Pakistan and International Financial Institutions
April 17, 2008On June 7, 2007 The World Bank approved a package of assistance woth US $451 million to help the Pakistani Government. Most of this money will be used to improve education, enhance immigration, implement reforms in healthcare and eradicate polio in Pakistan.
“Pakistan has in recent years made good progress towards improving human development indicators and reducing poverty and vulnerability,” said Yusupha Crookes, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan. “But there can be no room for complacency. Only half of Pakistan’s adult population is literate and over 40 percent of 5-9 year olds are not in school, and poor health outcomes and high fertility will remain an obstacle to economic growth and poverty alleviation. Through improved schools, health facilities, and water provision, these projects will help the country make progress towards reaching the Millennium Development Goals and underpin prospects for high and sustained growth into the future.”
The World Bank is looking to change the lives of the poor of Pakistan. Even if the government has money and people in higher places, it is the poor (the people who need it) that will never see it. To assist, The World Bank funded the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund Project. They plan on helping the poor through this program by building institutions and then supplying them with micro-credit loans.
The World Bank hopes to place a higher importance on education by assisting the Government at both the national and provinicial levels. They hope to increase the focus of strong primary and secondary education reforms. They hope to continue assisting the poor by encouraging children of poverty stricken families to attend school.
With each problem that The World Bank sees in Pakistan, they create a program to alleviate that problem : Government’s Poverty Reduction Strategy, Pakistan Poverty Allevition Fund Project, Earthquake Relief and Reconstruction Authority, Rural Housing and Reconstruction Program, National Education Assessment System, etc. Pakistan must accept these programs and reforms if the state wishes to receive any money from The World Bank. Pakistan then must give continuous updates to The World Bank to prove that they are following the reform programs and meeting each goal that has been set. The World Bank believes that this sort of cookie cutter relief program is applicable to any state in need and that by a state meeting a goal, it means that the state will be able to continue to thrive once The World Bank stops giving assistance. However, only time will tell if the reform programs actually help the people and the government, or if the programs will cease to exist one The World Bank determines that Pakistan can take care of her people on her own.
click here for more information on The World Bank’s reforms in Pakistan
Respected Sir
We, locals, Christians and victimised relatives of village Roshan Bhila of district Kasur, Punjab, Pakistan are facing several troubles inflicted on us by current Chief Secretary Javed Mehmood and District Administration of Kasur at the behest of Javed Mehmood.
Javed Mehmood’s main terror Mr Azhram Khan, against whom Chief Justice Chaudhry Iftikhar Muhammad had taken a suo motu case for violating human rights in the village, is threatening the Christians to vacate lands for a hospital.
Sir, we faced several troubles when we raised our voices against cruelties of the CS. No doubt the media came to our rescue but no probe was initiated against the CS for misusing the public funds. The following is a list of the newspapers which published the atrocities of the CS.
You are requested to ask authorities concerned in Punjab and Pakistan to initiate probe against the CS and remove him from the office of the chief secretary of the Punjab because he would exert his influence if a probe was initiated against him. We have many other documents against the cruelties of the CS. If you need such documents you can be provided those documents as well.
1-Daily Express on November 12, 2009 published a press conference of victimised relatives of Chief Secretary Javed Mehmood and in that conference they requested the CJ, President and Punjab CM to take notice of atrocities of the CS but nothing was done. This is also a big injustice that they were forced to conduct the Press Conference in Islamabad instead of Lahore.
2-The News, Lahore, (Gang group) published on November 18, 2009, a big story of the misuse of public funds by the CS and also gave details of the projects. The writer of the story is Dr Saleemur Rehman of Kasur (0321-4165906).
3-The Pakistan Times also published on November 18, 2009, a detailed report with some pictures on the misuse of the public funds by the CS in his village.
3-Daily Insaaf, Lahore, on November 19, 2009, published a story with several pictures on its front page about misuse of public funds by Chief Secretary Javed Mehmood.
5-On December 8, 2009, the News, Lahore, published a story about DCO Kasur and CS in which local MNA Sheikh Waseem (0300-6599399) blamed them of misusing the Kasur funds.
6-Daily Dawn on December 18, 2009, published a big story about the misuse of public funds but again nothing was done. And no probe was initiated against the CS and DCO Abdur Jabbar Shaheen. The writer of this story is Kasur correspondent Afzal Ansari (0322-6833097).
Moreover text of four newspapers have been attached with this file titled ‘Newspapers’ Matter regarding CS cruelties” to substantiate our point of view.
You can also contact the following people for more information in this regard.
Barrister Shahid Masood Khan (0302-8464676), UC Nazim Khalid Doggar (0301-6820923), Hamyuun Khan (UC Nazim contester) (0300-9468609), MNA Sheikh Waseem (-300-6599399), PPP MPA Muhammad Hussain Doggar (0300-8030011), Nasrullah Khan alias Nannaha Khan (0305-4042214), Correspondent of the News and Geo Dr Saleem-ur-Rehamn (0321-4165906), Ex-UC Nazim Salahuddin Ahmed Khan (0345-4433086), Engineer Mubashir Nawaz-Punjab Assembly PML-N ticket holder (0321-4992071)
Thanks
Affected locals of Roshan Bhila of district Kasur
The News International, Lahore
November 18, 2009
Village of Punjab’s top bureaucrat undergoes matchless uplift From M Saleemur Rahman KASUR: Punjab Chief Secretary Javed MahmoodÕs village, Roshan Bheela, is undergoing an unprecedented uplift worth Rs 318 million that no other village in the country can think of. The projects include a stadium, a cricket ground, a library, a 40-bed hospital, parks, upgradation and merger of two schools, a vocational training institute, and renovation of the Bheela Railway Station. On the other hand, the Kasur Tehsil CouncilÕs total development budget for the fiscal year 2009-10 is Rs 370 million. A few days back, hundreds of people belonging to Mianwala village staged a demonstration against a mini canal being derived from the BRB Canal. The protesters said people on the Khudian and Allahabad side would not be able to get smooth supply of water for irrigation after the excavation of the canal from Mianwala to a farm in Bheela. People from different walks of life termed such a huge allocation of funds for a single village discrimination against other underdeveloped parts of the district. Talking to The News, PML-N MNA Sheikh Wasim Ahmed, Human Rights Committee district coordinator Maj (retd) Habibur Rehman advocate, Chaudhry Sabir Ali advocate and UC-10 Nazim Ayaz Ahmad Khan said it was injustice to ignore the district headquarters and allocate millions of rupees for a small village having just 5,000 people. They maintained that there were hundreds of villages having above 25,000 population along the main roads, including Kasur-Depalpur Road and Ganda Singhwala Road where there was no high school, park and healthcare facilities. ÒThe Kasur Sports Complex inaugurated many years ago is still incomplete. There is only one DHQ Hospital for 700,000 people in the city. It becomes ghostsÕ abode in the evening as only one doctor is available for the entire city,Ó they said, adding that 27 posts of doctors including radiologist, anaesthetist, ENT specialist, orthopaedic and medical officers were vacant. ÒThere are only 12 doctors in the hospital. Of them, four are drawing their salaries from DHQ Hospital but working at the DHO Office. ICU and CCU are being run by only one cardiologist,Ó they said. ÒGanda Singhwala RHC is located near the border and above 80 villages get benefit from it. Only two medical officers are providing treatment to lakhs of people. The situation in other RHCs and BHUs across the district is not different from it,Ó they opined. “Citizens were pleased when they knew that a large numbers of mega projects were being started in Kasur, but they were shocked to know that all these projects were meant for a small village. It is injustice that a small village has been provided facilities which cannot be seen even in big towns.” They alleged that the mega projects had actually been launched in the village to increase the rate of the lands of influential people. “All the projects have been completed either on the state land or on the land of the poor. The lands of the poor were forcibly vacated for the projects by the government officials.” They demanded Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif take notice of this huge discrimination in the district. PML-N MNA Sheikh Wasim Ahmed said that he, along with a delegation, had informed the chief minister about this sorry state of affairs during a meeting at Lahore on Tuesday. Commenting on the projects, PPP district senior vice-president Syed Tayyab Rizvi said that millions of rupees, which were in fact the right of the entire district, were being spent on Bheela. “Unfortunately, the city has been ignored and funds are being used on other places. In my constituency (PP-175), everyone can check that there are no proper roads and overall sanitary condition is in a shambles. A majority of schools in the constituency have no basic facilities like boundary walls, proper classrooms, washrooms and drinking water,” he disclosed. He alleged that the entire district administration was focused on Bheela. Bheela Union Council Nazim Khalid Dogar said that two small parks were enough for the village while others projects, including the sports stadium and the library, were the right of the Kasur city. He disclosed that there were many villages in his union council where schools had no proper buildings and the villages were without sewerage. “If the top bureaucracy is sympathetic towards the people of this area, it should develop other villages also,” he maintained. Kasur Tehsil Nazim Agha Naveed Hashim Rizvi told The News that the Bheela Union Council had been given its share of Rs 3.5 million for development. He claimed that a development package amounting to Rs 2.5 billion was going to start in Kasur tehsil and there was no harm in spending millions of rupees in Bheela village on the direction of the Punjab chief secretary. He declared the chief secretary Mohsin-e-Kasur for launching development projects. ÒI wish such projects should be launched in other villages of the district,Ó he added. DCO Jahanzeb Malik said that Rs 2.5 billion was being spent on development projects, including the construction of roads and a programme to improve the deteriorating environment in the city. He said that the mega developments projects in Bheela were justified as it was a cluster of about 20 villages and it would benefit the people of the area. ÒThe population of the city is increasing at a fast pace. Therefore, the administration is focussing on the development of the Kasur-Depalpur Road area to shift the burden of the city,Ò he maintained. All attempts to contact the chief secretary failed. Quarters close to him said that the CS was a man of principles who could never think of acting against merit.
The News International, Lahore
November 18, 2009
Projects and funds From M Saleemur Rahman KASUR: The Punjab Finance Department has released the entire amount of Rs 16.648 million for the upgradation of a sports ground at Roshan Bheela. 2. The entire sum of Rs 25.903 million has been released for the construction of a cricket ground. 3. An amount of Rs 30.402 million has been allocated for the merger of Government Girls Community Model School and Government Girls Elementary School Roshan Bheela and their upgradation to Government Girls Umrao Ali Khan Higher Secondary School. Of the total amount, Rs 12.5 million has been released. 4. Of the total amount of Rs 56.931 million for the upgradation of Government High School to Government Nawaz Ahmad Higher Secondary School Bheela, the Finance Department has released Rs 14 million. 5. A hefty sum of Rs 102.72 million has been approved for the establishment of Aziz Bibi Hospital in Bheela. 6. An amount of Rs 25 million has been approved for the establishment of a public library at Bheela. The library will be constructed on the model of LahoreÕs Model Town Library. 7. On January 9, the Kasur DO Revenue notified to acquire 314 kanal and 14 marla land under section 4 for the shrine of Paney Shah at Bheela. 8. The total sum of Rs 1.443 million has been released for the improvement and renovation of the boundary wall of the main graveyard near the railway line. 9. A sum of Rs 5.427 million has been approved for missing facilities at Veterinary Dispensary, Bheela while Rs 5.125 million has been released. 10. The Finance Department has released the total amount of Rs 25.84 million for the development of Railway Station Park, Bheela. 11. The total amount of Rs 2.625 million has been released for the development of a park at Old Veterinary Dispensary. 12. The total amount of Rs 12.967 million has been released for the development of a small park along the railway line at Bheela. 13. An amount of Rs 12.593 million has been released by the Finance Department for the establishment of Rashida Bibi Vocational Training Institute at Bheela. 14. For the rehabilitation of Railway Station Bheela, an estimated cost of Rs 1.6 million has been sent to the Lahore Railways deputy superintendent. 15. On September 24, an estimate of Rs 2.25 million has been sent to the Local Government and Community Development (LG&CD) secretary for allowing the Kasur TMA to fill the land along the railway line at Bheela. In addition, millions of rupees were spent on the renovation of the shrine of Baba Paney Shah almost 12 years ago. At that time, ÔsolangÕ was laid from the Bahadurpura drain to the farm of Javed Mehmood who was then principal secretary to CM. At that time, a big drain was constructed, which took the entire water of the village towards the lands of his family members. A big water tank was constructed in the vicinity of Baba Inayat Shah, another saint in the village. Two modern parks, only for women and children, were constructed at Rs 9.5 million in the village three years ago. Two colleges equipped with modern facilities are under construction in the village one each for boys and girls. A mini canal is being constructed for irrigating the lands of his relatives up to the nearby Todipur village. A 60-foot road is being planned from Bahadurpura to Bheela and people whose lands fall in the way are being given Rs 1.2 million per acre. Interestingly, the lands of Javed Mehmood have not been touched for the construction of the road.
The Pakistan Times, Lahore
December 18, 2009
Top baboo’s village luckiest in country
KASUR: Punjab Chief Secretary Javed MahmoodÕs village, Roshan Bheela, is undergoing an unprecedented uplift worth Rs 318 million that no other village in the country can think of. The projects include a stadium, a cricket ground, a library, a 40-bed hospital, parks, upgradation and merger of two schools, a vocational training institute, and renovation of the Bheela Railway Station. On the other hand, the Kasur Tehsil CouncilÕs total development budget for the fiscal year 2009-10 is Rs 370 million. A few days back, hundreds of people belonging to Mianwala village staged a demonstration against a mini canal being derived from the BRB Canal. The protesters said people on the Khudian and Allahabad side would not be able to get smooth supply of water for irrigation after the excavation of the canal from Mianwala to a farm in Bheela. People from different walks of life termed such a huge allocation of funds for a single village discrimination against other underdeveloped parts of the district. Talking to The News, PML-N MNA Sheikh Wasim Ahmed, Human Rights Committee district coordinator Maj (retd) Habibur Rehman advocate, Chaudhry Sabir Ali advocate and UC-10 Nazim Ayaz Ahmad Khan said it was injustice to ignore the district headquarters and allocate millions of rupees for a small village having just 5,000 people. They maintained that there were hundreds of villages having above 25,000 population along the main roads, including Kasur-Depalpur Road and Ganda Singhwala Road where there was no high school, park and healthcare facilities. ÒThe Kasur Sports Complex inaugurated many years ago is still incomplete. There is only one DHQ Hospital for 700,000 people in the city. It becomes ghostsÕ abode in the evening as only one doctor is available for the entire city,Ó they said, adding that 27 posts of doctors including radiologist, anaesthetist, ENT specialist, orthopaedic and medical officers were vacant. ÒThere are only 12 doctors in the hospital. Of them, four are drawing their salaries from DHQ Hospital but working at the DHO Office. ICU and CCU are being run by only one cardiologist,Ó they said. ÒGanda Singhwala RHC is located near the border and above 80 villages get benefit from it. Only two medical officers are providing treatment to lakhs of people. The situation in other RHCs and BHUs across the district is not different from it,Ó they opined. “Citizens were pleased when they knew that a large numbers of mega projects were being started in Kasur, but they were shocked to know that all these projects were meant for a small village. It is injustice that a small village has been provided facilities which cannot be seen even in big towns.” They alleged that the mega projects had actually been launched in the village to increase the rate of the lands of influential people. “All the projects have been completed either on the state land or on the land of the poor. The lands of the poor were forcibly vacated for the projects by the government officials.” They demanded Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif take notice of this huge discrimination in the district. PML-N MNA Sheikh Wasim Ahmed said that he, along with a delegation, had informed the chief minister about this sorry state of affairs during a meeting at Lahore on Tuesday. Commenting on the projects, PPP district senior vice-president Syed Tayyab Rizvi said that millions of rupees, which were in fact the right of the entire district, were being spent on Bheela. “Unfortunately, the city has been ignored and funds are being used on other places. In my constituency (PP-175), everyone can check that there are no proper roads and overall sanitary condition is in a shambles. A majority of schools in the constituency have no basic facilities like boundary walls, proper classrooms, washrooms and drinking water,” he disclosed. He alleged that the entire district administration was focused on Bheela. Bheela Union Council Nazim Khalid Dogar said that two small parks were enough for the village while others projects, including the sports stadium and the library, were the right of the Kasur city. He disclosed that there were many villages in his union council where schools had no proper buildings and the villages were without sewerage. “If the top bureaucracy is sympathetic towards the people of this area, it should develop other villages also,” he maintained. Kasur Tehsil Nazim Agha Naveed Hashim Rizvi told The News that the Bheela Union Council had been given its share of Rs 3.5 million for development. He claimed that a development package amounting to Rs 2.5 billion was going to start in Kasur tehsil and there was no harm in spending millions of rupees in Bheela village on the direction of the Punjab chief secretary. He declared the chief secretary Mohsin-e-Kasur for launching development projects. ÒI wish such projects should be launched in other villages of the district,Ó he added. DCO Jahanzeb Malik said that Rs 2.5 billion was being spent on development projects, including the construction of roads and a programme to improve the deteriorating environment in the city. He said that the mega developments projects in Bheela were justified as it was a cluster of about 20 villages and it would benefit the people of the area. ÒThe population of the city is increasing at a fast pace. Therefore, the administration is focussing on the development of the Kasur-Depalpur Road area to shift the burden of the city,Ò he maintained. All attempts to contact the chief secretary failed. Quarters close to him said that the CS was a man of principles who could never think of acting against merit. –Pakistan Times Report
Dawn
December 18, 2009
Power players playing on project funds
By Afzal Ansari
KASUR, Dec 17: A PML-N lawmaker, two top officials and a local government representative are playing politics at the Rs2.37 billion development funds for the district.
The ongoing tussle involves Punjab Chief Secretary Javed Mahmood, now transferred DCO Abdul Jabbar Shaheen, PML-N MNA Sheikh Waseem and Tehsil Nazim Agha Naveed Hashim Rizvi.
Those benefiting from the development funds, including contractors and brick kiln owners, staged rallies in favour of Shaheen, who was transferred from here under political pressure. Shaheen is currently attending a NIPA course in Lahore. The demonstrators demanded that Shaheen should be brought back to the district, and ransacked the office of Waseem. PML-N parliamentarians, activists and contractors who could not benefit from these funds staged protests against Shaheen and alleged embezzlement of funds. PML-N workers forced Rizvi, a close aide of Shaheen, to leave the stage when Punjab Prisons Minister Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor was administering oath to the newly appointed educators here about two weeks ago.
More than Rs1 billion funds meant for Kasur city are being spent on the development of Roshan Bheela, the village of the chief secretary that has a population of 5,000 people. The village has been named after chief secretary’s grandfather. Instead of the district headquarters, Roshan Bheela village has got a stadium, a library, a Danish Public School, seven parks, a dual carriageway, schools for girls and boys and a 150-bed hospital. The village is being supplied irrigation water through a link canal originating from BRB Canal. The chief secretary had appointed Shaheen DCO of Kasur to get development work at his village done without any hindrance.
Local political analysts believe that the chief secretary or somebody from his family would contest election from the area under the PML-N banner and that is why the top official is so much concerned about development of his area.
The Kasur TMA, headed by Rizvi, provided every help for development work at the chief secretary’s village. It released Rs2.5 million for development at Roshan Bheela on Oct 27 despite a ban on release of funds for any project.
Rizvi said provision of machinery for development work at Roshan Bheela did not affect other development works in the city and added that funds were released legally on the orders of the Punjab government.
Local political analysts say Rizvi did all this so generously because he is planning to contest the next election from the PML-N platform.
A few roads have been constructed in Kasur city so far and those too in an Ill-planned manner despite the fact that hundreds of houses and shops were razed during a so-called anti-encroachment campaign. Shaheen fined a number of encroachers, but did not give them receipts. A row between Shaheen and Waseem erupted when encroachments were being demolished. Taking advantage of the situation, PPP and PML-Q activists supported Shaheen and encouraged him to carry on the operation. Waseem tried to get the operation halted, but failed. As a result, Waseem’s popularity graph went down. In retaliation, Waseem incited traders against Shaheen, but failed to get the desired results. Some days ago, Waseem played another card when he held a press conference along with the vegetable market traders, who were unhappy with Shaheen over transfer of the market out of the city.
Later, the MNA held a press conference at his office and accused Shaheen and Rizvi of embezzling funds and misusing authority. He said funds had been misused and roads had been constructed with substandard material. He denied charges of land grab. He said Shaheen allotted subsidised tractors to his favourites, including the chief secretary and some lawyers.
Recently, Waseem complained to the chief minister about the prevailing situation, but to no avail.
District Nazim Imran Naul was not available for a comment. However, District Naib Nazim Maqsood Sabir said funds for Roshan Bheela village were sanctioned by the Punjab government under various heads. He said that 60 per cent of district funds, which had been unspent for the last three years, were being spent on Roshan Bheela village.