Saraikistan News

WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
MULTAN,Oct 15th:Government can alleviate poverty, end joblessness and earn maximum foreign exchange by promoting the women entrepreneurs and providing them opportunities to come forward, said Shahid Naseem Khokhar President of Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) while addressing the sub committee of women entrepreneurs here today.He said that Business women were being introduced nationally and internationally by sending them to trade fairs, festivals and conferences.Shahid Naseem said the Multan chamber had been vocal and supportive to the concept of empowering women entrepreneurs. He added that the MCCI 's sub committee on Women had been playing an active role to provide business information and technical assistance to women entrepreneurs registered with the MCCI as members.Mrs.Romana Tanvir Sheikh stressed the need for implementation on the anti harassment bill in the industrial units where women serve so that female workers could feel security of their modesty, honour and prestige.She said that Women can play an important role to improve the economy of the country if they get the required facilitation from the government departments.Chairperson of Women entrepreneur committee Ms.Kausar Sheikh added that she was making efforts towards creating awareness among women entrepreneurs. She said the women’s chamber had chalked out a plan to strengthen women’s economic empowerment.
She said the very objective behind the establishment of the women’s chamber was to motivate women entrepreneurs to play a role in an economic turnaround. She hoped that Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) would continue to support the businesswomen. While giving a presentation on their performance , she enumerated various achievements of the women’s of Multan chamber and the memorandum of understanding (MoU) it had signed with various organisation aiming to facilitate women entrepreneurs. Dr.Aamna Mehmood Awan said the Multam chamber had been equipping women entrepreneurs with the latest business techniques and methodologies, so they could be able to do businesses independently.She stressed the need for granting loans on easy trerm and subsidies in air-travel, stalls so that they could take their steps in international markets easily.She said that Government should provide access to women entrepreneurs to European markets.The meeting was also attended by Sabeen Akhtar, Faryal Mohsin, Hina Naqvi, Afshan Gilani, Abida Zafar, Talat Shafiq, Ms.Aasia, Razia Rehman, Fareeha Khan, Saima Khan, Zahida Khakwani, Uzma Malik Saadia Sajjad, Mrs.Kamran,Shazia Abrar, Sehrish Iqbal, Nida Asif, Adeela Asad,and Syeda Nasreen Zahra

LOANS
MULTAN,Oct 15th:Endorsing the demand of Oxfam,Makhdoom Javed Hashmi MNA demanded for dropping Pakistan’s $55bn debt and said that the debt must be cancelled because of the level of destruction caused by the recent unprecedented flooding and the massive costs of immediate relief and longer term reconstruction.In his statement from New York where he is under treatment he said that all the developed countries should meet the long and short term need of Pakistan.Pakistan has to pay $2.9bn this year on servicing foreign debts. So far, governments have committed $1.5bn to the relief effort. Rebuilding is way behind schedule and millions are homeless. Some two and a half months since the floods struck the UN Appeal is only one-third funded. Rebuilding the country will require a huge injection of funds. The Pakistan government has estimated that reconstruction may cost as much as $45bn.Javed Hashmi said that some countries, including France, Japan, South Korea and China – all members of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan - have received more money from Pakistan than they have given in response to the flooding. France received $62m in debt payments in the first nine months of the last financial year, more than 15 times its direct contribution to the flood response. Japan received $111m, more than five times its contribution to the response. South Korea received four times as much, and China three times as much.“Any rational person will see this as madness and maddening. It is a moral and economic absurdity that while poverty-struck people in Pakistan are struggling to put their lives back together much richer countries like France and Japan are receiving vast sums of money in debt payments.
“The debt burden cannot be allowed to impede the relief and reconstruction efforts. Pakistan needs aid and its debts dropped so that families can get back to their land and rebuild their homes and their lives.
“Pakistan’s debt has doubled in the past four years alone and the government is currently spending more than four times as much per person on servicing external debt as it is on healthcare.“Even before the floods, poverty in parts of Pakistan was dire. Almost one in ten children die before their fifth birthday.Now more than 10,000 schools and 500 hospitals need to be rebuilt.
“If funds that are desperately needed for emergency aid and reconstruction are swallowed up in debt repayments, then Pakistan could face a poverty boom. The choice is clear – either we roll back debt or development suffers.”

ECP
MULTAN, Oct 15th:Local MNAs, MPAs have received letter from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) regarding submission of educational qualification documents.ECP wrote letters to 428 lawmakers asking them to immediately submit the required documents to the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to help it complete the process of verification of degrees. The letters had been written soon after the ECP received communication from the HEC, saying that the verification of the degrees of lawmakers’ was not possible without the provision of their Matriculation and Intermediate certificates and copies of their computerised National Identity Cards, sources said.

ECP
MULTAN, Oct 15th:Local MNAs, MPAs have received letter from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) regarding submission of educational qualification documents.ECP wrote letters to 428 lawmakers asking them to immediately submit the required documents to the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to help it complete the process of verification of degrees. The letters had been written soon after the ECP received communication from the HEC, saying that the verification of the degrees of lawmakers’ was not possible without the provision of their Matriculation and Intermediate certificates and copies of their computerised National Identity Cards, sources said.

ZAKIR USMANI
MULTAN,Oct 15th:Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader and a close comrade of Late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Chairman of PPP Peerzada Abdul Ali Zakir Usmani has sharply reacted on the utterances of PML-N leader Saad Rafiq against Bhuttos describing it political vulgarity, indecency and hooliganism and urged upon the Mian Nawaz Sharif Sharif to expel him and Abid Sher Ali MNA from the party for their unpolitical behaviour. Talking to newsmen here on Friday he lashed out at a section of media for carrying propaganda-based news reports and analysis against the elected government. He said democracy cannot be nourished in the country until the media and the educated class do not collaborate with the government. Citing the coverage of the devastating floods, He said anchors of some private TV channels had only highlighted the areas where rescue and relief activities had been comparatively weaker due to the huge scale of the disaster, avoiding the positive aspects of the relief efforts by the government. Usmani said the media had maligned the government over its response to the floods, while praising only the Pakistan Army for its relief and rescue operations, which is also a part of the government.

WATCH ON SECTARIAN PEOPLE
MULTAN,Oct 15th:The activities of more than 6,000 people linked to banned sectarian and religious organisations are being strictly monitored by intelligence wings and intelligence agencies have been collecting details on banned organisations, which had been working with other names, National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) Chairman Brig Javed Lodhi said on Thursday. He made these comments while briefing the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Human Rights, which met at the Parliament House.
The government has banned 27 outfits for involvement in terrorist activities in the country, and has placed them on Fourth Schedule, while their activities were being strictly checked, he added. Lodhi said the country’s security institutions were fully committed to establishing peace and to countering terrorism in the country, and, therefore, all foreign students in madrasas were being registered after security clearance by the Interior Department.
The committee directed that in order to bring harmony and restore peace among different communities, no criminal should be spared punishment On the Gojra incident, the committee advised the Ministry of Interior and Gojra district administration to ascertain any connections of the criminals with any agency, party or group.The committee also took up Shazia rape case in Faisalabad, and the killing of nine people in police station Chatyana. With regard to Gojra incident and rape of Shazia, the committee decided that Ministry of Human Rights secretary will discuss the issue with the Lahore High Court chief justice to expedite the cases. The committee enquired as the Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) Ordinance 1997 had lapsed what steps had the Ministry of Interior taken to restore it. The committee stated that it desired to create an environment for the application of universal principles of equality and social justice, as well as constitutional and international rights, and uplift of the workers and the labour force of Pakistan.
The NA panel expressed displeasure that the working conditions of the labourers had not been satisfactory and that was deplorable. The provincial labour departments represent only the employers and not the workers. The labour departments had been involved in corruption. Long working hours and poor working conditions are the normal features of a significant number of work places. A number of them also carry economic, social and health hazards.
The committee noted that 36 conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) had been recognised by Pakistan, and these conventions should be brought in line with the national laws, by considering, ethical, economic, social, cultural and ethnic values of Pakistan. As labour laws were mainly functions of the provincial government, they should be implemented in letter and spirit. The committee had a detailed discussion on child labour and urged that remedial measures be taken against it.

ZAKIR USMANI
MULTAN,Oct 15th:Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Central Information Secretary Fauzia Wahab on Thursday lashed out at a section of media for carrying propaganda-based news reports and analysis against the elected government.
Speaking at a seminar organised by the South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA), she said democracy cannot be nourished in the country until the media and the educated class do not collaborate with the government. Citing the coverage of the devastating floods, she said anchors of some private TV channels had only highlighted the areas where rescue and relief activities had been comparatively weaker due to the huge scale of the disaster, avoiding the positive aspects of the relief efforts by the government. Fauzia said the media had maligned the government over its response to the floods, while praising only the Pakistan Army for its relief and rescue operations, which is also a part of the government. She also accused the media for carrying contradictory reports regarding Ajmal Kasab, the lone convicted Mumbai attack gunman, as being a Pakistani national, when the Foreign Office had categorically denied Indian accusations about sponsoring terrorist nurseries in the country.

CHILD ABUSE CASES
MULTAN,Oct 15th: The number of child abuse cases have been rapidly growing in Pakistan due to a lack of proper preventive and protective measures adopted by the government, as well as the parents, Sahil, a non-government organisation (NGO) working for children’s rights, said on Thursday, at a press conference held at the Lahore Press Club.
Child abuse is a global phenomenon and the developed nations had adopted strict measures to protect their children from such incidents as they could ruin a person’s entire life, a Sahil representative, Iftikhar Mubarak and other officials said. The victims of child abuse had to face many complex psychological problems throughout their lives, they added.
According to a study conducted by the NGO, a break up analysis of gender continued to show that the number of female reported cases of child sexual abuse were higher than the male cases.
Out of a total of 1,216 cases reported in six months, 331 boys, where as 885 girls had been sexually abused, and the percentage of the female cases was 72 percent as compared to 28 percent of male cases.The six months’ data further showed that the children had been sexually abused in different crime categories, with the highest number of cases recorded in the category of abduction for sexual purposes for girls, whereas the boys had been mainly abused in the crime category of sodomy, followed by gang sodomy, abduction for sexual purposes, and attempt of sodomy, among other similar cases.
However, after abduction for sexual purposes, the girls had been mainly abused in the category of rape, gang rape, attempt of rape, among other similar cases. A total of 125 cases were reported in which the children had been sexually abused after abduction. A total of 55 cases were of children being murdered after sexual assault. A wide range of abusers had been reported to victimise children. According to the statistics, a total of 2,425 abusers have sexually assaulted 1,216 children.
81 percent of the abusers had been acquaintances, people who were known to the victim or their family, whereas 19 percent had been strangers. Among strangers only 0.6 percent, that is 16 abusers had been identified as robbers and dacoits. The rest were only mentioned as strangers. Among acquaintances, the description of 67 percent abusers had not been specified.
However, a total of 14 percent had been specified as neighbours, relatives, immediate family members, teachers, police, clerics, among others. Among these, 2.2 percent had been relatives and 0.5 percent immediate family members. Acquaintances also included 3 percent (79) female abettors, that is, females who had accompanied the abusers in committing the crime. These females are usually involved in the kidnapping of a child for sexual purposes. According to details of the acquaintance’s category of the total 1,635 abusers, 120 had been neighbours, 79 were female abettor, 54 were relatives, 15 were immediate family members, 12 were influential people, 10 were teachers, seven were police and seven were clerics.
11-15 years age bracket had the highest number of cases, that is, 283. This shows the age group, most vulnerable to sexual abuse for both boys and girls. However, the ages of as many as 46 percent cases had not been reported in the newspapers at all. The geographical breakdown of the cases continued to show that the majority of cases had been reported in Punjab, with as many as 75 percent, which was one third of total cases. Sindh follows with second highest number of reported cases with 18 percent, followed by Islamabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The reported cases showed that a higher number of incidents had taken place in rural areas.As many as 73 percent cases had occurred in rural areas, whereas 27 percent had taken place in urban areas. The place of an abuse table showed a wide range of places where children had been sexually abused, from inside the victim’s own house to open places like fields, streets, canal banks, gardens, graveyards, among others. This supported the fact that child abuse could take place anywhere and no place is safe for children.
The highest number, that is 193 cases had taken place at the acquaintances’ house, which was about 15 percent of the total. The statistics showed that most of the abuse cases, about 64 percent, were one-offs, in contrast to 10 percent cases, where the victims had been sexually assaulted for a longer period of time. This long-term abuse included assault for a period of one day, one week, one month, six months and more than six months.

WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
MULTAN,Oct 15th:Government can alleviate poverty, end joblessness and earn maximum foreign exchange by promoting the women entrepreneurs and providing them opportunities to come forward, said Shahid Naseem Khokhar President of Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) while addressing the sub committee of women entrepreneurs here today.He said that Business women were being introduced nationally and internationally by sending them to trade fairs, festivals and conferences.Shahid Naseem said the Multan chamber had been vocal and supportive to the concept of empowering women entrepreneurs. He added that the MCCI 's sub committee on Women had been playing an active role to provide business information and technical assistance to women entrepreneurs registered with the MCCI as members.Mrs.Romana Tanvir Sheikh stressed the need for implementation on the anti harassment bill in the industrial units where women serve so that female workers could feel security of their modesty, honour and prestige.She said that Women can play an important role to improve the economy of the country if they get the required facilitation from the government departments.Chairperson of Women entrepreneur committee Ms.Kausar Sheikh added that she was making efforts towards creating awareness among women entrepreneurs. She said the women’s chamber had chalked out a plan to strengthen women’s economic empowerment.
She said the very objective behind the establishment of the women’s chamber was to motivate women entrepreneurs to play a role in an economic turnaround. She hoped that Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) would continue to support the businesswomen. While giving a presentation on their performance , she enumerated various achievements of the women’s of Multan chamber and the memorandum of understanding (MoU) it had signed with various organisation aiming to facilitate women entrepreneurs. Dr.Aamna Mehmood Awan said the Multam chamber had been equipping women entrepreneurs with the latest business techniques and methodologies, so they could be able to do businesses independently.She stressed the need for granting loans on easy trerm and subsidies in air-travel, stalls so that they could take their steps in international markets easily.She said that Government should provide access to women entrepreneurs to European markets.The meeting was also attended by Sabeen Akhtar, Faryal Mohsin, Hina Naqvi, Afshan Gilani, Abida Zafar, Talat Shafiq, Ms.Aasia, Razia Rehman, Fareeha Khan, Saima Khan, Zahida Khakwani, Uzma Malik Saadia Sajjad, Mrs.Kamran,Shazia Abrar, Sehrish Iqbal, Nida Asif, Adeela Asad,and Syeda Nasreen Zahra

LOANS
MULTAN,Oct 15th:The international aid agency Oxfam Thursday called for Pakistan’s $55bn debt to be dropped.
Oxfam said that the debt must be cancelled because of the level of destruction caused by the recent unprecedented flooding and the massive costs of immediate relief and longer term reconstruction. The call comes in advance of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan meeting today (Friday) in Brussels, when Foreign Ministers will address the country’s short and long term needs.Pakistan will pay $2.9bn this year on servicing foreign debts. So far, governments have committed $1.5bn to the relief effort. Rebuilding is way behind schedule and millions are homeless. Some two and a half months since the floods struck the UN Appeal is only one-third funded. Rebuilding the country will require a huge injection of funds. The Pakistan government has estimated that reconstruction may cost as much as $45bn.
Some countries, including France, Japan, South Korea and China – all members of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan - have received more money from Pakistan than they have given in response to the flooding. France received $62m in debt payments in the first nine months of the last financial year, more than 15 times its direct contribution to the flood response. Japan received $111m, more than five times its contribution to the response. South Korea received four times as much, and China three times as much.Consuelo Lopez-Zuriaga, Oxfam Head of Humanitarian Campaigns, said,
"Any rational person will see this as madness and maddening. It is a moral and economic absurdity that while poverty-struck people in Pakistan are struggling to put their lives back together much richer countries like France and Japan are receiving vast sums of money in debt payments.
"The debt burden cannot be allowed to impede the relief and reconstruction efforts. Pakistan needs aid and its debts dropped so that families can get back to their land and rebuild their homes and their lives.
"Pakistan’s debt has doubled in the past four years alone and the government is currently spending more than four times as much per person on servicing external debt as it is on healthcare.
"Even before the floods, poverty in parts of Pakistan was dire. Almost one in ten children die before their fifth birthday. Teenage girls in the Federally Administered Tribal Provinces are more likely to die in childbirth than learn to read. And now more than 10,000 schools and 500 hospitals need to be rebuilt.
"If funds that are desperately needed for emergency aid and reconstruction are swallowed up in debt repayments, then Pakistan could face a poverty boom. The choice is clear – either we roll back debt or development suffers."

WATCH ON SECTARIAN PEOPLE
MULTAN,Oct 15th:The activities of more than 6,000 people linked to banned sectarian and religious organisations are being strictly monitored by intelligence wings and intelligence agencies have been collecting details on banned organisations, which had been working with other names, National Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) Chairman Brig Javed Lodhi said on Thursday. He made these comments while briefing the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Human Rights, which met at the Parliament House.
The government has banned 27 outfits for involvement in terrorist activities in the country, and has placed them on Fourth Schedule, while their activities were being strictly checked, he added. Lodhi said the country’s security institutions were fully committed to establishing peace and to countering terrorism in the country, and, therefore, all foreign students in madrasas were being registered after security clearance by the Interior Department.
The committee directed that in order to bring harmony and restore peace among different communities, no criminal should be spared punishment On the Gojra incident, the committee advised the Ministry of Interior and Gojra district administration to ascertain any connections of the criminals with any agency, party or group.The committee also took up Shazia rape case in Faisalabad, and the killing of nine people in police station Chatyana. With regard to Gojra incident and rape of Shazia, the committee decided that Ministry of Human Rights secretary will discuss the issue with the Lahore High Court chief justice to expedite the cases. The committee enquired as the Anti Terrorism Court (ATC) Ordinance 1997 had lapsed what steps had the Ministry of Interior taken to restore it. The committee stated that it desired to create an environment for the application of universal principles of equality and social justice, as well as constitutional and international rights, and uplift of the workers and the labour force of Pakistan.
The NA panel expressed displeasure that the working conditions of the labourers had not been satisfactory and that was deplorable. The provincial labour departments represent only the employers and not the workers. The labour departments had been involved in corruption. Long working hours and poor working conditions are the normal features of a significant number of work places. A number of them also carry economic, social and health hazards.
The committee noted that 36 conventions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) had been recognised by Pakistan, and these conventions should be brought in line with the national laws, by considering, ethical, economic, social, cultural and ethnic values of Pakistan. As labour laws were mainly functions of the provincial government, they should be implemented in letter and spirit. The committee had a detailed discussion on child labour and urged that remedial measures be taken against it.
ECP
MULTAN, Oct 15th:The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) wrote letters to 428 lawmakers asking them to immediately submit the required documents to the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to help it complete the process of verification of degrees, a private TV channel reported on Thursday. The letters had been written soon after the ECP received communication from the HEC, saying that the verification of the degrees of lawmakers’ was not possible without the provision of their Matriculation and Intermediate certificates and copies of their computerised National Identity Cards, the channel reported.

CHILD ABUSE CASES
MULTAN,Oct 15th: The number of child abuse cases have been rapidly growing in Pakistan due to a lack of proper preventive and protective measures adopted by the government, as well as the parents, Sahil, a non-government organisation (NGO) working for children’s rights, said on Thursday, at a press conference held at the Lahore Press Club.
Child abuse is a global phenomenon and the developed nations had adopted strict measures to protect their children from such incidents as they could ruin a person’s entire life, a Sahil representative, Iftikhar Mubarak and other officials said. The victims of child abuse had to face many complex psychological problems throughout their lives, they added.
According to a study conducted by the NGO, a break up analysis of gender continued to show that the number of female reported cases of child sexual abuse were higher than the male cases.
Out of a total of 1,216 cases reported in six months, 331 boys, where as 885 girls had been sexually abused, and the percentage of the female cases was 72 percent as compared to 28 percent of male cases.The six months’ data further showed that the children had been sexually abused in different crime categories, with the highest number of cases recorded in the category of abduction for sexual purposes for girls, whereas the boys had been mainly abused in the crime category of sodomy, followed by gang sodomy, abduction for sexual purposes, and attempt of sodomy, among other similar cases.
However, after abduction for sexual purposes, the girls had been mainly abused in the category of rape, gang rape, attempt of rape, among other similar cases. A total of 125 cases were reported in which the children had been sexually abused after abduction. A total of 55 cases were of children being murdered after sexual assault. A wide range of abusers had been reported to victimise children. According to the statistics, a total of 2,425 abusers have sexually assaulted 1,216 children.
81 percent of the abusers had been acquaintances, people who were known to the victim or their family, whereas 19 percent had been strangers. Among strangers only 0.6 percent, that is 16 abusers had been identified as robbers and dacoits. The rest were only mentioned as strangers. Among acquaintances, the description of 67 percent abusers had not been specified.
However, a total of 14 percent had been specified as neighbours, relatives, immediate family members, teachers, police, clerics, among others. Among these, 2.2 percent had been relatives and 0.5 percent immediate family members. Acquaintances also included 3 percent (79) female abettors, that is, females who had accompanied the abusers in committing the crime. These females are usually involved in the kidnapping of a child for sexual purposes. According to details of the acquaintance’s category of the total 1,635 abusers, 120 had been neighbours, 79 were female abettor, 54 were relatives, 15 were immediate family members, 12 were influential people, 10 were teachers, seven were police and seven were clerics.
11-15 years age bracket had the highest number of cases, that is, 283. This shows the age group, most vulnerable to sexual abuse for both boys and girls. However, the ages of as many as 46 percent cases had not been reported in the newspapers at all. The geographical breakdown of the cases continued to show that the majority of cases had been reported in Punjab, with as many as 75 percent, which was one third of total cases. Sindh follows with second highest number of reported cases with 18 percent, followed by Islamabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The reported cases showed that a higher number of incidents had taken place in rural areas.As many as 73 percent cases had occurred in rural areas, whereas 27 percent had taken place in urban areas. The place of an abuse table showed a wide range of places where children had been sexually abused, from inside the victim’s own house to open places like fields, streets, canal banks, gardens, graveyards, among others. This supported the fact that child abuse could take place anywhere and no place is safe for children.
The highest number, that is 193 cases had taken place at the acquaintances’ house, which was about 15 percent of the total. The statistics showed that most of the abuse cases, about 64 percent, were one-offs, in contrast to 10 percent cases, where the victims had been sexually assaulted for a longer period of time. This long-term abuse included assault for a period of one day, one week, one month, six months and more than six months.