Police action in Sadiqabad condemned

April 06, 2007

By Sohail Sangi
SINDHI PRESS DIGESTTHE police action against workers of the PML-F in Sadiqabad and the spate of kidnappings in Sindh are the major themes which the Sindhi press has dealt with.Daily Kawish and Ibrat have editorialised on the incident at Sadiqabad in which the Punjab police stopped some workers of the PML-F, a partner of the ruling coalition, and opened fire, resulting in the death of three persons.The Kawish criticises the police attitude, saying that of late, the law enforcers in Punjab have been setting new standards of brutality. The daily cites the manhandling of lawyers at the Lahore High Court and the attack on the Islamabad centre of a TV network last month.“The Police are not doing all this on their own but on the instructions of the rulers,” the editorial alleges.The paper criticises the decision to stop the Sindh PML-F workers from entering Punjab, alleging that on the one hand, the rulers were squandering millions of rupees on public meetings but on the other, the opposition parties were not being allowed to hold rallies.“All claims of the government about democracy and decency stand exposed as a coalition partner was meted out such a treatment.”The Kawish and Ibrat, commenting on the protests by minorities against the wave of kidnappings in Sindh, accuse the police of discrimination in investigations into the abductions of non-Muslims.The Ibrat chides the administration for showing an `indifference’ to the kidnap of Om Parkash, an eight-year-old boy.It says that if the administration fails to trace Parkash and other members of the minority communities, they would not be wrong to think they are second-rate citizens.The Daily Kawish extends support to the province’s paramedical workers in their protest against the alleged issuance of 500 appointment letters for vacancies in the Sindh health department even before the lifting of the ban on jobs.The newspaper expresses an apprehension that `merit would be bypassed as 80 per cent of the jobs will go to supporters of a political party sitting in the government, while the remaining 20 per cent to the other coalition partners’.The Kawish calls upon the Sindh government to cancel all the appointment letters and conduct an inquiry to determine who was responsible for the issuance of the job offers in spite of a ban on recruitment.Daily Koshish criticises the holding of two jirgas in defiance of a decision by the Sindh High Court declaring such meetings as illegal. The two jirgas – one in Ghotki and the other in Naushahro Feroz – were headed by the district nazims and they delivered `verdicts’ in two murder cases. Both cases were pending with the courts.The daily pleads with the Supreme Court to intervene in the matter.Daily Ibrat feels that lawlessness has assumed alarming proportions in the province. Murders, kidnappings, rapes and other crimes are so rife in Sindh these days that they have ceased to shock us. The paper urges the provincial government to tackle the menace on a war footing.Daily Khabroon is critical of the business of spurious drugs in Sindh. Quoting from a statement of the health minister in the Sindh Assembly, the newspaper says the government has admitted that some 25 to 30 wholesalers were responsible for the sale of 90 per cent of the spurious medicines. The daily goes on to say mere admission is not enough. “Action must follow words.”.