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MUZAFFARABAD, Oct 6: A former councillor and leader of an opposition party here on Friday demanded that army installations be moved out of the municipal limits of Muzaffarabad to its peripheries and suggested that the vacated land should be allotted to the capital’s landless survivors.
“This will amicably resolve the gigantic problem of rehabilitation of landless survivors from the capital’s hardest-hit areas,” said Anjam Nisar Mir, president People’s Muslim League city chapter.
If the present government was truly worried about rehabilitation of the quake victims, it should prove that with its actions and not mere words, he added.
According to the PML leader, it was unfair to ask people born and brought up in the city to move out to areas which were yet to be properly identified by the government, let alone acquired and developed.
He said the army possessed prime locations within the municipal limits and it was ironical that while some government functionaries were repeatedly talking about shifting a sizeable portion of civilian population to the so-called satellite towns, none of them was mustering up courage to suggest shifting of the army installations.
The PML leader, who is a lawyer by profession, made it clear that he was not against the institution of the army, but was making a logical demand which had been already voiced by a number of people.
He said not only army installations but also the residences of top government functionaries should be relocated to the proposed new settlements.
MUSHARRAF’S VISIT: High-grade security was put in place in the AJK capital on Friday ahead of President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s visit to the ruined town to attend a ceremony marking the anniversary of last year’s earthquake.
Tens of hundreds of army jawans and AJK police personnel had been deployed right from Kohala to Muzaffarabad city and its surroundings to meet any eventuality.
“The security is extraordinary tight, particularly in the wake of the Islamabad incident,” a police officer told Dawn, referring to recovery of rocket launchers from the presidency and parliament building in the federal capital.
After landing in Muzaffarabad at about 8:30am, the president would drive straightaway to the University College Ground where he would inaugurate a memorial which the AJK public works department officials were seen giving finishing touches on Friday.
Located in Muzaffarabad’s central part, University College Ground had turned into a major dwelling of survivors soon after the earthquake. However, the camp was packed by the authorities to revive the original position of the playground.
The president is also expected to address a gathering in the University College Ground where according to an official notification attendance of all capital-based government employees has been made mandatory.
However, officials said the audience will have to go through unusually strict security check-up before entering the ground from the rear gate. Media persons and officials on duty were also directed to obtain security passes from the Special Branch to perform their duties.
President Musharraf would also visit the campus which Turkish officials have indicated is likely to be inaugurated by their Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
