Marvi Memon On Flood Reprt

             

Dawn
June 8, 2011
SC orders implementation of flood inquiry reportBy Nasir Iqbal | From the Newspaper
June 8, 2011 (4 days ago)ISLAMABAD, June 7: The Supreme Court ordered the federal and provincial governments on Tuesday to implement in letter and spirit the findings of the report issued by the flood inquiry commission and submit fortnightly compliance reports.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Tariq Parvez and Justice Amir Hani Muslim had taken notice of breaches in canal embankments on letters written by renowned lawyer Fakhruddin G. Ebrahim and Deputy Chairman of the Senate Jan Mohammad Khan Jamali and a petition moved by PML-Q MNA Marvi Memon, Dr Asad Laghari, Mohammad Rahim Baloch and Advocate Zahida Thebo.

The four-man flood inquiry commission headed by Mohammad Azam Khan, former chief secretary of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, was constituted on the orders of the Supreme Court to look into the allegation of breach made in Tori dyke to divert floodwaters to Balochistan to save the Shahbaz Airbase at Jacobabad and other breaches in embankments of barrages and canals during floods last year.

On Monday, the inquiry commission submitted a comprehensive report which stated that Tori bund had suffered years of neglect in maintenance that eroded its height to a dangerous level long before the flood season last year.

The report said the nation suffered a loss of Rs855 billion, besides complete loss of one additional Rabi crop in Jaffarabad district of Balochistan, because of inefficiency and corruption in the irrigation departments of Sindh and Balochistan. The gross loss to the nation was almost 5.8 per cent of the GDP.

The report recommended legal proceedings against officials in charge of irrigation structures for inefficiency, negligence or corrupt practices identified in departmental inquiries and said that the then Sindh irrigation secretary and the chief engineer at Guddu were well aware of the poor state of Tori bund long before the flood and they had adequate time, but failed to take corrective actions.

The report said the chief engineer and irrigation secretary consciously and deliberately tried to attribute disaster to inadequate maintenance and funding constraints. Likewise, the superintending engineer and executive engineer in charge of the breached bunds in Guddu and Kotri command areas were also responsible for the catastrophe, it added.

The report did not rule out the possibility that certain elements within the irrigation hierarchies misled the political leadership about benefits of creation of additional water storages.

The report called for a comprehensive disaster risk management plan to be developed by the National Disaster Management Authority and said a reliable system must contemplate reducing exposure, issuing early warning and strengthening resilience of the affected people before the onset of the calamity and later in restoration stages.

The Express Tribune
June 8, 2011
ISLAMABAD: 
The Supreme Court (SC) directed that action be taken against officials responsible for failing to reinforce embankments of canals and ordered the federal and provincial governments to implement the recommendations of the flood inquiry commission in letter and spirit.

The order was passed by a three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, comprising Justice Tariq Parvez and Justice Amir Hani Muslim. The court observed that the government is responsible for failing to protect the fundamental right of life and liberty of the people, therefore it is directed to ensure payment of the remaining amount pledged to flood survivors which amounts to Rs80,000 per family as soon as possible. The floods inflicted a loss of Rs855 billion to the national economy.

The flood commission fixed responsibility for the dykes’ breaches and declared that negligent and corrupt officials contributed to the loss of life and devastation caused by the floods. Irrigation departments of Sindh and Balochistan were held responsible for breaching embankments which caused an unprecedented loss of life and property in the floods which engulfed Pakistan in a 200-page report presented to the apex court on Monday. In the Punjab, officials failed to ensure pre-flood preparations, including mandatory stocking of loose stones to plug potential breaches and to carry out repair and maintenance in accordance with the flood protection plan for 2010.The SC had constituted the commission to investigate allegations regarding the unauthorised diversion of floodwater and deliberate breaches in the embankments of barrages and canals by influential people to save their lands during last year’s floods.

Well-connected locals encroached thousands of acres of land in katcha areas. Local and provincial governments also built encroachments and in some cases sold the land at nominal price. Among those directly responsible for failing to reinforce Tori bund and consequently inundating three districts of Sindh as well as the Jaffarabad district of Balochistan are the irrigation secretary Sindh, Guddu’s chief engineer, the XEN in charge and their staff, according to the report. The commission recommended that illegally constructed structures on government land, which had been destroyed by the recent floods, should not be allowed to be rebuilt. Provincial chief secretaries will be responsible for implementing court orders and a compliance report will be submitted every fortnight. The chief justice ordered that the commission’s recommendations be made public.

The flood inquiry commission, headed by Muhammad Azam Khan, comprising Fateh Khan Khajjak, AW Kazi and Zaheer Ahmed was tasked with finding answers to a set of questions related to the maintenance of the embankments and dyke breaches to protect the estates of politically prominent landowners. The chief justice had taken suo motu notice on letters from Justice (retd) Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, Deputy Chairman Senate Jan Muhammad Khan Jamali amongst others. Marvi Memon had also petitioned the SC to investigate the issue and expedite the repair of embankments.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 8th, 2011.

The News
Floods 2010: irrigation depts’ corruption caused havoc
Sohail Khan
Tuesday, June 07, 2011

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday ordered making public the findings of the Flood Inquiry Commission that has revealed a colossal loss of Rs855 billion to the national economy at the hands of the Irrigation departments of Sindh and Balochistan during the devastating floods of July 2010.

The court has also announced that the orders for implementation of the recommendations made by the commission in its report would be announced today (Tuesday). The order was passed by a three-member bench of the apex court, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Tariq Parvez and Justice Amir Hani Muslim. The bench was hearing a case pertaining to the alleged unauthorised diversion of floodwater and willful breaches in the embankments of barrages and canals by influential people to save their lands during the devastating 2010 floods.

The Flood Inquiry Commission submitted its 200-page final report in the Supreme Court, revealing that the negligence of the Irrigation departments of Sindh and Balochistan had caused a colossal loss of Rs855 billion to the national economy during the devastating floods of 2010.

After taking the report, the court ordered that the report be translated into Urdu and made public. The court held that orders for implementation of the commission’s recommendations would be announced on Tuesday.

According to the report, 1,600 people lost their lives and thousands were injured. Almost 4.5 million people lost their jobs, mostly in the farming sector. The Rabi crops for 2010-11 were badly affected and 20 million people became internally displaced persons (IDPs) and 7.0 million students were deprived of their academic session. The report said the encroachments contributed to obstructions in the flow of water resulting in flooding of many areas.

On December 15, 2010, the apex court had constituted the Flood Inquiry Commission, headed by Muhammad Azam Khan and comprising Fateh Khan Khajjak, A.W Kazi and Kh Zaheer Ahmed, to investigate the damages caused by the 2010 flood that engulfed Pakistan and caused unprecedented damage to life and property.

The Supreme Court had taken suo motu notice of the matter on the letters of renowned lawyer Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, Deputy Chairman Senate Jan Muhammad Khan Jamali, Dr Asad Leghari, Muhammad Rahim Baloch and advocate Zahida Thebo, requesting the chief justice to probe the matter of breaches in dykes and unauthorised diversion of floodwaters by influential people to save their lands.

Later, Marvi Memon, a PML-Q MNA, had also filed a petition on the matter. Memon requested that the court order the government to explain the reasons behind breaches in the dykes, canals and other irrigation infrastructure in Sindh and Balochistan during the floods.

“Thousands of acres of ‘katcha’ lands have been illegally encroached upon by local influentials or have been leased out at nominal charges, resulting in erection of private bunds. Construction of houses and other built-up properties has been allowed along riverbanks and canals. The local and provincial governments have themselves indulged in encouraging illegal acts promoting encroachments,” the report said.

The Commission recommended that it should be ensured that all the illegally-constructed structures on government lands, which had been destroyed by the recent floods, should not be allowed to be re-erected. It noted that some governments sold out their acquired lands in pond areas to raise revenue, while under the law, no construction of any infrastructure was allowed to be erected within a distance of 200 feet from banks of the river/streams.

The report noted had the Munda Dam been constructed, there would have been minimal damage downstream in Charsadda, Peshawar and Nowshera districts and Munda Headworks. The report further observed that the Tori Bund had not been repaired for the last many years.

According to the report, the flood loss is estimated at 5.8 percent of the total GDP and about 20 million people faced an acute shortage of food, while 3.5 million children’s education and 4.5 million persons’ livelihood were hit by the floods.

The report said the embankments were breached due to the negligence and corruption of the Irrigation departments. Local influential persons had encroached thousands of acres of land in katcha areas. Among those directly responsible for the deluge of Guddu are the chief engineer, in-charge XEN and their staff, the report said.

The report said major damage was caused due to lack of maintenance and repair of river embankments, canals and obstruction by major highways/motorways constructed by the Irrigation department and the National Highway Authority (NHA) and others across the country.

The report said that flood victims were not given help in time and because current early warning facilities in the country were of a limited nature. “There are only seven radars in the whole country. There is no coverage in the northwest of the country and Balochistan, including the coastal belt of 960 km,” the report pointed out.

The report said the chief and irrigation secretaries of Sindh had tried to conceal the facts while irregularities were found in the Sindh Irrigation Department. The commission recommended a 10-year audit of the department. The major reason for inundation of agricultural lands and abadis on the northern side of Peshawar-Islamabad Motorway (M-1) was the inadequate capacity of crossing bridges meant for the drainage of floodwater in rivers located between Peshawar and Mardan. The motorway virtually acted like a ‘bund’, obstructing the natural course of water flows into the area. The bed of River Kabul, upstream and downstream of the main Kabul River bridge, had silted up to an alarming level, which has decreased the waterway, the report said.

It is imperative for the NHA and Federal Flood Commission (FFC) to carry out a joint survey and study the roads network in the country to identify areas of possible flooding as a result of obstruction caused by these roads and take remedial measures to ease the pressure of flood at various potential locations, the report said.

The Nation
PML-Q to grill Marvi over budget protest
Published: June 06, 2011
ISLAMABAD (Agencies) – A show cause notice is ready to be issued to PML-Q rebellious member Marvi Memon for “violating” the party discipline during budget session which would be sent to her any time.
This was revealed Sunday by PML-Q central secretary information Senator Kamil Ali Agha, who said Marvi Memon violated the party discipline by siding with the PML-N during Finance Minister Hafeez Sheikh’s budget speech. He said discussions have been held within the party for taking action against Marvi.
Kamil said the PML-Q parliamentary party had decided that no protest would be held during the budget speech, but Marvi Memon violated the party discipline by going against the party decision. To a question about Marvi’s participation in Imran Khan’s sit-in against drone attacks, Kamil said the PML-Q did not issue any instructions about the event.

Dawn
PML-N on the warpath, but aloneBy Raja Asghar | From the Newspaper
June 4, 2011
ISLAMABAD: They first tried to grab the floor before Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, which could not be done on the budget day, and then shouted for 40 minutes to drown out his budget speech in the National Assembly on Friday.

Lawmakers of the opposition PML-N seemed to be on the warpath, in a warning of an upcoming stormy debate on the budget for fiscal 2011-12 beginning on Monday and possibly heightened tensions afterwards with the PPP-led coalition government.

But the PML-N, the country’s largest opposition party that has 92 members in the 342-seat lower house and rules the Punjab province, was left alone in its Friday’s job, with smaller opposition groups staying away from what turned out to be the longest and noisiest post-Musharraf parliamentary protest.

The PML-N benches, squeezed between those of the PPP on their left and some coalition allies on their right, burst into an uproar of protest after Speaker Fehmida Mirza turned down a request from a PML-N front-bencher, Khwaja Mohammad Asif, to take the floor before the finance minister’s speech, on the ground that house rules disallowed any business other than the budget speech on the day budget is presented.

Then the party members left their seats to assemble before the dais near the finance minister, chanting slogans against alleged government corruption and what they called subservience to the United States and the International Monetary Fund.

“Corrupt government unacceptable”, “Stop American dictation”, “IMF budget unacceptable” and “Stop (US) drone attacks” were some of slogans they chanted, though some cat calls and howls at times gave the show the appearance of a street protest, which was also marked by some theatrics by a couple of prominent PML-N members and a rebel member of the government-allied PML-Q.

Members of the treasury benches repeatedly cheered the finance minister’s Urdu speech by desk-thumping, often led by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani himself.

Mr Ahsan Iqbal, who was education minister in the short-lived PPP-PML-N coalition in 2008, tried to interrupt the finance minister’s speech by presenting him a ‘nan’, apparently to highlight the high price of the local bread. But the item was grabbed by Information and Broadcasting Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan, who had already taken a seat next to the finance minister apparently on the prime minister’s instructions to counter any insult from female PML-N members who formed the vanguard of the protesters and had to be kept back by their organising colleagues whenever they tried to come too close to Mr Sheikh’s mikes.

A senior PML-N female member, Tehmina Daultana, used the typical sub-continental gesture of shaming a man by hurling what looked like some glass bangles at the finance minister. The information minister again came to Mr Sheikh’s help by intercepting the bangles with her hand before they fell on the carpeted floor.

PML-Q backbencher Marvi Memon’s declared ire against her party’s coalition with the PPP woke up late on Friday when, after listening to most of the budget speech at her seat, she suddenly rushed to the prime minister’s desk and tore up pages of a pink volume of budget documents before joining the PML-N protesters in non-stop shouting.

She was soon penalised by another PML-Q female member, Ms Shahnaz Sheikh, who walked up to the protesting crowd and snatched the remainder of the budget volume from Ms Memon’s hands and threw it on the floor.

Some PML-N members kept silent while most of their party colleagues were engaged in shouting and howling, and few of them even kept a physical distance from the shouting core.

The soft-spoken finance minister continued his speech undeterred, though it was hardly audible without ear-phones fixed with the members’ desk, and ended it defiantly with a couplet of national poet Iqbal: “Tundiay bad-e-mukhalif sey na ghabrah aih uqab, ye to chalti hai tujhay ooncha urhaney key liaey” (don’t be scared of the severity of the wind from opposite direction, oh eagle! This blows only to help you fly higher).
Daily Times
June 3, 2011
Karo Kari victim announces hunger strike unto death

By Mahtab Bashir

ISLAMABAD: Dejected after a seven-month-long yearning for justice on the pavements of the National Press Club (NPC), Haleema Bhutto, an alleged victim of ‘Karo Kari’ has now moved infront of the Parliament House on a hunger strike unto death.

The desperate Haleema Bhutto, a ‘karo kari’ victim from Ghotki, who is battling to stay alive has, along with his family, announced a hunger strike unto death in-front of the Parliament House to convey their plea to the high-ups of civilians rulers whom they dubbed “helpless to stand against feudal elites of Sindh”.

The government would be responsible for our deaths, Haleema said. Haleema Bhutto has been camping on the pavement in front of the National Press Club (NPC) in Islamabad for the last seven months soon after her husband declared her kari, and the village panchayat (council) declared her punishable by death in March 2010. Bhutto escaped to Islamabad seeking justice from the government and the chief justice.

She has been labeled as a dishonorable woman and says if she returns back to her home in Ghotki district of Sindh, she would be killed. As their case remains unresolved, the family decided to go on hunger strike till death as long as they feel safe to head back or the culprits are nabbed.

Now the protesting Haleema and her five family members including two men and a two-year-old child will have to face sizzling heat of hot weather in-front of the Parliament House. Talking to Daily Times, 29-year-old Haleema told that she was married to Shakil Ahmad 18 years ago and her husband transferred eight acres of his land in her name. He pressurized her to transfer even her share of property to his name. On her refusal, Shakil declared her and her brother-in-law karo-kari. Haleema fled to Islamabad with her brother and mother. Her brother-in-law was injured in an attack and he lodged an FIR against Shakil and his accomplices.

She said she knocked the door of the Supreme Court, every minister, MNA, human rights activist, government officials but ironically no one was ready to speak against tribal system of Sindh. She said MNA Marvi Memon of PML-Q tried to help her but unfortunately she could not solve her problem because she was not in the ruling party.

However, she thanked to Marvi for her efforts in this regard. According to Haleema Bibi her husband, Shakil has the backing of an MNA from the governing party and some other influential people. They said that Shakil ensured favoured decisions from the tribe elders the police refused to register a case against him.

Haleema lashed out at the so-called women rights organizations and activists saying that they just exploit oppressed women to extract funds. She accused Aurat Foundation’s Naeem Mirza for depriving her of her right of official stipend from the government and NGOs. ANP parliamentarian Bushra Gohar, and Speaker National Assembly Fehmida Mirza also pledged support for Haleema but “did nothing”.

Haleema Bhutto’s life is in danger. Her husband is a criminal on the lam. To rob her of 40-acres of land, he accused her of having illicit relations with her brother-in-law and with the connivance of local clerics got an edict to murder her in the name of honor. The practice is popularly known as ‘karo-kari’ in Pakistan. Daily Times when repeatedly contacted Naeem Mirza, CEO Aurat Foundation (AF) for his version; he did not receive the call till filing of this story.
The News
June 1, 2011

Article 63 A (1) (b) of 18th Amendment challenged in PHC
Akhtar Amin
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday admitted a writ petition filed by MNA Marvi Memon challenging Article 63 A (1) (b) of the 18th Amendment and issued notice to the federal government to explain its position regarding the said amendment.

The PHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and Justice Yahya Afridi put on notice the federal government through the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, directing them to explain the question before the court whether the amendment violated fundamental rights, freedom of expression of the members of the parliaments and is against the Constitution.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) legislator, Marvi Memon, had challenged Article 63 A (1) (b) of the 18th Amendment in the Peshawar High Court. The article in question defines disqualification of parliamentarians when they vote or abstain from voting in the house contrary to any direction issued by the parliamentary party on election of the prime minister or chief minister, on a vote of confidence, money bill or a constitutional bill.

Omer Farouk Adam, counsel for the petitioner, contended through this amendment, parliamentarians were restricted to follow directives of their party heads. He submitted the article in question in effect breaches the guaranteed fundamental rights, violates representative government and is violation of Articles 4, 14, 17, 19, 25, 55, 63 (2), 66, 95 and 127 of the Constitution.

“Functional democracy is a dream we have yet to achieve in Pakistan. There is some legislation, which makes us farther from our dream and this article is one such anti-democracy laws,” the counsel for the petitioner said.

The lawyer submitted that there was a background for the distortion of the article through the various constitutional amendments. He said the 14th Amendment in 1997 inserted Article 63A, which accepted disqualification when there was violation of the party constitution, code of conduct and declared policies.

The petitioner’s lawyer submitted that through Article 62 A (2), it gave powers to the disciplinary committee of the party to decide the matter. This provision was deleted via Legal Framework Order (LFO) 2002 giving dictatorial powers to the party heads.