KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has said that the present law and order situation in the country was not the creation of democracy, but because of dictatorial rule in the country. He said that the extremism that we are experiencing today was the consequence of the wrong decisions made by the then government after the 9/11 incident and added that had democracy existed in the country during that period no such situation would have emerged. He said that the legal fraternity has always been in the forefront for the restoration and defence of democracy in the country and hopefully it will do so in the future as well. The chief minister urged the legal fraternity to protect the fundamental rights of the common people. He said that this would be considered their real service to the country. He observed this while addressing the oath-taking ceremony of the Karachi Bar Association’s newly elected office bearers at the City Courts as chief guest on Saturday. Senior puisne judge of the Sindh High Court Justice Sajjad Ali Shah attended the ceremony as the guest of honour and administrated the oath to the newly elected body of the Karachi Bar Association (KBA). The judges of the Sindh High Court, District and Session Courts, civil courts and advocates from the Supreme Court, Sindh High Court and District Court attended the ceremony. Addressing the ceremony, Syed Qaim Ali Shah said that it was a most encouraging step that our law enforcement agencies (LEAs) have taken serious notice of the terrorists’ activities in the country and have now launched a vigorous operation against the terrorists. Consequently, considerable achievements so far have been made within the shortest period. However, he pointed out that the terrorists who are escaping from the ongoing operation in the north of the country are fleeing towards Karachi and creating problems here. However, he maintained that his government, which was already engaged in a targeted operation against heinous crimes in Karachi, has arrested terrorists in the hundreds and many were killed in encounters with the Sindh Police and Rangers. He said that we have made the Sindh Police strong enough to combat the situation with success. While referring to the demand made by the president of the KBA about infrastructure, the chief minister said that the Sindh government has always approved the proposals and plans decided by the judiciary in the annual budget, and as such many projects for improving the infrastructure were under way. He also announced the handing over of a vacant government building proposed by the KBA for establishing courts in case the building was the property of the Sindh government. The chief minister also announced Rs10 million as a financial grant for the KBA and assured providing two doctors and one ambulance for their dispensary. He also announced that all deputy district attorneys have been regularised. Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, the Senior puisne Judge of the Sindh High Court, administered the oath to the newly elected body of the Karachi Bar Association. In his speech, he said that different schemes for enhancing infrastructure were under consideration or execution and the were being executed in consultation of the stake, holders. He said that approval for the installation of 256 security cameras in the courts has been made under which 110 cameras have been installed while the remaining were also being installed at different courts. He said that work for providing additional lock-ups for prisoners attending their hearings in the courts was also in progress. He said that the process to induct more judges and fill the vacancies in courts was also in progress by which two to three batches of recruitment of judges have been completed and appointee judges were under training. Earlier, Advisor to CM Zia-ul-Hassan Lanjar who was also the Vice President of the Sindh Bar Council, in his speech said that the Sindh government was very serious and keen to strengthen the legal fraternity. He said that many problems pertaining to the legal fraternity have already been resolved by the chief minister Sindh in separate meetings with the delegation of KBA. President KBA Advocate Naeem Qureshi in his speech highlighted the problems being experienced by his fraternity and litigants as well. He sought an improvement of infrastructure for courts, building more judicial lock-ups in the courts, activating vacant courts and filling the vacant post of judges. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah has assured the lawyers to provide the withheld amount of financial assistance to the KBA of Rs60 million in the near future and due security to the lawyers against terrorism. Shah said that from now on lawyers would be permitted to get arms licenses for their safety and security. They would be exempted from the ban on pillion riding and the provincial government would take every step for their protection. He condemned the terrorist activities against lawyers, saying in some cases, the terrorist elements had entered Karachi from other provinces while pretending to be IDPs and that caused great losses. It was decided to give the KBA an adjoining building called the ‘Treasury Building’ in order to utilise the space for lawyers and courts. As many as 100 subordinate courts would be housed on the lands of the government of Sindh in consultation with the KBA leadership. Earlier, newly elected KBA President Naeem Qureshi welcomed the chief guest and the Senior judge who administered oath. The recently elected office bearers for 2015-2016 who took oath included President Naeem Qureshi, Secretary Manzoor Ahmed, Vice President Abid Akram, Joint Secretary Masood Khan Librarian Ishrat Sididqui, Treasurer Abdul Saeed Qureshi and 11 members of the KBA governing body. In the meantime, the Sindh chief minister has said that poverty has been obstructing some four million eligible students of the province from going to schools as the literacy rate in the country has decreased to an alarming level. The CM stated this on Saturday while addressing a ceremony held at the Chief Minister House to honour and give prizes to position holders of all boards of secondary and intermediate education in the province. On the occasion, all the position holders of all the examination boards in Sindh were presented with a cash award of Rs100,000 and an i-Pad on account of their best performance. The CM said on the occasion that the Pakistan Peoples Party’s provincial government in the province had inducted 25,000 teachers in the last six years and would recruit 10,000 more teachers purely on merit and under third party validation to ensure quality education in the province. The chief minister said that merit was the only instrument to raise the standard of education. He said that his government had accepted the education standard set by the World Bank and achieved a lot of improvement in the standard of education. Responding to a question, the chief minister said that the issue of the possible transfer of the Sindh Chief Secretary had been brought to the knowledge of the prime minister as the PM had been requested by him to transfer the chief secretary. He said the provincial government’s controversy involving the chief secretary had been lingering on for some months now and the provincial high-ups had no intention to allow the matter to linger on. He hoped that the federation would resolve the issue soon. Earlier, the chief minister presented cash awards for outstanding performances to 13 students of the Karachi Board, nine students of the Hyderabad Board, seven students of the Sukkur Board, six students of the Larkana Board and nine students of the Mirpurkhas Board. A large number of academician and government officers attended the ceremony.
