January 04, 2008	Friday	Zilhaj 24, 1428

KARACHI, Jan 3: Caretaker Chief Minister Justice (Retd) Abdul Quadir Halepota has said that the government is carrying out a survey of losses caused to the private and public properties in the province in the aftermath of the Liaquat Bagh tragedy on Dec 27.

Talking to media people after presiding over a high-level meeting here on Thursday, he held out the assurance that the government would suitably compensate the losses once the survey was completed.

In reply to a question, he said that 200 people arrested during the violence in the province had already been released while the cases of others, including journalists, were under a review. He said he would see to it that no innocent person was kept in detention or implicated in a false case.

Chairing the high-level meeting earlier, the chief minister noted with satisfaction that no untoward incident had taken place during the last two days in Sindh, and observed that the situation had fully returned to normal.

He, however, directed the authorities concerned to take all necessary measures in the light of the president’s directive in order to maintain peace and harmony across the province. “No one should be allowed to disturb law and order, he added.

Referring to the revised schedule for general elections, he impressed upon all the officials concerned to make all necessary arrangements for ensuring free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections.

He particularly directed the police to ensure safety and security of citizens’ life and property and formulate a strategy for maintaining complete peace so that the violent incidents witnessed last week did not happen again.

Separately the chief minister presided over a meeting of the education officials where a strategy for improving the quality of education was discussed.

‘Losses in trillions’

The Jamaat-i-Islami has said that the losses caused to public and private properties in the violence that swept through the country with the assassination of PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto on Dec 27 ran into trillions and its impact had been felt right from Chitral up to Gwadar.

“It was a deep-rooted conspiracy hatched against the country’s solidarity and cohesion,” Liaquat Baloch, a central JI leader said here on Thursday.

Mr Baloch is visiting the metropolis to have an assessment of the losses caused by miscreants who resorted to looting and plunder, besides setting banks, petrol pumps, buildings, factories and vehicles on fire soon after Ms Bhutto’s assassination. The arson and looting spree continued unabated on the following two days.

The JI leader said that the situation in various districts of Punjab was no different during those days.

He said he visited industrial areas of Manghopir and Site soon after arriving in Karachi and observed that a large number of small factories and big industrial units had been reduced to ashes.

He was of the view that political workers would never resort to indulging in loot and plunder on such occasions. “The event was, however, the premiere of a model Pervez Musharraf wants to promote in Pakistan in the name of enlightened society,” he remarked.

He said that the Liaquat Bagh tragedy would be haunting the country for long but its fallout was even more painful as the widespread violence had rendered a large number of workers jobless.

Expressing solidarity with all victims of violence, he said had the Muttahida Qaumi Movement come to their rescue, they would not have suffered such the huge losses.

Other JI leaders, Prof Ghafoor Ahmed, Asadullah Bhutto, Mairajul Huda Siddiqui, Mohammad Hussain Mehanti, Naeem Malik and Arif Khan, were present on the occasion.