February 5, 2006	Sunday	Muharram 6, 1427

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MUZAFFARABAD, Feb 4: Annoyed over what they term humiliating process adopted by some government officials for disbursement of compensation money, survivors of the Oct 8 earthquake from downtown Muzaffarabad on Saturday decided to stage a protest demonstration on Sunday, coinciding with the visit of President Pervez Musharraf to the AJK capital.

The decision was taken at a meeting in Madina Market, the worst hit part of the city, where the affected people formed an action committee for the protection of their rights with businessman Ghulam Mustafa Lala as its patron and lawyer Shaukat Ghanai president.

Talking to journalists after the meeting, Mr Ghanai lamented that the residents of main old city were the worst victims of the earthquake but no one was paying attention to their grievances.

“We have knocked on every door, from civilian authorities to high ranking army officials, but our calls seem to be falling on deaf ears. The so called official committee constituted for the main old city is constantly rubbing salt on our wounds,” he said.

Mr Ghanai said the affected people had been compelled to stage a protest demonstration to raise their voice before Gen Musharraf.

“We want Gen Musharraf to know that some unscrupulous elements are bringing bad name to his sincere efforts for the rehabilitation of earthquake survivors under the nose of his senior commanders,” he said.

Mr Ghanai pointed out that even those people had been accommodated beyond their legitimate share whose houses were liveable but those who had lost everything and were living in tents or rented accommodations were being told to accept the so called rules.

He said his group had collected evidence of violation of rules by officials.