MULTAN City News

Civil society for arrest of Rashid Rehman’s killers
From Our Correspondent
MULTAN: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Special Task Force organised a seminar on the first death anniversary of Rashid Rehman advocate, who was murdered on May 7, 2014, at the press club here on Thursday.
Speaking on the occasion, the civil society activists paid tributes to human rights activist Rashid Rehman. They criticised police for its alleged failure to arrest his killers. They demanded immediate arrest of the killers of Rashid Rehman. HRCP Regional Coordinator Faisal Mehmood, Prof Tauseeq Ahmad from Karachi, senior rights activists Athar Rehman, Muhammad Hussain Khokhar and others also spoke on the occasion.
Rashid Rehman was gunned down when he was working in the HRCP office last year. He had lodged a complaint with police about receiving threats. He was pleading the case of Bahauddin Zakariya University lecturer Junaid Hafeez, who was accused of committing blasphemy.
When contacted, police said that they had completed investigation and submitted a challan to a court. Police said that one accused, Saim Ali, was killed in an encounter while two others fled.

New governor - a staunch supporter of Seraiki province
From Nadeem Shah
MULTAN: While driving from Multan Kalima Chowk to Kutchery Road, there is a shabby link road at the left side, after crossing the district courts, which is known as Rajwana Road. There are a number of shops, kiosks and encroachments on this road, and somewhere amongst them is a big wooden gate at the right in the middle of a street depicting ‘Rajwana House’.
This is a traditional haveli of newly appointed Punjab Governor Malik Muhammad Rafiq Rajwana. Here you can see the residents and neighbours celebrating his appointment as the Punjab governor. They were happy with the PML-N leadership for appointing a Seraiki speaking politician as the governor. They distributed sweets and congratulated each other on Thursday. They paid thanks to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for selecting the new governor from Multan.
Rajwana has been a staunch supporter of Seraiki province and he represented the PML-N in the PPP commission, constituted for creation of two new provinces in south Punjab. He did not take part in the traditional politics and he always stood with the right wing in lawyers’ politics and bar elections.
“He is very humble and simple man in his practical life. He is a committed leaguer, he has always distanced himself from controversies in politics and he respects political ideologies of other parties,” Haji Sahib tells The News, selling yogurt close to the Rajwana House.
Senior politician and PTI leader Malik Ishaq Bucha says the Rajwana family had always stayed away from electoral politics. Rafiq Rajwana had once contested election in 1985 as a PML-N candidate, but he lost then. He said Rajwana had remained committed to his party and his party recognises his services.
Rafiq Rajwana was born in Multan on February 20, 1949. His father Malik Ameer Bux Rajwana was an agriculturist and the Rajwana family was deeply associated with big political landlord families in the south Punjab, right from Rajanpur to Sadiqabad.
Rafiq Rajwana is very close to senior politician Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, the Bosan family and he played a key role in Sikandar Hayat Bosan quitting the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and joining the PML-N. He is also a friend of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. He has been very close to Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa as the Khosas had once sacrificed his Senate ticket for Malik Rafiq Rajwana when he became senator for the first time in 1998.
“He is Bar-at-Law, a senior practising lawyer. Once he also served as a special judge, but resigned after six months,” former justice Habibullah Shakir said. He terms Rajwana is a distinguished jurist, a constitutional expert, a practising lawyer and a senior leader of the PML-N.
The family profile shows that Malik Rafiq Rajwana got his bachelor’s degree in Law and Jurisprudence from the Punjab University Law College and started his career as a judicial officer. His aptitude and interest in the welfare of people and seeking solution to their problems led him to resign from judiciary as an additional district and sessions judge. He was elected as municipal councillor in 1979 and also contested the 1985 general elections for a provincial seat (PP-168) against Malik Salahuddin Dogar from Multan but lost. Rajwana got 10,932 votes and Dogar secured 12,595 votes.
Rajwana is general secretary of the Pakistan Muslim League Multan City. He has been to the US and the UK for a couple of times.
Rajwana started his politics from Pakistan People’s Party in 19880s but he developed differences with the local leadership and left the party in 1988 and joined the PML-N in 1990.
As the practising lawyer, he has a distinguished standing of over 25 years among the senior lawyers of the superior courts of the country. He has been president of the Lahore High Court Bar Association Multan in 1996-97.
Rafiq Rajwana was elected as a senator in January 1998 from Punjab. The seat was vacated by Justice (retd) Muhammad Rafiq Tarar after his election as the president of Pakistan. His term as senator expired in March 2003. He was again elected as a PML-N senator in March 2012. His term was to expire on March 2018, but he has resigned from the seat before taking oath as the governor.
He has two sons and one daughter. Senior politician Makhdoom Javed Hashmi has warmly welcomed his appointment as the governor and termed it a good omen for the people of south Punjab.