SAHIWAL: A drug addict allegedly shot his father dead for not giving him money to buy drugs at 167/EB village of Arifwala tehsil on Saturday.

According to Sadar police, Falak Sher, 24, a drug addict, would often quarrel with his father Boota Jutt and mother for not giving him money to buy drugs.

On Saturday, he again exchanged hot words with his father over the issue and when Boota refused to give him money, Falak scuffled with him. During the scuffle, Falak pulled out a 30 bore pistol and shot his father, who died on the spot. The suspect managed to escape. The police registered a murder case against the suspect on the complaint of a brother of the deceased Boota.

Taking notice of the homicide, District Poliec Officer Tariq Valayat formed a special team under the Saddar DSP and directed him to arrest the suspect. Police areconductingraidstotoarrestthesuspect.

PICHP: The 50-year-old sewer line on right side of the Lower Bari Doab Canal will be replaced to improve sewage drainage in the old city areas.Public Health Engineering (PHE) Sub Divisional Officer (SDO) Abdul Jabbar told Dawn that the project to replace the main sewer line would be carried out under the Asian Development Bankfunded Punjab Intermediate Cities Improvement and Investment Programme (PICIIP) running in Sahiwal and Sialkot.

The SDO said the new sewer line would be laid from Gulistan Road to Nadra Office, Christian Colony to Batala School, in front of the RPO office, Farid Town`s V Block, near the City Church, Jogi Chowk, Mall Mandi to Habib Chowk and Habib Town near Ashraf Karyana Store. Commissioner Shoaib Iqbal directed the PHE department to complete the work before June 15.

Asjad Khan, City Manager, PICIIP, said new water connections given to 43,000 residents of Sahiwal are functioning well after repair of 29 old tube-wells running under Metropolitan Corporation.

He said 10 new water filtration plants would also be installed in the city and land had been marked by the engineers for the purpose. Correspondent

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LARKANA: Participants in a consultation session convened by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in the local press club on the state of women`s rights in Larkana called on all stakeholders to play their role in getting the weaker segment of society its due rights.

Sharing their views, the participants said that under a variety of excuses, women were exposed to honour killing, domestic violence and injustices in different fields, including education, harassment at workplaces etc.

HRCP regional coordinator Ghufrana Arain said the state of women`s rights in Sindh was deplorable.She said that in addition to the ongoing efforts to create awareness in this regard by holding regular seminars and consultation sessions, there was a need for addressing shortfalls.

Dr Haseen Musarrat of the Women Action Forum drew attention of the participants to the poor coordination among the organisations contributing to safeguarding women`s rights. She said political interference and the peltry budget allocations for the departments working in this sphere were also major hindrances. She noted that police were not suitably equipped to counter heavily armed criminals and influential figure`s might. In this situation, the orgnisations working for safeguarding and advocating women`s rights could not achieve their targets.

She said those working with the `women protection cell`, Darul Aman and safe houses did not have proper security.

Due to enormous political issues, women rights issues stood unresolved and unaddressed, said Dr Musarrat.

She also pointed out that the women approaching courts for justice often remained unsuccessful because they inmost cases appeared financially unsupported in litigation process.

Under these conditions, the issue of women`s rights as a whole remained unresolved and this segment continued to be deprived of justice, she said.

Ms Naghma Mazari, in-charge of the women protection cell at the Larkana DIG office, revealed that a rise in the incidents of violence against women and children was marked after last year`s unprecedented floods that devastated ordinary people`s already poor domestic economy.

Ms Mazari said that most women visiting police stations for protection appeared reluctant to be sent to the Darul Aman. Therefore, she added, it was badly needed to establish `safe houses` and `shelter homes` under the management of credible organisations.

She also spoke about interference on the part of influential figures within the police system which, in turn, hampered [the cell`s] efforts towards protection and rights of women. A lack of education itself was an important factor in this context, she said.

Ustad Khalid Chandio, a social activist, severely criticised holding of jirgas inviolation ofcourts`orders, and noted that `unfortunately, these jirgas are held in circuit houses as well and elected representatives and police officers participate in them`.

He called for keeping and updating the data regarding domestic violence against women and children and also against female help. For being poor, they could notraise theirvoice,he said.

Advocates Ali Bakhsh Mashori, Nadira Selro and Aally Rizvi were of the concerted view that women approaching courts with complaints of violence, harassment and injustice seldom had support from their close relatives. Therefore, they could not plead their cases effectively while society also remained aloof, they said.

The lawyers called for evolving a mechanism to help all such litigants.

They also underlined the need for holding awareness and consultation sessions in villages as well, pointing out that village women faced more serious issues of rights.

Murad Pandrani, Ghaffar Pandrani and activists of various rights organisations participated in the consultation.

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MULTAN: FIA Cybercrime Wing Multan arrested a man accused of sexually harassing women and blackmailing them through electronic means of communication. A team comprising Sub Inspector Khalid Gujjar and ASI Zeeshan Khan arrested Mohsin Raza from Vehari on Friday. The complainant alleged that Mohsin was harassing and blackmailing his mother and sister through Whatsapp and had objectionable pictures and videos. APP

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TOBA TEK SINGH: A girl was burnt alive by her family for leaving home with a man at Basti Dubb, Jhang, on Friday.

Before breathing her last at the hospital, Masooma Bibi told the Garh Maharaja police that she wanted to marry a man of her choice and had left home with him. Her parents brought her back.

On her return, her father, Rajab Ali, brothers, Jabbar and Amer, and three relative women, Kausar, Sumera and Ayesha, gave fire to her clothes after sprinkling her body with petrol. She received critical burns and was shifted to hospital.

Jhang District Police Officer Malik Tariq Mahboob reached the spot and shifted the girl to the district headquarters (DHQ) hospital where she succumbed to her burns after recording her statement.

An official claimed that the police had arrested all the suspects mentioned above and registered a case against them.

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ISLAMABAD: Police on Friday resorted to baton charge on protesters who took to the streets against alleged rape and murder of a seven-year-old girl.

The family members of the girl along with relatives and neighbours had been protesting since Thursday at Bhara Kahu. On Friday, the police resorted to baton charge and arrested overa dozen protesters.

A relative of the victim girl, who lodged the complaint with the police for registration of a case, told Dawn that sofarthe police hadfailed to arrest the suspect.

Instead of taking a complaint from us, the police handed us a written complaint and asked us to submit the same for the registration of a case, he said, adding there were some issues over the content of the FIR as the complaint had been written by the police.

`The police are also pressuring and harassing us to withdraw the rape charge from the complaint,` the relative said, adding the suspect was not being arrested deliberately.

They raided our houses and that of our relatives and neighbours, harassing female family members besides searchingthe houses,he said.

`We staged a protest over the police highhandedness and attitude on Thursday at Bhara Kahu and blocked the road. On Friday, traders, neighbours and others also joined the protest against the police. However, the police resorted to baton charge and dispersed the protesters.

Besides, the police also arrested over a dozen protesters and shifted them to the police station, he said, adding: `Now I am going to the police station to get all those arrested released.

The relative of the victim said he met the SP city and expressed reservations over the content of the FIR and harassment of the protesters. In response, the SP assured him that his reservations would be addressed, the relative added.

Earlier, the protesters blocked the road at Bhara Kahu. Police reached the spot and snatched banners and placards from the protesters and tore them.

They asked the protesters to disperse and over their refusal resorted to baton charge them besides arresting some of the protesters.

The police also arrested a media person and shifted him to the police station. Munawer Azeem

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