FAISALABAD: Faisalabad Passport Office is the only place in the city where money is demanded openly by agents for getting passports issued. These agents are not afraid of police or the passport-issuing authorities because they are their godfathers. So clash with an agent invites anger and fury of the passport officials who raise unreasonable objections to applications.
Muhammad Ismail, a resident of Shahbaz Town, Jhang Road, went to the passport office along with his family and children. An agent Amjad Ali took Rs 4,500 from Ismail for the perusal of his case. Despite receiving the bribe for a ‘speedy service’, the family was forced to stand in a queue for hours and when they were about to reach the counter, the agent asked for more money. They obviously refused and the angry agent threatened them that their papers would be returned by the counter clerk with an objection in case they did not pay more money. The arguments ended up on a fist fight. Ismail said a group of agents snatched NADRA form-B, original payment receipts and all relevant documents from them and escaped.
The Civil Lines police registered a case under sections 149, 420 and 384 of PPC against Amjad Ali, Muhammad Nadeem, Rana Muhammad Tauseef, Khawaja Naseer, Tahir Saleem, Mushtaq, Iqbal Shah, Sadaqat Ali, Liaqat Ali, Afghan Butt, Iqbal, Khalid Basra, Faizur Rehman, Nazeer Ahmed Mian Saleem, Shahbaz, Muhammad Mudassar, Amjad Ali, Aslam, Naeem Ali, Akram, Rana Javed, Ilyas, Abbas Hussain and others.
TMA will organise cultural fair: A two-day cultural fair is being organised under the patronage of Iqbal Town municipal administration.
The cultural extravaganza will be held on February 13-14 at Cattle Market ground near Samundari Road. Town Administrator Zaheer Anwar has confirmed that Divisional Commissioner Tahir Hussain and District Coordination Officer (DCO) Naseem Sadiq will be the chief guests at the inaugural ceremony. He said competitions of tent pegging, horse dance, jhumer (local group dance) and other colourful and variety programmes would be held.
IGP takes notice of flawed investigation: Punjab Inspector General Police (IGP) Javed Iqbal has taken a serious notice of the low rate of convictions in the courts in Faisalabad owing to flawed investigations in serious crimes like murders and robberies.
The Punjab police chief has issued orders to provide suitable training to investigation officers and their subordinates to improve the standard of investigation. He was responding to a report according to which during the 2009-2010 417 under-trial prisoners involved in serious cases of murder, kidnapping for ransom and robbery were acquitted by courts for incompetent investigations, clumsy identification parade of criminals and reconciliation between the parties. The figures show that out of a total 417 cases, 131 cases were dismissed as eyewitnesses backed out while 286 could not be convicted on account of substantial flaws in investigations.
The analytical report, based on a two-year study of acquitted cases of serious nature, further states that in 15 cases of robbery the accused walk out of courts due to improper identification parades leading to the benefit of the doubt in favour of the accused. In other miscellaneous cases, 22 cases of murder, 37 of robbery and four cases of kidnapping for ransom were disposed of due to poor, incompetent and unprofessional investigation. Moreover, the accused in 129 murder cases and two cases of kidnapping for ransom came out of courts unpunished as eyewitnesses in these cases backed out. The IGP has expressed serious reservations over lack of legal action against such eyewitnesses and the incompetent investigation officers creating a deliberate loophole to save the culprits.
Call to induct Waseer in federal cabinet: Jaranwala People’s Youth Organisation (PYO) has demanded the government induct MNA Malik Nawab Sher Waseer in the federal cabinet. Addressing a meeting held under the chairmanship of PYO President Rana Naseem Aslam, speakers said during the general elections 2008, Nawab Sher Waseer had proved that Jaranwala was Benazir Bhutto’s mini-Larkana as he was elected an MNA from this area on the ticket of PPP by defeating former law minister Wasi Zafar and former district Nazim Ch Zahid Nazeer. They demanded the government make Malik Nawab Sher Waseer a federal minister in recognition of his dedicated services rendered not only for PPP but also for the people of Jaranwala. They said his induction in the cabinet would go a long way in promoting the cause of the party in the region.
