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| July 31, 2007 | Tuesday | Rajab 15, 1428 |
KARACHI: Council bans functions in public parks
KARACHI, July 30: The City Council on Monday adopted a resolution imposing a ban on holding of functions in public parks run by the city government. However, the city council bar does not extend to official gatherings.
The resolution calling for the ban was moved by the treasury benches and adopted unanimously in a session held under the chairmanship of Masood Mehmood, the senior presiding officer of the City Council.
The resolution stated that the ban would help ensure a better management of the public parks meant for recreation.
Leader of the opposition Al-Khidmat Group Rafiq Ahmed caused the treasury members to see red when he asked for a ban on setting up of party offices in the public parks and pointed out that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) had offices established in several parks.
The governing Haq Parast Group, backed by the MQM, reacted angrily to the allegation and managed to shout down the opposition member and his supporters.
Several treasury members leapt to their feet and made sarcastic remarks against the Al-Khidmat leader and former city nazim Niamatullah Khan.
Refusing to be cowed down by such remarks, Mr Ahmed said no party or group should be allowed to use a public park for its political activities.
Leader of the House Asif Siddiqui told the chair that the opposition leader was trying to politicise what was an absolutely non-political matter.
The chair intervened and expunged the “offending remarks”, advising members to maintain the decorum of the house. The resolution was then put to the vote and unanimously adopted.
The opposition benches also moved a resolution and the treasury side supported it without much argument, perhaps to the surprise of the movers.
The resolution welcomed the reinstatement of Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and paid tribute to the valiant struggle of the lawyers, political parties, media and other civil society organisations.
The presiding officer, however, did not allow the opposition to move a resolution on the Lal Masjid issue.
Earlier, when the house resumed its proceedings, Ms Rukhsana of the Awam Dost Group drew the chair’s attention to the deteriorating law and order situation in Lyari.
She said that the gravity of the situation could be gauged from the fact that the UC-6 Kalri-Shah Beg Lane Nazim, Abdul Majid Baloch, could not leave his house to attend the session. Claiming that his life was in danger, she stated that Mr Baloch had been receiving threats from the criminals who had been holding people hostage.
She deplored that these criminal elements had been given a freehand to terrorise and extort people, especially shopkeepers, in the area.
Ms Rukhsana urged the house to take up the issue seriously, adding that the police had totally failed to maintain law and order in the area.
The Nazim of UC-5 Mehmoodabad, Jamshed Town, Saeed Baghpati, told the house that the town administration had stopped the secretary concerned from signing the UC’s cheques as a result of which payments pertaining to utility bills, councillors’ honoraria, etc could not be made. This had rendered the UC non-functional for 120 days, he added.
He maintained that since a secretary was appointed by the provincial government, it seemed that he was not signing the cheques under the instructions of the higher authorities.
The City Council also took up other issues, including lapse of opposition members’ funds, by-laws for the poultry industry and auctioning of stalls at the Zoological Garden.
Al-Khidmat members Rafique Ahmed, Abdul Rasheed Baig, Junaid Makati and Mohammad Islam demanded that members be allowed sufficient time to study the draft by-laws on poultry business. They also demanded that a representative of the City Council be added to the members of the auction committee to ensure transparency.
Treasury members Mohammad Asif Siddqui, Abdul Jalil, Sulman Baloch and others raised no objection to the demands and the proposals were accepted by the treasury side.
Shamim Mumtaz took up the issue of the provincial education department’s failure to achieve progress on the District Evolved Education Board (DEEB), quoting reports that except for procuring 18 vehicles for Rs346 million provided by the Asian Development Bank three years back, nothing had been done by the department which forced the ADB to wind up the project.
The chair held out the assurance that a proper inquiry would be conducted into the matter.
Mohammad Islam criticised the Community Welfare Department’s performance, indicating that not a single meeting was convened by it over the past 18 months despite the requests having been made to the relevant committee’s chairman, Mohibuddin Fatmi.
Mr Fatmi maintained that he had received no such requests, and told the house that the board’s meeting would be convened soon.
The council also condoled the death of former MNA Hasan Musanna, poet Hakim Mohammad Nasir and councillor Kaniz Sughra Baji.
The house will now meet on Aug 4.
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