August 25, 2008	Monday	Sha'aban 22, 1429

ATTOCK, Aug 24: District Nazim Tahir Sadiq Khan has announced that he and all six tehsil nazims and naib nazims of the district will donate their one month’s salary for the families of the victims of suicide attacks at Pakistan Ordinance Factories (POF), Wah Cantonment.

This he announced while addressing a press conference at a local hotel, which was also attended by his like-minded tehsil and union council nazims. He condemned the terrorist attacks in which a large number of poor POF workers were killed and injured.

He criticised the district administration of Attock for what he said its bureaucratic and anti-public attitude and described as zero the overall performance of the ruling members of national and provincial assemblies from Attock.

The nazim also criticised the policies of the government for giving more powers to the bureaucracy for their personal political goals which is against the public interests as it always creates unnecessary hurdles in the welfare and prosperity of the masses.

He said people were facing hardship in resolving their problems as they cannot meet the district coordination officer due to bureaucratic restrictions. He alleged that unnecessary hurdles were being created in the functioning of the district government but he was not afraid of such tactics as the district had its own house of elected representatives to run the business of the local government.

He said except issuing press statements and assurances, the MNAs and MPAs from the Attock district had failed to initiate any major development project and launch welfare programmes despite the passage of six months.

Referring to his performance, Mr Tahir claimed that massive development projects had been initiated during the last seven years under which Rs1,300 million were spent on provision of electricity in far-flung areas.

He said hundreds of unemployed youth were also provided jobs during the period. Similarly, millions of rupees were spent on construction of new dams, colleges, schools and public parks and other public-friendly projects at the district.

While defending the recruitments in different district government departments, he said all inductions had been made on the approval of former chief minister Punjab without any violation of rules.

“Moreover, no embezzlement case has been proved against me as I have no financial powers,” he claimed.

He said Pervez Musharraf had resigned in the best interest of the nation.

After the resignation, the rulers should have restored the deposed judges as now they have no excuse in this regard. However, they still seem reluctant to do so.

He said despite having a free hand, the coalition government has failed on all fronts as there is no rule of law and the life of the common man has become miserable.

TAXILA: The Punjab government on Sunday distributed compensatory cheques among the families of victims of Thursday’s suicide blasts at POF, Wah Cantonment.

District Coordination Officer Rawalpindi Jamal Mustafa on behalf of the provincial government issued cheques worth Rs0.5 to the heirs of 66 victims killed during the blasts, at the office of deputy district officer revenue Wah Cantt. Later, he visited POF Hospital and personally delivered cheques for Rs100,000 to each of the 109 injured.

It may be mentioned that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had announced the compensation during his visit to the hospital on Thursday evening.

Later, addressing the family members of the victims, Mr Mustafa said the compensatory grant cannot heal the sufferings of the affected families but it would help minimise their financial complications.

The federal government and POF administration is likely to issue cheques to the victims on Monday.