September 25, 2008	Thursday	Ramazan 24, 1429

MUZAFFARABAD, Sept 24: Hundreds of people staged demonstration hardly 100 yards away from the private residence of AJK Prime Minister Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan in Ghaziabad village on Wednesday to demand cancellation of recent “unlawful and out of merit” appointments of primary teachers, witnesses said.

“Down with inefficient prime minister, down with the education department,” chanted the demonstrators who also staged a symbolic sit-in on the main highway, linking Muzaffarabad with Bagh and Poonch districts.

The demonstrators also intercepted public transport vehicles but only for brief durations to avoid inconvenience to the travellers in the holy month, witnesses said.

The demonstration was spearheaded by Raja Sajjad Ahmed, secretary information of opposition Peoples Muslim League and Major (retired) Latif Khalique, a former electoral candidate of Jamaat-i-Islami, who had also organised similar protest rallies on September 5 and 12 in the town of Dhirkot on this issue.

Prime Minister Sardar Attique is in the United States on an official tour but his father and veteran leader Sardar Abdul Qayyum Khan was in Ghaziabad when the demonstration was held near the family's residence.

Witnesses said Mr Qayyum sent an invitation to the leaders of the demonstration for talks but they rejected after consulting with each other.

Large contingents of police called in from Bagh, Rawalakot and Dhirkot were present in the area but demonstration ended peacefully.

Speaking on the occasion, Raja Sajjad, also former vice chairman of the AJK Bar Council, asked the prime minister to “read the writing on the wall” and undo the wrongdoings and malpractices of his government.

“The demonstration outside the residence of prime minister is a clear message that if the grievances of the people are not addressed they can go to any extreme step,” he warned.

Mr Ahmed maintained that the government jobs were not the entitlement of any particular group, tribe or area but they were to be filled in from among entire state subjects on the basis of merit.

“They (prime minister's family) claim that they had liberated this territory. Our reservations to it notwithstanding, we ask if they had done so to practice nepotism and deprive the deserving persons of their basic rights,” he questioned.

Mr Ahmed warned the government to cancel the “appointments (made) on the basis of nepotism” otherwise a serious law and order situation could arise in the region.

He also announced that he had gathered substantial evidence of favouritism in the recruitment process and would shortly challenge it in the high court.

In his address, Mr Khalique said the residents of Dhirkot could not be cowed and would fight the “corruption of the regime tooth and nail.”

He said not only the ‘out of merit’ appointments of primary teachers should be cancelled but also corrupt practices in local government and other departments should be stopped forthwith. The last installment of housing grant should also be paid to the owners of damaged houses without further ado, he added.