
6. That we approached the authorities of these educational verbally and then in writing but they did not respond positively.
7. That we were then compelled to report the matter to the law-enforcing authorities including police, PDA, Emergency Response Centre but none heard our voice.
8. That the buses which violate the laws by blowing pressure horns belong to the following educational institutions:
1. Frontier Children Academy Hayatabad
2. Frontier Public School Hayatabad
3. Saint John School Hayatabad
4. Peshawar Model School, Warsak Rd
5. Khyber Model School, Warsak Rd
6. Beaconhouse school, Jamrod
7. University Model School
8. Khyber Medical College
9. Jinnah College for Women
10. Home Economics College
11. University Public School, and
12. Many other institutions, which engage private buses
9. That another source of nuisance is the blasts of the crackers by the children, mostly Afghans, who blast these round the clock, especially during the holy days.
10. That these crackers are sold by the shops in and around Hayatabad, especially in the Karkhano market and some are sold by the hawkers right at the door steps in the town.It is, therefore, brought to your kind notice to relieve the public in general and residents of Hayatabad in particular from this nuisance once for all and educate these so-called educated heads of these educational institutions that horns are disallowed in habitation areas even if these are normal ones, what to speak of pressure horns which are strictly prohibited under all circumstances under the law.
Moreover, if the government is actually serious about the eradication of this nuisance, then cosmetic efforts like isolated checks of vehicles and removal of pressure horns therefrom would not serve the purpose, the actual ban on the import and smuggling of such items could, however, solve the problem once for all.
Raid on the shops which sell these items and complete ban on their sale can get rid of the existing available stock.
Stop destroying the environment of Peshawar
A Public Service Litigation
For Suo moto action by the:
1. Supreme Courtof Pakistan
2. Peshawar High Court
ACTION REQUIRED:
1. Restrain from further destroying the environment of Peshawar by not cutting down the green hedge on the median of the University road and replacing it with un-suitable species like grass etc;
2. Restrain from desecration of the holy book by inscribing the word IQRA on the proposed Iqra chowk of the U/Town chowk.
3. Compensate for the damage already caused to and inflicted on the environment;
4. Restore and rehabilitate the destroyed evergreen live hedge along the median of the University road;
5. Redesign the demolished structures at the turnabouts (chowks) in consultation with the qualified Traffic Engineers and Environmentalists and notified to the general public before reconstruction.
Respectfully sheweth,
Following is submitted for sympathetic consideration of this honorable court:
1. That a huge amount of taxpayers’ money was invested on the raising, nursing, nurturing and maintenance of the green hedge on the median of the University road.
2. That not only money but also TIME was invested on the development of this hedge, which runs into about one and a half and/or two decades.
3. That the respondents dismantled the four turnabouts in the vicinity of Town chowk, comprising of beautiful fountains of different designs recently built at the cost of the squeezed national kitty.
4. That they then cut down all the beautiful hedges comprising of the evergreen species from Hayatabad chowk to Gora Qabristan over the dual carriageway, Peshawar’s most busy highway both during day and the whole night.
5. That they dug out the debris, roots and remnants of the erstwhile beautiful evergreen hedge, thus causing inconvenience to the neighboring population, commuters and pedestrians.
6. That they dumped clay in the highway median cleared of the hedge and the operation continued for months causing inconvenience for the neighboring population, pedestrians and commuters comprising of students, teachers, patients of several biggest hospitals of the province, international traffic via Afghanistan etc.
7. That they heaped up the soil above the metalled berms of the median of the highway in a convex configuration throughout and heaps at some places, thereby letting the soil to drop down on the road under the gravity, especially when the plants bed is irrigated regularly by an army of malis through plastic pipes and sometimes through the flood irrigation from the hoses of the steel pipes installed there.
8. That the situation worsens during rains when all the soil moistens and flows with the rainwater on the road causing splashing of the mud on the moving vehicles and the pedestrians.
9. That thus there is a persistent overflow of the irrigation water on the road, which not only pollutes the road but also reducing its life.
10. That they replaced the beautiful compact evergreen hedge of an average size of about one and a half meter high, 4 meters wide and about 7 KMs long from Hayatabad Main Chowk upto Gora Qabristan, thus a live hedge biomass volume of about 40000 cubic meters was destroyed.
11. That the respondents cut down it all of a sudden without prior notice to or for the knowledge or suggestions of the general public who are the stakeholders in the public property and environment.
12. That the respondents started this operation during April/May this year, which is not the proper season for planting.
13. That they prolonged the operation un-necessarily causing inconvenience to the neighboring population, commuters, pedestrians and general public.
14. That they replaced the hedge with kabal (Cynodon dactylon), a seasonal and deciduous grass, which will thus give a deserted look in autumn and winter when it will dry off.
15. That they put stones at places, especially near the University area, which can serve as favorite fuel material for blocking the road during riots and strikes as the area is highly prone due to the neighborhood of the students, doctors, paramedics, nurses and the villagers who have been a source of making law and order situation in the past and are still a potential source.
16. That the roundabouts at the University Town chowk are being used for the advertisements of the AMI as is evident from the writings on the cloth covering these chowks and several boards along the road.
17. That they have planned to rename the University Town Chowk as “IQRA chowk” for the cheap popularity to work as an advertisement of respondents # 2 and 3, thus causing desecration of the holy Ayat by exposing it to dust, dirt, smoke and other vagaries of weather and even to the stray dogs etc.
18. That they have planted environmentally un-suitable plants along the median and that too, at long distances from each other.
For Suo moto action by the:
1. Supreme Courtof Pakistan
2. Peshawar High Court
ACTION REQUIRED:
1. Restrain from further destroying the environment of Peshawar by not cutting down the green hedge on the median of the University road and replacing it with un-suitable species like grass etc;
2. Restrain from desecration of the holy book by inscribing the word IQRA on the proposed Iqra chowk of the U/Town chowk.
3. Compensate for the damage already caused to and inflicted on the environment;
4. Restore and rehabilitate the destroyed evergreen live hedge along the median of the University road;
5. Redesign the demolished structures at the turnabouts (chowks) in consultation with the qualified Traffic Engineers and Environmentalists and notified to the general public before reconstruction.
Respectfully sheweth,
Following is submitted for sympathetic consideration of this honorable court:
1. That a huge amount of taxpayers’ money was invested on the raising, nursing, nurturing and maintenance of the green hedge on the median of the University road.
2. That not only money but also TIME was invested on the development of this hedge, which runs into about one and a half and/or two decades.
3. That the respondents dismantled the four turnabouts in the vicinity of Town chowk, comprising of beautiful fountains of different designs recently built at the cost of the squeezed national kitty.
4. That they then cut down all the beautiful hedges comprising of the evergreen species from Hayatabad chowk to Gora Qabristan over the dual carriageway, Peshawar’s most busy highway both during day and the whole night.
5. That they dug out the debris, roots and remnants of the erstwhile beautiful evergreen hedge, thus causing inconvenience to the neighboring population, commuters and pedestrians.
6. That they dumped clay in the highway median cleared of the hedge and the operation continued for months causing inconvenience for the neighboring population, pedestrians and commuters comprising of students, teachers, patients of several biggest hospitals of the province, international traffic via Afghanistan etc.
7. That they heaped up the soil above the metalled berms of the median of the highway in a convex configuration throughout and heaps at some places, thereby letting the soil to drop down on the road under the gravity, especially when the plants bed is irrigated regularly by an army of malis through plastic pipes and sometimes through the flood irrigation from the hoses of the steel pipes installed there.
8. That the situation worsens during rains when all the soil moistens and flows with the rainwater on the road causing splashing of the mud on the moving vehicles and the pedestrians.
9. That thus there is a persistent overflow of the irrigation water on the road, which not only pollutes the road but also reducing its life.
10. That they replaced the beautiful compact evergreen hedge of an average size of about one and a half meter high, 4 meters wide and about 7 KMs long from Hayatabad Main Chowk upto Gora Qabristan, thus a live hedge biomass volume of about 40000 cubic meters was destroyed.
11. That the respondents cut down it all of a sudden without prior notice to or for the knowledge or suggestions of the general public who are the stakeholders in the public property and environment.
12. That the respondents started this operation during April/May this year, which is not the proper season for planting.
13. That they prolonged the operation un-necessarily causing inconvenience to the neighboring population, commuters, pedestrians and general public.
14. That they replaced the hedge with kabal (Cynodon dactylon), a seasonal and deciduous grass, which will thus give a deserted look in autumn and winter when it will dry off.
15. That they put stones at places, especially near the University area, which can serve as favorite fuel material for blocking the road during riots and strikes as the area is highly prone due to the neighborhood of the students, doctors, paramedics, nurses and the villagers who have been a source of making law and order situation in the past and are still a potential source.
16. That the roundabouts at the University Town chowk are being used for the advertisements of the AMI as is evident from the writings on the cloth covering these chowks and several boards along the road.
17. That they have planned to rename the University Town Chowk as “IQRA chowk” for the cheap popularity to work as an advertisement of respondents # 2 and 3, thus causing desecration of the holy Ayat by exposing it to dust, dirt, smoke and other vagaries of weather and even to the stray dogs etc.
18. That they have planted environmentally un-suitable plants along the median and that too, at long distances from each other.
Senior Citizens' Forum Hayatabad- Election press release dated July 22, 2008
SENIOR CITIZENS’ FORUM HAYATABAD(Registered by the Govt. of NWFP)Office at Public LibraryP-1, St-8, Behind Paraplegic Hospital, Phase-4, Hayatabad, Peshawar
Press release
Peshawar: Tuesday, July 22, 2008
A meeting of the General Body of the Forum was held on 17/4/2008 in the Saalim Khan Khalil Public Library, Hayatabad. It was presided over by Mr. Muhammad Saadullah Khan, Chairman.The meeting started with recitation from the Holy Qur’an. The Chairman invited the attention of the members to the termination of the duration of the existing cabinet and said that elections should be held for the current year, 2008.The house unanimously elected the following to the cabinet and the Executive Council of the Forum:
1. Saalim Khan Khalil, ex-MNA………………Chairman
2. Dr. Ghulam Sarwar Khan…………………..Vice Chairman
3. Engr S. Bughdad Shah……………………….General Secretary
4. Qazi Ashraf Khan………………………….....Information Secretary
5. Khalid Mirza………………………………......Treasurer
Executive Council members:
1. Mehmood Khan, ex-Chief Secretary
2. Sadullah Khan, ex-Chief Forest
3. Abdul Matin, ex-Bank Chief
4. Ziarat Khan, ex-Secretary to Govt
5. Zaman Khan, ex-Chief WAPDA
6. Izzatullah Khan
7. Hakim Sadiq Anis
8. Engr Noor Muhammad Khan
9. S. Ishtiaq Burki
The Forum discussed various problems faced by the inhabitants of Hayatabad and it was reiterated to remind the Governor, the new Chief Minister and Chief Secretary NWFP to direct the concerned authorities to initiate action on the decisions already arrived at in the meetings held between the senior citizens and various government officials from time to time.Some of these problems included security, water shortage, diversion of FATA and Afghanistan traffic from Hayatabad, enforcing restriction on commercial use of residential area, pollution, crowding of houses beyond their carrying capacity, emergency medical service, keeping record of and vigil on buying, selling and renting of houses by the police etc for keeping eye on crimes.
Qazi Ashraf Khan
Information Secretary
Press release
Peshawar: Tuesday, July 22, 2008
A meeting of the General Body of the Forum was held on 17/4/2008 in the Saalim Khan Khalil Public Library, Hayatabad. It was presided over by Mr. Muhammad Saadullah Khan, Chairman.The meeting started with recitation from the Holy Qur’an. The Chairman invited the attention of the members to the termination of the duration of the existing cabinet and said that elections should be held for the current year, 2008.The house unanimously elected the following to the cabinet and the Executive Council of the Forum:
1. Saalim Khan Khalil, ex-MNA………………Chairman
2. Dr. Ghulam Sarwar Khan…………………..Vice Chairman
3. Engr S. Bughdad Shah……………………….General Secretary
4. Qazi Ashraf Khan………………………….....Information Secretary
5. Khalid Mirza………………………………......Treasurer
Executive Council members:
1. Mehmood Khan, ex-Chief Secretary
2. Sadullah Khan, ex-Chief Forest
3. Abdul Matin, ex-Bank Chief
4. Ziarat Khan, ex-Secretary to Govt
5. Zaman Khan, ex-Chief WAPDA
6. Izzatullah Khan
7. Hakim Sadiq Anis
8. Engr Noor Muhammad Khan
9. S. Ishtiaq Burki
The Forum discussed various problems faced by the inhabitants of Hayatabad and it was reiterated to remind the Governor, the new Chief Minister and Chief Secretary NWFP to direct the concerned authorities to initiate action on the decisions already arrived at in the meetings held between the senior citizens and various government officials from time to time.Some of these problems included security, water shortage, diversion of FATA and Afghanistan traffic from Hayatabad, enforcing restriction on commercial use of residential area, pollution, crowding of houses beyond their carrying capacity, emergency medical service, keeping record of and vigil on buying, selling and renting of houses by the police etc for keeping eye on crimes.
Qazi Ashraf Khan
Information Secretary
Issues of Hayatabad Township discussed with Governor, NWFP on 27/2/2008
A delegation comprising of the cabinet and the members of the Executive Council of the Senior Citizens' Forum Hayatabad met Mr. Awais Ahmad Ghani, Governor, NWFP on 27th February, 2008 and discussed the following issues of the Township with him and he promised to solve them:
1. Water shortage
Hayatabad is basically a water-short and dry area and its under-ground water is over-exploited due to the rapidly increasing population and the residents are heavily charged, especially the commercial establishments like the educational institutions etc and the aquifer is not recharged due to aridity of the area. Thus due share of water should be allocated from the proposed water supply scheme from the Warsak/ Kabul river or the Warsak canal passing through the centre of the township to overcome the water shortage and to cope with the future water requirements of the expanding Hayatabad Town.
2. Diversion of Ring Road from habitation
The existing main road artery designed for serving various sectors of Hayatabad has been linked unfortunately with the so-called Ring Road and all the traffic to and from FATA and Afghanistan has been diverted to pass through the heart of the town, thus exposing the residents to all the hazards of the highway, including over-speeding, blowing of horns, pollution in the form of noise, dust, smoke, destroying the roads infrastructure through constant vibration, thereby shortening their useful life and above all compromising the privacy of the residential area resulting in depreciation of houses and other buildings etc. The southern bye-pass as extension of the Ring Road outside the limits of the town should be immediately constructed and the northern bye-pass also be completed forthwith to divert the out-bound traffic from Hayatabad.
3. Traffic control till diversion of Ring Road
In the meanwhile the main entrance to Hayatabad, which is unfortunately now also used as part of the Ring Road for international traffic be guarded by the traffic police to abide by the traffic laws including the restrictions of the habitation area i.e. speed limits, non-blowing of horns (esp. pressure horn) etc.
4. Restriction on commercial use of residential area
Commercial use of residential area for educational institutions, hostels, guest houses and other such uses has brought a multitude of social evils to the township, which should be immediately and forthwith stopped as enunciated in the original Master Plan of the Town.
5. Eviction of encroachments from the Ring Road
The Ring Road linking Hayatabad with the city is littered with encroachments on both sides, resulting in congestion on this road causing accidents and thus these should be immediately vacated.
6. Provision of Green Transport
As planned originally Hayatabad was a garden of Peshawar but owing to the increasing population and resultant traffic it has been polluted to a great degree and if not managed properly it would turn into a garbage bin and to avoid that situation the proposed green transport vehicles be first introduced for the transport within Hayatabad and outside it.
7. Expulsion of Afghan refugees
Most of the Afghan refugees ejected from the Kachha Garhi camp shifted to the nearby Hayatabad and concentrated in the already occupied houses exceeding the carrying capacity of these houses and the township, thus causing tremendous unbearable burden on the infrastructure and resources including houses, electric system, water supply, sewerage, roads, parks, hospitals, post offices and markets etc of Hayatabad. A survey should be conducted jointly by the CD&MD, Afghan
Commissioner, police and other concerned agencies to eject/ expel the people residing in houses beyond their capacity and monitored the situation perpetually to avoid recurrence.
8. Provision of emergency medical service
The emergency medical service including ambulance etc is non-existent in the town despite the fact that there are several hospitals and medical institutions both government and private. The CEOs of HMC, RMI and others may be approached to make arrangements on this issue.
9. Property dealers to keep record
The property dealers dealing in buying, selling and letting it on rent be regulated on scientific grounds and they be made duty-bound to screen the antecedents of people seeking houses, shops etc and their record passed on to the concerned police station both at the time of entry and vacation of property.
10. Provision of security
Last but not the least security remains one of the biggest problems of the township. More personnel should be sanctioned for all the police stations of Hayatabad and the existing staff posted here should be used only for security of the town. The emergency police need be trained on the pattern of 1122 in the Punjab. The private security agencies should be monitored by the police.
Qazi Ashraf Khan
Information Secretary
1. Water shortage
Hayatabad is basically a water-short and dry area and its under-ground water is over-exploited due to the rapidly increasing population and the residents are heavily charged, especially the commercial establishments like the educational institutions etc and the aquifer is not recharged due to aridity of the area. Thus due share of water should be allocated from the proposed water supply scheme from the Warsak/ Kabul river or the Warsak canal passing through the centre of the township to overcome the water shortage and to cope with the future water requirements of the expanding Hayatabad Town.
2. Diversion of Ring Road from habitation
The existing main road artery designed for serving various sectors of Hayatabad has been linked unfortunately with the so-called Ring Road and all the traffic to and from FATA and Afghanistan has been diverted to pass through the heart of the town, thus exposing the residents to all the hazards of the highway, including over-speeding, blowing of horns, pollution in the form of noise, dust, smoke, destroying the roads infrastructure through constant vibration, thereby shortening their useful life and above all compromising the privacy of the residential area resulting in depreciation of houses and other buildings etc. The southern bye-pass as extension of the Ring Road outside the limits of the town should be immediately constructed and the northern bye-pass also be completed forthwith to divert the out-bound traffic from Hayatabad.
3. Traffic control till diversion of Ring Road
In the meanwhile the main entrance to Hayatabad, which is unfortunately now also used as part of the Ring Road for international traffic be guarded by the traffic police to abide by the traffic laws including the restrictions of the habitation area i.e. speed limits, non-blowing of horns (esp. pressure horn) etc.
4. Restriction on commercial use of residential area
Commercial use of residential area for educational institutions, hostels, guest houses and other such uses has brought a multitude of social evils to the township, which should be immediately and forthwith stopped as enunciated in the original Master Plan of the Town.
5. Eviction of encroachments from the Ring Road
The Ring Road linking Hayatabad with the city is littered with encroachments on both sides, resulting in congestion on this road causing accidents and thus these should be immediately vacated.
6. Provision of Green Transport
As planned originally Hayatabad was a garden of Peshawar but owing to the increasing population and resultant traffic it has been polluted to a great degree and if not managed properly it would turn into a garbage bin and to avoid that situation the proposed green transport vehicles be first introduced for the transport within Hayatabad and outside it.
7. Expulsion of Afghan refugees
Most of the Afghan refugees ejected from the Kachha Garhi camp shifted to the nearby Hayatabad and concentrated in the already occupied houses exceeding the carrying capacity of these houses and the township, thus causing tremendous unbearable burden on the infrastructure and resources including houses, electric system, water supply, sewerage, roads, parks, hospitals, post offices and markets etc of Hayatabad. A survey should be conducted jointly by the CD&MD, Afghan
Commissioner, police and other concerned agencies to eject/ expel the people residing in houses beyond their capacity and monitored the situation perpetually to avoid recurrence.
8. Provision of emergency medical service
The emergency medical service including ambulance etc is non-existent in the town despite the fact that there are several hospitals and medical institutions both government and private. The CEOs of HMC, RMI and others may be approached to make arrangements on this issue.
9. Property dealers to keep record
The property dealers dealing in buying, selling and letting it on rent be regulated on scientific grounds and they be made duty-bound to screen the antecedents of people seeking houses, shops etc and their record passed on to the concerned police station both at the time of entry and vacation of property.
10. Provision of security
Last but not the least security remains one of the biggest problems of the township. More personnel should be sanctioned for all the police stations of Hayatabad and the existing staff posted here should be used only for security of the town. The emergency police need be trained on the pattern of 1122 in the Punjab. The private security agencies should be monitored by the police.
Qazi Ashraf Khan
Information Secretary
Application form for membership of the Senior Citizens' Forum Hayatabad
Application form for membership of the Senior Citizens' Forum HayatabadAnnex-AApplication form for membership of the Senior Citizens' Forum Hayatabad(1) Name (in block letters)…………………………………..
(2) Date of birth………………………………………………(3) Date of retirement from service…………………………..(4) National Identity Card Number……………………….....(5) Present address and phone……………………………………………………………………………………………………………(6) Permanent address……………………………………………….…………………………………………………………………….(7) Parent organization/ service……………………………………….(8) Post held…………………………………………………………..Certified that:I undertake to abide by the constitution of the Senior Citizens' Forum Hayatabad.
Signature of applicantProposed by (Name and address):Seconded by (Name and address):NB: Proposer and seconder shall be existing members of the Forum.For office use only.No………………………dated………………………..Membership approved by the …………………………General SecretaryEnrolment fee of Rs…………………monthly/ annualSubscription fee……………………..paid vide Receipt No………dated………..Treasurer
(2) Date of birth………………………………………………(3) Date of retirement from service…………………………..(4) National Identity Card Number……………………….....(5) Present address and phone……………………………………………………………………………………………………………(6) Permanent address……………………………………………….…………………………………………………………………….(7) Parent organization/ service……………………………………….(8) Post held…………………………………………………………..Certified that:I undertake to abide by the constitution of the Senior Citizens' Forum Hayatabad.
Signature of applicantProposed by (Name and address):Seconded by (Name and address):NB: Proposer and seconder shall be existing members of the Forum.For office use only.No………………………dated………………………..Membership approved by the …………………………General SecretaryEnrolment fee of Rs…………………monthly/ annualSubscription fee……………………..paid vide Receipt No………dated………..Treasurer
Reforming Prisons and improving the condition of their inmates
In order to keep pace with the comity of nations and as modern Islamic, democratic and welfare state, we need drastic changes in our out-dated laws including the ones on prisons and as such the following reforms are recommended:
1. Legislative reforms
The old and outdated laws need to be completely overhauled keeping in view the contemporary developments in the world. Many of our colonial times laws need to be recast in line with the present day requirements of the nation and the contemporary developments around the globe.
2. Crime prevention
All the crime control codes are required to be recast and unified in view of simplification of legal processes with reduction in specialized courts so as to ensure speedy and cheap administration of justice, which in turn will help in crime prevention. Crime is a social, economic and cultural malaise and is required to be studied in that perspective in particular reference to our conditions and corrective measures need to be adopted as has been done in social welfare states around the world.
3. Police reforms
The new Police Order has been introduced in 2001 by the military government but is undergoing a testing phase and has not been legislated by the parliament after its emergence as a result of general elections in October, 2002, which needs to be placed before the parliament in form of a bill for debate in the bicameral house, appraisal and scrutiny by the expert committee of these houses and its enactment.Not only the police laws need overhauling but their training, education, specialization in crime prevention, control, intelligence, registration, detection, forensics, search and seizures and investigation be re-assessed in view of the requirements of the 21st century.
4. Prosecution
The prosecution branch of police has partially been separated from the police but it has not been fully segregated and as such the prosecution is still under the direct control of police. The part of prosecution that has been detached from police has been brought under the domain of Law Department of the provincial government but there is no patronage and effective control over and monitoring of these prosecutors and so they are left to their free hand and there are no visible signs and symptoms of improvement in prosecution leading to speedy and efficient assistance of courts in arriving at fair justice.
There is, therefore, dire need to improve the situation to institutionalize the prosecution and bring it under the control and accountability of an independent Prosecution Department with clear mandate for the purpose.
5. Defence
The mushroom growth of lawyers on the bar has brought down the defence standards and has resultantly damaged the judicial process with heavy cost on the litigants. The registration of lawyers needs introduction of competitive examinations under the strict provision and control of the High Courts and the Bar Council also needs to be recast on high merits.
The bar and bench needs to evaluate and monitor the performance of lawyers on yearly basis.The institutions discussed above took more time and elaboration but it was essential for the reason that these are the forums which fill prisons with under-trials and convicts and that is why Pakistan has one of world biggest population of prisoners.
These institutions are the cause and prisoners are their effect and so cannot be viewed in isolation from each other. Attempting any reforms aimed at improving jails and ameliorating the condition of their inmates would end up in futility unless the institutions mentioned above are not improved.
Therefore, reforms of these institutions are of primary concern and prison reforms are secondary and are directly dependent on and subservient to the performance of these institutions.
Having said that the following reforms in the administration of prisons are required in order to ameliorate the condition of their inmates and to fulfil the aspirations of free, sovereign, democratic, moderate and modern Islamic state as enshrined in its constitution and to stand as such in the comity of nations:
(a) Constitution of Pakistan
The preamble to the Constitution of the country has laid down, “Wherein the principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice, as enunciated by Islam, shall be fully observed and wherein the Muslims shall be enabled to order their lives in the individual and collective spheres in accordance with the teachings and requirements of Islam as set out in the Holy Quran and Sunnah.” But unfortunately these aspirations could not be achieved till date. As such it is high time to adopt, implement and follow these tenets in all walks of life including the prisons.
(b) Implementation of past recommendations
The past recommendations of the various forums need to implemented forthwith, which are reproduced as under:
(i) Islamic Ideology Council report of 1981
(ii) Rulings of the Federal Shariat Court on islamisation of laws of 1984(iii) Report of the High Powered Cabinet Committee in 1986
(iv) Prisons Reforms Report of 1997 by the Law Commission
(c) Ratification of the U.N Standards
Although Pakistan is active member of the United Nations since its independence yet it has not ratified U.N’s “Standard Minimum Rules for Treatment of Prisoners” formulated in 1955. As such it is imperative to ratify these standards immediately to gain international acclaim.
(d) Ratification of other international covenants
Pakistan needs to ratify, adopt and implement the following UN protocols:
(i) Charter of the United Nations
(ii) Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(iii) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(iv) Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Being Subjected to Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, adopted by the General Assembly on 9 December 1975.
Conclusion
Owning and implementing these reforms and adopting these international protocols will certainly convert our prisons into ‘Correction Centres’ and the inmates will not go as recidivists on release but as responsible noble citizens and will easily assimilate in the social fabric of the society.
Adopting these measures will not only give us an opportunity to stand up on equal footing in the comity of nations as a state and will enable us to shun the allegations of being condemned as rogue, terrorist, fundamentalist and corrupt state but will also usher in an era of freedom, sovereignty, democracy and realize the dream of Pakistan as an Islamic state for which our ancestors made unprecedented sacrifices.
(C) Copyrighted
1. Legislative reforms
The old and outdated laws need to be completely overhauled keeping in view the contemporary developments in the world. Many of our colonial times laws need to be recast in line with the present day requirements of the nation and the contemporary developments around the globe.
2. Crime prevention
All the crime control codes are required to be recast and unified in view of simplification of legal processes with reduction in specialized courts so as to ensure speedy and cheap administration of justice, which in turn will help in crime prevention. Crime is a social, economic and cultural malaise and is required to be studied in that perspective in particular reference to our conditions and corrective measures need to be adopted as has been done in social welfare states around the world.
3. Police reforms
The new Police Order has been introduced in 2001 by the military government but is undergoing a testing phase and has not been legislated by the parliament after its emergence as a result of general elections in October, 2002, which needs to be placed before the parliament in form of a bill for debate in the bicameral house, appraisal and scrutiny by the expert committee of these houses and its enactment.Not only the police laws need overhauling but their training, education, specialization in crime prevention, control, intelligence, registration, detection, forensics, search and seizures and investigation be re-assessed in view of the requirements of the 21st century.
4. Prosecution
The prosecution branch of police has partially been separated from the police but it has not been fully segregated and as such the prosecution is still under the direct control of police. The part of prosecution that has been detached from police has been brought under the domain of Law Department of the provincial government but there is no patronage and effective control over and monitoring of these prosecutors and so they are left to their free hand and there are no visible signs and symptoms of improvement in prosecution leading to speedy and efficient assistance of courts in arriving at fair justice.
There is, therefore, dire need to improve the situation to institutionalize the prosecution and bring it under the control and accountability of an independent Prosecution Department with clear mandate for the purpose.
5. Defence
The mushroom growth of lawyers on the bar has brought down the defence standards and has resultantly damaged the judicial process with heavy cost on the litigants. The registration of lawyers needs introduction of competitive examinations under the strict provision and control of the High Courts and the Bar Council also needs to be recast on high merits.
The bar and bench needs to evaluate and monitor the performance of lawyers on yearly basis.The institutions discussed above took more time and elaboration but it was essential for the reason that these are the forums which fill prisons with under-trials and convicts and that is why Pakistan has one of world biggest population of prisoners.
These institutions are the cause and prisoners are their effect and so cannot be viewed in isolation from each other. Attempting any reforms aimed at improving jails and ameliorating the condition of their inmates would end up in futility unless the institutions mentioned above are not improved.
Therefore, reforms of these institutions are of primary concern and prison reforms are secondary and are directly dependent on and subservient to the performance of these institutions.
Having said that the following reforms in the administration of prisons are required in order to ameliorate the condition of their inmates and to fulfil the aspirations of free, sovereign, democratic, moderate and modern Islamic state as enshrined in its constitution and to stand as such in the comity of nations:
(a) Constitution of Pakistan
The preamble to the Constitution of the country has laid down, “Wherein the principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice, as enunciated by Islam, shall be fully observed and wherein the Muslims shall be enabled to order their lives in the individual and collective spheres in accordance with the teachings and requirements of Islam as set out in the Holy Quran and Sunnah.” But unfortunately these aspirations could not be achieved till date. As such it is high time to adopt, implement and follow these tenets in all walks of life including the prisons.
(b) Implementation of past recommendations
The past recommendations of the various forums need to implemented forthwith, which are reproduced as under:
(i) Islamic Ideology Council report of 1981
(ii) Rulings of the Federal Shariat Court on islamisation of laws of 1984(iii) Report of the High Powered Cabinet Committee in 1986
(iv) Prisons Reforms Report of 1997 by the Law Commission
(c) Ratification of the U.N Standards
Although Pakistan is active member of the United Nations since its independence yet it has not ratified U.N’s “Standard Minimum Rules for Treatment of Prisoners” formulated in 1955. As such it is imperative to ratify these standards immediately to gain international acclaim.
(d) Ratification of other international covenants
Pakistan needs to ratify, adopt and implement the following UN protocols:
(i) Charter of the United Nations
(ii) Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(iii) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(iv) Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Being Subjected to Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, adopted by the General Assembly on 9 December 1975.
Conclusion
Owning and implementing these reforms and adopting these international protocols will certainly convert our prisons into ‘Correction Centres’ and the inmates will not go as recidivists on release but as responsible noble citizens and will easily assimilate in the social fabric of the society.
Adopting these measures will not only give us an opportunity to stand up on equal footing in the comity of nations as a state and will enable us to shun the allegations of being condemned as rogue, terrorist, fundamentalist and corrupt state but will also usher in an era of freedom, sovereignty, democracy and realize the dream of Pakistan as an Islamic state for which our ancestors made unprecedented sacrifices.
(C) Copyrighted
Senior Citizens' Forum Hayatabad- press release dated 15/11/2007
Press releasePeshawar, the November 15, 2007
A meeting of the General Body of the Forum was held on 13/11/2007 in the Scouts’ Building Hayatabad at 6pm. It was presided over by Mr. Muhammad Saadullah Khan, Chairman.
The meeting started with recitation from the Holy Qur’an. The Chairman invited the attention of the members to the termination of the duration of the existing cabinet and said that elections should be held for the next year, 2008.
The house unanimously re-elected the existing cabinet with the exception of Mr. Izzatullah Khan, Treasurer, who resigned, which was accepted.The house unanimously elected Qazi Muhammad Ashraf as the new Treasurer and the Press Secretary.
The Chairman invited the members to discuss various issues faced by the inhabitants of Hayatabad. Several members participated in the discussion, which culminated into the consentient passage of the following resolutions by the house:
A meeting of the General Body of the Forum was held on 13/11/2007 in the Scouts’ Building Hayatabad at 6pm. It was presided over by Mr. Muhammad Saadullah Khan, Chairman.
The meeting started with recitation from the Holy Qur’an. The Chairman invited the attention of the members to the termination of the duration of the existing cabinet and said that elections should be held for the next year, 2008.
The house unanimously re-elected the existing cabinet with the exception of Mr. Izzatullah Khan, Treasurer, who resigned, which was accepted.The house unanimously elected Qazi Muhammad Ashraf as the new Treasurer and the Press Secretary.
The Chairman invited the members to discuss various issues faced by the inhabitants of Hayatabad. Several members participated in the discussion, which culminated into the consentient passage of the following resolutions by the house:
- The appointment of Mr. Jan Ali as the new DG, CD&MD was welcomed and it was termed as good omen for resolution of many problems faced by the residents of Hayatabad, which would be reminded to him in due course of time.
- Hayatabad is basically a water-short and dry area and its under-ground water is over-exploited due to the rapidly increasing population and the residents are heavily charged, especially the commercial establishments like the educational institutions etc and the aquifer is not recharged due to aridity of the area. Thus due share of water should be allocated from the proposed water supply scheme from the Warsak/ Kabul river or the Warsak canal passing through the centre of the township to overcome the water shortage and to cope with the future water requirements of the expanding Hayatabad.
- The existing main road artery designed for serving various sectors of Hayatabad has been linked unfortunately with the so-called Ring Road and all the traffic to and from FATA and Afghanistan has been diverted to pass through the heart of the town, thus exposing the residents to all the hazards of the highway, including over-speeding, blowing of horns, pollution in the form of noise, dust, smoke, destroying the roads infrastructure through constant vibration, thereby shortening their useful life and above all compromising the privacy of the residential area resulting in depreciation of houses and other buildings etc. The southern bye-pass as extension of the Ring Road outside the limits of the town should be immediately constructed and the northern bye-pass also be completed forthwith to divert the out-bound traffic from Hayatabad.
- In the meanwhile the main entrance to Hayatabad, which is unfortunately now also used as part of the Ring Road for international traffic be guarded by the traffic police to abide by the traffic laws including the restrictions of the habitation area i.e. speed limits, non-blowing of horns (esp. pressure horn) etc.
- Commercial use of residential area for educational institutions, hostels, guest houses and other such uses has brought a multitude of social evils to the township, which should be immediately and forthwith stopped.
- The Ring Road linking Hayatabad with the city is littered with encroachments on both sides, resulting in congestion on this road causing accidents and thus these should be immediately vacated.
- As planned originally Hayatabad was a garden of Peshawar but owing to the increasing population and resultant traffic it has been polluted to a great degree and if not managed properly it would turn into a garbage bin and to avoid that situation the proposed green transport vehicles be first introduced for the transport within Hayatabad and outside it.
- Most of the Afghan refugees ejected from the Kachha Garhi camp shifted to the nearby Hayatabad and concentrated in the already occupied houses exceeding the carrying capacity of these houses and the township, thus causing tremendous unbearable burden on the infrastructure and resources including houses, electric system, water supply, sewerage, roads, parks, hospitals, post offices and markets etc of Hayatabad. A survey should be conducted jointly by the CD&MD, Afghan Commissioner, police and other concerned agencies to eject/ expel the people residing in houses beyond their capacity and monitored the situation perpetually to avoid recurrence.
- The emergency medical service including ambulance etc is non-existent in the town despite the fact that there are several hospitals and medical institutions both government and private. The CEOs of HMC, RMI and others may be approached to make arrangements on this issue.
- Last but not the least security remains one of the biggest problems of the township. More personnel should be sanctioned for all the police stations of Hayatabad and the existing staff posted here should be used only for security of the town. The emergency police should be trained on the pattern of 1122 in the Punjab. The private security agencies should be monitored by the police.
- The property managers dealing in buying, selling and letting it on rent be regulated on scientific grounds and they be made duty-bound to screen the antecedents of people seeking houses, shops etc and their record passed on to the concerned police station both at the time of entry and vacation of property.
Qazi Ashraf Khan
Information Secretary
Jail reforms in Pakistan
The cabinet of the Government of NWFP in its meeting held on 9th August last approved amendments in the Prison Rules on the recommendation of the sub-committee formed for the purpose that caters for construction of five rooms each in the four central jails of the province, which will enable the inmates of these jails to meet with their family members.
The Chief Minister told that it would not be the end of the story but would bring more relief to the prisoners. The cabinet also formed a sub-committee of ministers to submit its recommendations for more reforms at the earliest.
This is a positive step and is worth appreciation but the existing situation demands drastic changes in the system of management of prisons, some of which are elaborated here.
Before going into the main stream of the subject matter, it deems appropriate to clarify a few frequently used terms and concepts. With the word jail, attention draws to the following terms; though these are not explained in the way these are defined in various laws of the land for the reason these differ in meaning and context in these enactments and only lexicon meanings are given; namely:
A 'crime' is the violation of the criminal laws including ‘omissions’ and ‘commissions’ are defined as punishable offences in legislation. Islamic laws define it ‘as deviance in committing a prohibited act by the man with self option.
A 'Court' is an institution of justice armed with judicial powers.
A 'Convict' is person adjudicated upon by a court of law, found guilty of crime(s) and convicted as such and sentenced to a term for confinement in prison.
A 'Prison' is a place used permanently or temporarily under the general or special orders of the government for the detention of prisoners.The presence of prisons on the earth is as old as the history of mankind as these existed in one or the other forms for confining subjugated enemies or criminals of those societies and civilizations.
The British ruled the Indo-Pak sub-continent for about 200 years from mid-18th to mid-20th centuries. When they established their writ and power on subjugation of the area, they introduced various laws to consolidate their power. They constructed a network of prisons in the mid-19th century over whole of India.
The British enacted “The Prisons Act, 1894” followed by “The Prisoners Act, 1900” and formulated rules thereunder known as the Indian Prison Rules (IPR) or the Jail Manual.
Some amendments were made in these rules from time to time according to the need and desire of the colonizers but the crux of the matter remained unchanged with the only exception that its name changed from IPR to PPR (Pakistan Prison Rules) after independence like many other laws.
With regard to the reforms thereafter, in the early days of independence the Punjab Prison Reforms Committee report of 1950 followed by sub-committee in 1955 made some positive changes in the jail rules, which had trickle-down effect in other provinces, especially under the one-unit era when all jails of the then West Pakistan (now Pakistan) were administered under those modified rules.
The United Nations formulated the “Standard Minimum Rules for Treatment of Prisoners” in 1955 and Pakistan is signatory to these rules but still awaits ratification by it and thus reforms enunciated about half a century ago remained unimplemented.
Then came the Jail Reforms Committee of 1968 and the Jail Administrators Conference of 1972, which recommended several reforms but these fell victim to the introduction of the uniform Pakistan Prison Rules of 1978 under the Zia regime by the Central Jail Staff Training Institute of the Interior Division of the Federal Government, though Prison administration is a provincial subject under the constitution and so those recommendations did not find place in these rules and resultantly the Pakistan Prisons Rules (PPR) or the new Jail Manual emerged.
It was followed by the recommendations of the Islamic Ideology Council, a constitutional institution, in 1981, succeeded by the rulings of the Federal Shariat Court on islamisation of laws in 1984, the report of the High Powered Cabinet Committee in 1986 and lastly emerged the Prisons Reforms Report in 1997 formulated by the Law Commission under the auspices of the Supreme Court of Pakistan but none of these reports were energized for implementation and so these dreams remained unrealized.
So the legislation on prisons like many other laws inherited from the colonial era of a century-old, which was basically designed for the subjugation of the people of the sub-continent by the British masters and remained immune to social, material and human rights developments in rest of the world so much so that India made several reforms, though deriving strength from our common laws of that time.
In order to keep pace with the comity of nations and as modern Islamic, democratic and welfare state, we need drastic changes in our out-dated laws including the ones on prisons and as such the following reforms are recommended.
The old and outdated laws need to be completely overhauled keeping in view the contemporary developments in the world. Many of our colonial time laws need to be recast in line with the present day requirements of the nation and the contemporary developments around the globe.
All the crime control codes are required to be recast and unified in view of simplification of legal processes with reduction in specialized courts so as to ensure speedy and cheap administration of justice, which in turn will help in crime prevention.
Crime is a social, economic and cultural malaise and is required to be studied in that perspective in particular reference to our conditions and corrective measures need to be adopted as has been done in social welfare states around the world.
The new Police Order has been introduced in 2002 by the government but is undergoing a testing phase and has not been legislated by the parliament after its emergence as a result of general elections in October, 2002, which needs to be placed before the parliament in the form of a bill for debate in the bicameral house, appraisal and scrutiny by the expert committee of these houses and its enactment.
Not only the police laws need overhauling but their training, education, specialization in crime prevention, control, intelligence, registration, detection, forensics, search and seizures and investigation be re-assessed in view of the requirements of the 21 century.
The prosecution branch of police has partially been separated from the police but it has not been fully segregated and as such the prosecution is still under the direct control of police.
The part of prosecution that has been detached from police has been brought under the domain of Law Department of the provincial government but there is no patronage and effective control over and monitoring of these prosecutors and so they are left to their free hand and there are no visible signs and symptoms of improvement in prosecution leading to speedy and efficient assistance of courts in arriving at fair justice.
There is, therefore, dire need to improve the situation to institutionalize the prosecution and bring it under the control and accountability of an independent Prosecution Department with clear mandate for the purpose.
The mushroom growth of lawyers on the bar has brought down the defence standards and has resultantly damaged the judicial process with heavy cost on the litigants.
The registration of lawyers needs introduction of competitive examinations under the strict provision and control of the High Courts and the Bar Council also needs to be recast on high merits.
The bar and bench needs to evaluate and monitor the performance of lawyers on yearly basis.
There is a maxim that the credibility and performance of the judiciary of a country can be gauged from the prison population of that country. If we apply this criterion, we are second in Asia after Bangladesh.
And if looked at our prison population vis-à-vis its proportion of under-trials, then we top the Asia list unfortunately. As such our judiciary needs complete overhauling, right from selection process of junior judges to the selection and elevation of the judges of the superior judiciary.
The selection process of the elevation of the superior judiciary is not open to public scrutiny and accountability, which is not the norm of a democratic country.Under the Constitution, only one person, the President, is empowered to appoint the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and its remaining judges in consultation with the latter.
In case of the Judges of the High Courts the President appoints them after consultation with the Chief Justice of Pakistan, the Governor concerned and except where the appointment is that of Chief Justice, with the Chief Justice of the High Court.
The process is not open to public accountability at least at the parliament level, which is the constitutional forum representing the aspirations of the people and so it needs to be made transparent and subject to public scrutiny and accountability.
The role assigned to the Supreme Judicial Council in the constitution is in fact the responsibility of the parliaments in the leading democracies of the world, where popular electorate is supreme and thus needs to be reassigned to the parliament if democracy is to be restored as dreamed by the founders of this country to arm it with powers to monitor, assess and evaluate the conduct and performance of judiciary and to make it accountable to the people.
“Unfortunately, appointments in the subordinate judiciary are made largely on the basis of political affiliations rather than merit”, once former Chief Justice of Pakistan, Sajjad Ali Shah told in an international meet of jurists.
Therefore, the subordinate judiciary also needs to be brought under the public scrutiny and accountability through provincial assembly, by the legal forums and the civil society.
The institutions discussed above took more time and elaboration but it was essential for the reason that these are the forums which fill prisons with under-trials and convicts and that is why Pakistan has one of world’s biggest population of prisoners.
These institutions are the cause and prisoners are their effect and so cannot be viewed in isolation from each other.
Attempting any reforms aimed at improving jails and ameliorating the condition of their inmates would end up in futility unless the institutions mentioned above are not improved.
Therefore, reforms of these institutions are of primary concern and prison reforms are secondary and are directly dependent on and subservient to the performance of these institutions.
Having said that the following reforms in the administration of prisons are required in order to ameliorate the condition of their inmates and to fulfil the aspirations of free, sovereign, democratic, moderate and modern Islamic state as enshrined in its constitution and to stand as such in the comity of nations:
(a) Implementation of past recommendations
The past recommendations of the various forums discussed above need to implemented forthwith, which are reproduced as under:
(i) Islamic Ideology Council report of 1981
(ii) Rulings of the Federal Shariat Court on islamisation of laws of 1984(iii) Report of the High Powered Cabinet Committee in 1986
(ii) Prisons Reforms Report of 1997 by the Law Commission
(b) Constitution of Pakistan
The preamble to the Constitution of the country laid down “Wherein the principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice, as enunciated by Islam, shall be fully observed and wherein the Muslims shall be enabled to order their lives in the individual and collective spheres in accordance with the teachings and requirements of Islam as set out in the Holy Quran and Sunnah.”
But unfortunately these aspirations could not be achieved till date. As such it is high time to adopt, implement and follow these tenets in all walks of life including the prisons.
(c) Ratification of the UN Standards
Although Pakistan is active member of the United Nations since its independence yet it has not ratified UN’s “Standard Minimum Rules for Treatment of Prisoners” formulated in 1955.
As such it is imperative to ratify and implement these standards immediately to gain international acclaim.
(d) Ratification of other international covenants
Pakistan needs to ratify, adopt and implement the following UN protocols:
(i) Considering that, in accordance with the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, recognition of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.
(ii) Recognizing that those rights derive from the inherent dignity of the human person.
(iii) Considering the obligation of States under the Charter, in particular Article 55, to promote universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms.
(iv) Having regard to article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which provide that no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
(v) Having regard also to the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Being Subjected to Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or punishment, adopted by the General Assembly on 9 December 1975.
(vi) Desiring to make more effective the struggle against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment throughout the world.
(vii) Each State Party shall keep under systematic review interrogation rules, instructions, methods and practices as well as arrangements for the custody and treatment of persons subjected to any form of arrest, detention or imprisonment in any territory under its jurisdiction, with a view to preventing any cases of torture.
Thus implementing these reforms and adopting these international protocols will certainly convert our prisons into ‘Correction Centres’ and the inmates will not go as recidivists on release but as responsible noble citizens and will easily assimilate in the social fabric of the society.
Adopting these measures will not only give us an opportunity to stand up on equal footing in the comity of nations and will enable us to shun the allegations of being condemned as rogue, terrorist, fundamentalist and corrupt state but will also usher in an era of freedom, sovereignty, democracy and realize the dream of Pakistan as an enlightened moderate Islamic state for which our ancestors made unprecedented sacrifices.
The Chief Minister told that it would not be the end of the story but would bring more relief to the prisoners. The cabinet also formed a sub-committee of ministers to submit its recommendations for more reforms at the earliest.
This is a positive step and is worth appreciation but the existing situation demands drastic changes in the system of management of prisons, some of which are elaborated here.
Before going into the main stream of the subject matter, it deems appropriate to clarify a few frequently used terms and concepts. With the word jail, attention draws to the following terms; though these are not explained in the way these are defined in various laws of the land for the reason these differ in meaning and context in these enactments and only lexicon meanings are given; namely:
A 'crime' is the violation of the criminal laws including ‘omissions’ and ‘commissions’ are defined as punishable offences in legislation. Islamic laws define it ‘as deviance in committing a prohibited act by the man with self option.
A 'Court' is an institution of justice armed with judicial powers.
A 'Convict' is person adjudicated upon by a court of law, found guilty of crime(s) and convicted as such and sentenced to a term for confinement in prison.
A 'Prison' is a place used permanently or temporarily under the general or special orders of the government for the detention of prisoners.The presence of prisons on the earth is as old as the history of mankind as these existed in one or the other forms for confining subjugated enemies or criminals of those societies and civilizations.
The British ruled the Indo-Pak sub-continent for about 200 years from mid-18th to mid-20th centuries. When they established their writ and power on subjugation of the area, they introduced various laws to consolidate their power. They constructed a network of prisons in the mid-19th century over whole of India.
The British enacted “The Prisons Act, 1894” followed by “The Prisoners Act, 1900” and formulated rules thereunder known as the Indian Prison Rules (IPR) or the Jail Manual.
Some amendments were made in these rules from time to time according to the need and desire of the colonizers but the crux of the matter remained unchanged with the only exception that its name changed from IPR to PPR (Pakistan Prison Rules) after independence like many other laws.
With regard to the reforms thereafter, in the early days of independence the Punjab Prison Reforms Committee report of 1950 followed by sub-committee in 1955 made some positive changes in the jail rules, which had trickle-down effect in other provinces, especially under the one-unit era when all jails of the then West Pakistan (now Pakistan) were administered under those modified rules.
The United Nations formulated the “Standard Minimum Rules for Treatment of Prisoners” in 1955 and Pakistan is signatory to these rules but still awaits ratification by it and thus reforms enunciated about half a century ago remained unimplemented.
Then came the Jail Reforms Committee of 1968 and the Jail Administrators Conference of 1972, which recommended several reforms but these fell victim to the introduction of the uniform Pakistan Prison Rules of 1978 under the Zia regime by the Central Jail Staff Training Institute of the Interior Division of the Federal Government, though Prison administration is a provincial subject under the constitution and so those recommendations did not find place in these rules and resultantly the Pakistan Prisons Rules (PPR) or the new Jail Manual emerged.
It was followed by the recommendations of the Islamic Ideology Council, a constitutional institution, in 1981, succeeded by the rulings of the Federal Shariat Court on islamisation of laws in 1984, the report of the High Powered Cabinet Committee in 1986 and lastly emerged the Prisons Reforms Report in 1997 formulated by the Law Commission under the auspices of the Supreme Court of Pakistan but none of these reports were energized for implementation and so these dreams remained unrealized.
So the legislation on prisons like many other laws inherited from the colonial era of a century-old, which was basically designed for the subjugation of the people of the sub-continent by the British masters and remained immune to social, material and human rights developments in rest of the world so much so that India made several reforms, though deriving strength from our common laws of that time.
In order to keep pace with the comity of nations and as modern Islamic, democratic and welfare state, we need drastic changes in our out-dated laws including the ones on prisons and as such the following reforms are recommended.
The old and outdated laws need to be completely overhauled keeping in view the contemporary developments in the world. Many of our colonial time laws need to be recast in line with the present day requirements of the nation and the contemporary developments around the globe.
All the crime control codes are required to be recast and unified in view of simplification of legal processes with reduction in specialized courts so as to ensure speedy and cheap administration of justice, which in turn will help in crime prevention.
Crime is a social, economic and cultural malaise and is required to be studied in that perspective in particular reference to our conditions and corrective measures need to be adopted as has been done in social welfare states around the world.
The new Police Order has been introduced in 2002 by the government but is undergoing a testing phase and has not been legislated by the parliament after its emergence as a result of general elections in October, 2002, which needs to be placed before the parliament in the form of a bill for debate in the bicameral house, appraisal and scrutiny by the expert committee of these houses and its enactment.
Not only the police laws need overhauling but their training, education, specialization in crime prevention, control, intelligence, registration, detection, forensics, search and seizures and investigation be re-assessed in view of the requirements of the 21 century.
The prosecution branch of police has partially been separated from the police but it has not been fully segregated and as such the prosecution is still under the direct control of police.
The part of prosecution that has been detached from police has been brought under the domain of Law Department of the provincial government but there is no patronage and effective control over and monitoring of these prosecutors and so they are left to their free hand and there are no visible signs and symptoms of improvement in prosecution leading to speedy and efficient assistance of courts in arriving at fair justice.
There is, therefore, dire need to improve the situation to institutionalize the prosecution and bring it under the control and accountability of an independent Prosecution Department with clear mandate for the purpose.
The mushroom growth of lawyers on the bar has brought down the defence standards and has resultantly damaged the judicial process with heavy cost on the litigants.
The registration of lawyers needs introduction of competitive examinations under the strict provision and control of the High Courts and the Bar Council also needs to be recast on high merits.
The bar and bench needs to evaluate and monitor the performance of lawyers on yearly basis.
There is a maxim that the credibility and performance of the judiciary of a country can be gauged from the prison population of that country. If we apply this criterion, we are second in Asia after Bangladesh.
And if looked at our prison population vis-à-vis its proportion of under-trials, then we top the Asia list unfortunately. As such our judiciary needs complete overhauling, right from selection process of junior judges to the selection and elevation of the judges of the superior judiciary.
The selection process of the elevation of the superior judiciary is not open to public scrutiny and accountability, which is not the norm of a democratic country.Under the Constitution, only one person, the President, is empowered to appoint the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and its remaining judges in consultation with the latter.
In case of the Judges of the High Courts the President appoints them after consultation with the Chief Justice of Pakistan, the Governor concerned and except where the appointment is that of Chief Justice, with the Chief Justice of the High Court.
The process is not open to public accountability at least at the parliament level, which is the constitutional forum representing the aspirations of the people and so it needs to be made transparent and subject to public scrutiny and accountability.
The role assigned to the Supreme Judicial Council in the constitution is in fact the responsibility of the parliaments in the leading democracies of the world, where popular electorate is supreme and thus needs to be reassigned to the parliament if democracy is to be restored as dreamed by the founders of this country to arm it with powers to monitor, assess and evaluate the conduct and performance of judiciary and to make it accountable to the people.
“Unfortunately, appointments in the subordinate judiciary are made largely on the basis of political affiliations rather than merit”, once former Chief Justice of Pakistan, Sajjad Ali Shah told in an international meet of jurists.
Therefore, the subordinate judiciary also needs to be brought under the public scrutiny and accountability through provincial assembly, by the legal forums and the civil society.
The institutions discussed above took more time and elaboration but it was essential for the reason that these are the forums which fill prisons with under-trials and convicts and that is why Pakistan has one of world’s biggest population of prisoners.
These institutions are the cause and prisoners are their effect and so cannot be viewed in isolation from each other.
Attempting any reforms aimed at improving jails and ameliorating the condition of their inmates would end up in futility unless the institutions mentioned above are not improved.
Therefore, reforms of these institutions are of primary concern and prison reforms are secondary and are directly dependent on and subservient to the performance of these institutions.
Having said that the following reforms in the administration of prisons are required in order to ameliorate the condition of their inmates and to fulfil the aspirations of free, sovereign, democratic, moderate and modern Islamic state as enshrined in its constitution and to stand as such in the comity of nations:
(a) Implementation of past recommendations
The past recommendations of the various forums discussed above need to implemented forthwith, which are reproduced as under:
(i) Islamic Ideology Council report of 1981
(ii) Rulings of the Federal Shariat Court on islamisation of laws of 1984(iii) Report of the High Powered Cabinet Committee in 1986
(ii) Prisons Reforms Report of 1997 by the Law Commission
(b) Constitution of Pakistan
The preamble to the Constitution of the country laid down “Wherein the principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice, as enunciated by Islam, shall be fully observed and wherein the Muslims shall be enabled to order their lives in the individual and collective spheres in accordance with the teachings and requirements of Islam as set out in the Holy Quran and Sunnah.”
But unfortunately these aspirations could not be achieved till date. As such it is high time to adopt, implement and follow these tenets in all walks of life including the prisons.
(c) Ratification of the UN Standards
Although Pakistan is active member of the United Nations since its independence yet it has not ratified UN’s “Standard Minimum Rules for Treatment of Prisoners” formulated in 1955.
As such it is imperative to ratify and implement these standards immediately to gain international acclaim.
(d) Ratification of other international covenants
Pakistan needs to ratify, adopt and implement the following UN protocols:
(i) Considering that, in accordance with the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, recognition of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.
(ii) Recognizing that those rights derive from the inherent dignity of the human person.
(iii) Considering the obligation of States under the Charter, in particular Article 55, to promote universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms.
(iv) Having regard to article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which provide that no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
(v) Having regard also to the Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Being Subjected to Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or punishment, adopted by the General Assembly on 9 December 1975.
(vi) Desiring to make more effective the struggle against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment throughout the world.
(vii) Each State Party shall keep under systematic review interrogation rules, instructions, methods and practices as well as arrangements for the custody and treatment of persons subjected to any form of arrest, detention or imprisonment in any territory under its jurisdiction, with a view to preventing any cases of torture.
Thus implementing these reforms and adopting these international protocols will certainly convert our prisons into ‘Correction Centres’ and the inmates will not go as recidivists on release but as responsible noble citizens and will easily assimilate in the social fabric of the society.
Adopting these measures will not only give us an opportunity to stand up on equal footing in the comity of nations and will enable us to shun the allegations of being condemned as rogue, terrorist, fundamentalist and corrupt state but will also usher in an era of freedom, sovereignty, democracy and realize the dream of Pakistan as an enlightened moderate Islamic state for which our ancestors made unprecedented sacrifices.
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