Promotion of Peace and Tolerance

Rawalpindi

Two degree colleges in Rawalpindi Cantonment Area Dhoke Syedan are still pending after spending Rs42 million in fiscal year 2008-9. The project was inaugurated by former chief minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi and former law minister Muhammad Basharat Raja in 2007.

A Degree College for Boys and Degree College for Girls was proposed in the project and Rs42 million were released and spent on the colleges, but still government has not initiated classes in both the colleges.

Talking to ‘The News’, Syed Kausar Abbas, Program Manager, Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives, (CPDI) said that the Government of Punjab still not able to start classes in two degree colleges of Dhoke Syedan Chowk, Rawalpindi. The project of construction of two degree colleges in Dhoke Syedan Chok was started in year 2007. He said Rs42 million funds were released and spent on the construction of college buildings, but still the buildings are incomplete. These two colleges are the only colleges in the surrounding of NA-52 and NA-54. Both the National Assembly constituencies are owned by well-powered elected representatives, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and MNA Malik Abrar Ahmad.

It is a pity that thousands of young boys and girls travel a long distances to get the higher education due to incompletion of these degree colleges in Dhoke Syedan Chowk Rawalpindi. Number of campaigns have been launched to highlight the issue of degree colleges, but still the government of Punjab is not paying attention towards the completion of these colleges.

Hamayun Ashraf Director Colleges when contacted, committed to start the classes in the month of September 2014. He said that the government should pay attention to the educational institutions, which lack basic facilities and provide all necessary facilities to the educational institutions to provide quality education to the students.
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ISLAMABAD: Chief Minister Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif has answered the first Right to Information (RTI) request leaving the requester surprised by replying that he uses his private vehicle for official business, pays fuel charges from his pocket and there is no protocol vehicle deputed for him.

However, he was hesitant to disclose the number of security vehicles deputed during the course of his movement citing ‘security reasons’.

Syed Kausar Abbas, an RTI activist, sent an information request asking three questions to CM Punjab. The requester sought details of the vehicles deputed for his protocol, security and certified copy of the log-book of each vehicle under CM’s use.

Application addressed to the chief secretary Punjab was filed on September 16 last year under Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Ordinance 2013 that was enforced before securing passage from Punjab Assembly. Although provincial government was bound to reply within 21 working days, the answer was dispatched on December 12, almost three months later.

Official position on the questions was interesting and informative alike. Responding to the query about the number of protocol vehicles deputed for CM Punjab, the official letter said there is no vehicle assigned for the purpose.

About the certified copy of the log-book of each official vehicle under CM Punjab’s use, reply is quiet revealing. It said that Shahbaz Sharif uses his private vehicle for official business and the petrol charges for that travel is afforded from his pocket hence there is no question of maintaining log-book that is done to keep accounting of official vehicles.

Answer to the last question asking the number of police/security vehicles deputed for Shahbaz Sharif’s movement has been side-stepped citing security reasons. “Due to security issues, it is not advisable to disclose this information.”

Background discussion with police officers indicates that questions have been smartly answered. Technically speaking, one officer said, there is no protocol vehicle deputed with CM Punjab.

They have been replaced with security convoy instead but Punjab government refused to provide details in this regard. Police officers say security is not compromised by revealing the number of vehicles deputed for the purpose. It is breached when security plan and routes are disclosed.

A report published in this newspaper in April last year revealed that 716 policemen were providing VVIP security Mian Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif and family members by the time none of them was in the government.

According to the break-up of 761 policemen who continue to provide VVIP security to the Sharifs in Lahore at the expense of the taxpayers’ money, 317 belong to the Punjab Elite Force, 302 are from the Lahore Police Security Division, 108 personnel belong to the Punjab Constabulary while 34 others are from the Lahore District Police. Contrary to these details that were about the number of policemen, RTI request asked about the number of security vehicles that was refused to be answered.

As far as CM’s travel on private vehicle is concerned, it seems plausible as not only inside the country; he travels abroad at his own expenses. CM Shehbaz, his cabinet members and politicians accompanying him during foreign visits pay from their own pockets, revealed a detailed reply presented in the Punjab Assembly in 2012.

It is not the austerity practice recently introduced by Shahbaz Sharif as he also followed this policy during his last stint as Chief Minister, according to the officials who have worked with him.
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ISLAMABAD: Forged attendance record of the MQM MNA, who beat a journalist in Lahore but showed presence in Islamabad, has drawn fire for the secretive National Assembly as journalists and information rights activists have asked Speaker Ayaz Sadiq to produce the video footage of the MNA to clear this mystery.

Journalists have demanded that the attendance record of all lawmakers should be made public.Neither the National Assembly has so far clarified its position on the forgery nor did the MQM take any action against the accused MNA as both promised to The News on Thursday to get back on the issue.

While the previous National Assembly earned notoriety when hoards of fake graduates were discovered as its members; some of them disqualified only when the Supreme Court took up the matter, the present assembly has added another ‘feather to its cap’ by faking their attendance records.

Electronic Media Reporters Association (EMRA) has written a letter to the NA Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq demanding the video footage of MNA Tahira Asif to establish the claim of her presence in the assembly session on the date and time she allegedly beat Radio Pakistan’s senior producer through her guards in Lahore.

Record of her cellular phone acquired by the police contradicts her claim as she was present at the venue in Lahore where the incident occurred.EMRA has also written to Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid demanding the restoration of Akmal Ghumman who was first harassed by DG Radio Samina Pervez and then suspended when he did not abandon efforts to bring the MQM MNA to justice.

The DG Radio must be directed to “stop interfering into Ghumman’s personal matter even if she cannot stand by him in this time of crisis.”Meanwhile, Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives, an organisation working on Right to Information (RTI), has renewed its demand from the NA speaker to direct the publication of MNAs’ attendance record on the website.

This is not only the citizens’ right to know about the working of MNAs whose salaries as well as perks and privileges are afforded through public money, this incident of faked attendance also testifies the urgency and importance of publicising record lest somebody abuse it in collusion with the assembly staff, said Zahid Abdullah, Programme Manager of CPDI’s RTI project.

The NA Secretariat has long been refusing the RTI requests seeking attendance details despite the Federal Ombudsman’s orders to make it public. Parliaments in India and UK update attendance record of their MPs on the official websites on daily basis.

As for as EMRA’s letter to the NA speaker is concerned, it highlighted the issue of faked attendance record of MNA Tahira Asif that is “indeed a serious crime” and said that victim journalist Akmal Ghumman has initiated legal proceeding against the MNA.

Now Ghumman is being victimised and made to pass through severe mental torture by the MNA and the DG Radio Pakistan as pressurised by the MNA, reads EMRA letter.

“It is requested that the CCTV footage and the attendance record of the date mentioned may please be made available to EMRA as soon as possible so that it may help Mr Ghumman who is out to seek justice through a legal procedure not only for himself but for a common man,” the letter reads.

The CPDI has joined in condemning this act, saying that if the alleged tampering of attendance record of an MNA is true then it can easily be understood why the National Assembly Secretariat is not only jealously guarding information about the attendance record of Members of National Assembly but goes a step further and declares it personal information.

Responding to CPDI information request filed on April 6, 2012 under the Freedom of Information Ordinance 2002, seeking information about the attendance record of MNAs during parliamentary year 2011-12, the NA Secretariat denied access to this information on June 28, 2012, saying this information pertained to the privacy of MNAs and that this information did not pertain to matters of public importance.

If such information is proactively disclosed through website in India, the CPDI statement reads, why it cannot be made available to citizens of Pakistan?
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ABBOTTABAD: A civil society organisation has launched a project in three districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that will oversee service delivery in education, health, agriculture and food sectors.

Syed Kausar Abbass, programme manager, Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI), told reporters Wednesday the CPDI had identified Peshawar, Mardan and Abbottabad districts of the KP initially for overseeing the service delivery issues in sectors, which include education, health, agriculture and food.

A group of volunteers in each district will be established to oversee the performance of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government in education, health, food and agriculture. The CPDI official explained that the performance of provincial government would be monitored through the citizens to identify the loopholes in the service delivery issues. He said the provinces are autonomous, after implementation of 18th Amendment, to legislate own policies for the development of citizens.
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The Pakistan Forum for Democratic Policing (PFDP) a coalition of human rights organisations* and individuals expresses grave concern over two recently promulgated Ordinances by the government which  are meant to combat the growing rate of terrorism. As a collective vested in democratic reform of the police, we are of the view that provisions from both these Ordinances will serve to militarise policing and further weaken police accountability in Pakistan. Extensive debate and consultation are urgently required for both, as provisions in each can open the doors for human rights abuses by the police and security forces.

The first ordinance was promulgated on October 11 and serves as an amendment to the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 (hereafter ATA Amendment), while the second, named the Pakistan Protection Ordinance (hereafter PPO), was approved on October 20. It should be noted that both Ordinances, as per Article 89 of the Constitution, will expire within 120 days of promulgation if not approved by Parliament. 

Some of our principal concerns are:

·         Both Ordinances contain numerous similar provisions which buttress police powers of use of force without proportional safeguards. A provision in the ATA Amendment gives shoot at sight authority to police and armed forces who, “after forming reasonable apprehension that death, grievous hurt or destruction of property may be caused by such act” can fire at a suspect. The PPO contains a similar provision under Section 2(a) which allows police, armed forces and civil armed forces to fire or order the firing upon anyone committing or likely to commit a scheduled offence. There is no stipulation in either making the use of force an absolute last resort, or ensuring proportionality of the force exercised.  The PPO is even more concerning in this regard in that it bestows blanket exemption to the law enforcement apparatus under clause 19, which reads “No member of the police, armed forces or civil armed forces acting in aid of civil authority, Prosecutor General, prosecutor, Special Judicial Magistrates or the Judge of a Special Court shall be liable to any action for the acts done in good faith during the performance of their duties”.

• Both Ordinances provide for preventive detention for offences, and the PPO goes excessively far in this regard. In furtherance of the above provisions, section 5(5) of the PPO also provides authority to police and civil and armed forces to arrest and label persons whose identity is “unascertainable” as “enemy aliens” and presume that they are waging war or insurrection against Pakistan.  Section 14 of the PPO further presumes guilt of a scheduled offence and the burden is on the accused to establish non-involvement on war or insurrection against Pakistan. Preventive detention for up to ninety-days is also authorized for those within the purview of 5(5), including those whose identity is unascertainable. This could very easily leave latitude for exacerbating enforced disappearances by state forces, which the Chief Justice recently claimed was in part due to security forces.  
• Both Ordinances contain troubling provisions related to investigation of offences. The ATA Amendment seeks to fast-track investigation and allows for convictions solely on the basis of electronic or forensic evidence. Convicting solely on “electronic” evidence could lead to further internet censorship and attacks on privacy. The PPO goes in the other direction and allows for a hugely extended period of police custody if the investigation is not completed. In Section 5(4) of the PPO, a Special Judicial Magistrate is empowered to grant police custody for up to ninety days, which is far above the maximum limit allowed in ordinary criminal law. The dangers and potential for the use of torture by the police to extract information is heightened with this much time allowed in police custody.

·         Both Ordinances infringe upon the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, including but not limited to Articles 9, 10, 14, 17, and 26.

·         Both Ordinances infringe upon the rights of citizens as enshrined in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, including but not limited to Articles 4, 8, 9, 10, 14, and 25.

With their adverse effects on civil liberties and human rights, legal instruments such as these make democratic police reform an even more distant goal. Already there is little to show by way of systemic reform of the police in Pakistan – there is no renewed energy around drafting a progressive federal police law since the time lost over the 2002 Police Order, and in the vacuum, the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan have reverted back to the Police Act of 1861. Independent police accountability bodies have not been established. This is regressing rather than moving forward.

We urge for vigorous debate in Parliament and widespread consultation before addressing these two Ordinances when it is next in session in November. It is hoped the recent legal challenge to the PPO in the Islamabad High Court will delve into issues of concern. In addition to their huge potential impact on fair trial rights, these Ordinances spell dangers for policing by moving the police toward increased powers in the absence of increased accountability and safeguards.

*Core members of the Pakistan Forum on Democratic Policing (PFDP) Rozan, Shehri – CBE, Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI) Strengthening Participatory Organizations (SPO) and Aurat Foundation