June 30, 2003	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 29,1424

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LARKANA, June 29: The Larkana District Council, after winding up the budget discussion on Saturday, unanimously adopted a resolution against the Thal canal construction.

It demanded that the government should stop construction of the Thal canal and the Punjab irrigation minister should tender an apology for his abusive statement against those protesting over the construction of the controversial canal.

Four members of the council, Badar Abbasi, Manzoor Chandio, Amir Bakhsh Gaad and Khair Mohammad Shaikh, tabled identical resolutions, demanding that the canal project should be shelved.

Moving his resolution, Mr Abbasi said the amount allocated for the Thal canal project should be given to Sindh for improving its irrigation system.

He said all the water sources of the country should be calculated and distributed equally among the provinces. He said there were 169,618 tube-wells in Punjab but Sindh had only 68,000, adding that 90 per cent of the tube-wells in Punjab were functional and 70 per cent tube-wells in Sindh were working.

He also criticized Sindh’s officers and elected representatives for failing to fight the case of the province.

Mr Chandio said shortage of water downstream Kotri over the years had not only played havoc with the sea life but thousands of acres of land in Badin and Thatta districts had also been eroded. He said this situation had affected 22 creeks of sea.

Khair Mohammad, Amir Bakhsh Gaad, Ms Khurshid Khatyan, Barkat Shaikh, Ayoub Ansari, Abdul Qadir Sangi and Aijaz Leghari also participated in the discussion.

Earlier in the budget discussion, Badar Abbasi said Rs3 million allocated for the local ombudsman’s office had been cut and placed in general pool to be utilized in urgent needs. He said Rs15 million allocated to clear liabilities of the district council was also cut. This amount would be distributed among union councils of the district.

An amount of Rs1.2 million was allocated for members’ country-wide tours.

Speaking on the occasion, Bagi union council Nazim Muhib Pirzado criticized the district government for not earmarking funds to look after the site of Moenjodaro.

The district Nazim said the Sindh government had allocated Rs15 million for setting up an open-air theatre in Larkana and Rs6.5 million for strengthening banks of the Rice Canal, passing through the city.

He told the council that the Sindh government had also earmarked Rs95 million for building a road from Larkana to Ratodero via Thoof Chausool.

Nazeer Ahmad Bughio, who chaired the two sessions, prorogued the meeting after the budget and the anti-Thal canal resolution were approved.

SEMINAR: : The secretary general, Amnesty International (AI), Pakistan chapter, Iqbal Detho, has urged the government to ratify the agreement regarding convention against torture and the International Criminal Code.

Speaking as the chief guest at a seminar, held here the other day to mark the international day in support of victims of torture, he said that over 130 countries had already ratified the convention against torture that was adopted on June 26, 1987 and called Pakistan to sign it.

He said that Pakistan should also ratify the International Criminal Code adopted on July 1, 2002.

He said that not only state but non-state actors would also inflict torture in various ways.

He referred to armed political groups that had been brutally committing such crime.

Mr Iqbal alleged that opponents were tortured and eliminated by using non-state armed groups.

He said when law enforcers could deviate from respecting the laws, what did they expect from the common people.

He flayed the double standards being followed by the US which called itself “a champion of human rights” but it remained involved in torturing people in the imposed war on Iraq and Afghanistan.