November 18, 2006	Saturday	Shawwal 25, 1427

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LAHORE, Nov 17: Maximum provincial autonomy with necessary steps for the security of people, restoration of genuine democracy by holding transparent elections and end to the military rule was demanded to resolve the current political crisis at a day-long discussion on ‘Provincial autonomy and human security’ on Friday.

The discussion was held by a foreign NGO, Heinrich Boll Foundation, in collaboration with the HRCP, South Asia Partners, Pakistan chapter, Aurat Foundation and Takhleeq Foundation at the HRCP auditorium.

Four sessions with panels of experts from four provinces, Azad Kashmir, FATA and PATA were held. Political analysts, HRCP director I A Rehman and Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi, opened the discussion.

The speakers pointed out that Pakistan was under internal and external threats, disharmony among the provinces, conflict on sharing of national resources, terrorism, ‘unconstitutional, illegal and undemocratic military rule’, Talibanisation of the NWFP and some parts of Balochistan, depoliticisation of society by supporting the non-political forces, culture of sectarianism and religious extremism, feudalism in Sindh and south Punjab.

The speakers from Balochistan, Sindh and the NWFP said the government policies were forcing them to the point of no return and urged the people of Punjab to support their just demands and save the federation. They referred to the Gwadar port development neglecting the interests of the local people and the problems of the fisher folks, hazardous effect of nuclear fall out at Chaghai, danger to the public health of uranium extraction in the tribal belt of Dera Ghazi and Dera Ismael Khan, honour killing and jirga culture in Sindh, violence against women, water shortage in Sindh and the sentiments of its people against the Kalabagh dam and Greater Thal Canal projects, division of Hyderabad on ethnic lines and its repercussions, curbs on media, particularly in tribal areas and murder of two journalists, the role of ISI and the military in FATA, overall situation in Azad Kashmir, problems of youth and the struggle of peasants in Punjab.

Dr Rizvi said the state should provide equal protection of law and equal access to law and state machinery to the people to redress their grievances. It should also provide socio-economic security, education, healthcare, protection against poverty and under-development, minimum civic facilities and employment or protection against unemployment, equal citizenship for all irrespective of religion, caste, region and gender.

He said lack of people’s participation in political process, lack of political continuity, repeated military interventions, growing socio-economic disparities, price hike and unemployment were adversely affecting the people. Solution of all these issues lay in people’s participation in political process through fair and free elections and consensus building through a dialogue.

SAP director Tehseen Ahmad said the purpose of the discussion was to highlight the problems of the people of various regions of Pakistan.

He hoped that similar discussions would be held in future in other parts of the country to provide an opportunity to the civil society activists, intellectuals and political and social workers to understand each others’ point of view on the national issues and how to resolve them.

Besides Dr Rizvi, the speakers included Shah Muhammad Marri, Khuda Bux Baloch, journalist Ms Nargis Baloch from Balochistan, former MNA from FATA Latif Afridi, woman activist Razia Ajmal, the late journalist Hayatullah’s brother Ehsanullah, Gul Rehman from NWFP, playwright Noorul Huda Shah, Zulfiqar Halepoto, Ayaz Latif and Sarmad Karnani from Sindh, I A Rehman, Abrar Haqqani, Ms Rubina Albert and Muhammad Sadiq from Punjab, Azad Kashmir Assembly Speaker Shah Ghulam Qadir and Ms Saima of Heinrich Boll Foundation.