Zardari takes note of Christians’ killing, controversy over temple

Seeks early completion of projects in AJK

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday took a strong note of the murder of two Christian brothers outside a court in Faisalabad, and the controversy surrounding a historic Hindu temple in Rawalpindi.

Zardari directed the provincial authorities to take all-out measures for the arrest of the culprits involved in the murder of the two brothers, accused of writing a blasphemous pamphlet. Condemning the incident, he said it had brought a bad name to the country. He said the life of every person was sacred and nobody could be allowed to take the law into their hands.

He expressed sympathy with the families of Pastor Rashid Emmanuel and his brother Sajjad, and directed the provincial government to pay them suitable compensation. Zardari also took note of the media report about demolition of a building, claimed to be a Hindu temple, in Rawalpindi. He asked Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti to probe into the matter and report to him the factual position.

APP adds: President Asif Ali Zardari has asked the federal government to take necessary steps on a priority basis for completion of the ongoing projects in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. He directed this during a meeting with a delegation from AJK including President AJK Raja Zulqarnain Khan and Prime Minister Raja Muhammad Farooq Khan at the Aiwan-e-Sadr on Tuesday. Minister for Population Welfare AJK Naheed Tariq, PPP AJK president Abdul Majeed Chaudhry, former prime minister AJK Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan, Chief Secretary M Arbab Shehzad, Secretary Serra Abid Shah and Commissioner Mangla Raising Project Chaudhry Munir were also accompanied the president and AJK PM.

Water and Power Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Secretary-General M Salman Faruqui, Chairman Erra Altaf M Saleem and Chairman Wapda Shakil Durrani were also present during the meeting besides Federal Secretary Water and Power Shahid Rafi. Matters related to progress on various development projects with particular emphasis on issues relating to the Mangla Dam Raising Project and reconstruction programme in AJK were discussed during the meeting.

Prime Minister AJK Raja Muhammad Farooq Khan briefed Zardari about the reconstruction programme in AJK and the four other new towns exclusively meant for the victims of the ongoing Mangla Dam Raising Project. While briefing the president, he said the raising of the main dam and spillway have been completed in December 2009 and the main raising work was ready to accommodate additional storage during the flood season. The raised Mangla Dam will be able to store additional 2.88MAF of water over and above its original capacity of 4.54MAF. He said that over Rs 40 billion have been paid as compensation for land and trees, however, an amount of nearly Rs 5 billion was yet to be provided to the government of AJK for disbursement among the victims.

Zardari assured the AJK leaders that he would ask the federal government to urgently address the issues relating to rehabilitation and payment of compensation to the victims who were displaced due to the raising of Mangla dam. He directed Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to immediately hold a meeting with the relevant federal government agencies in this regard and apprise him of the progress made. He said the government gave special attention to the development of AJK and completion of various ongoing development projects were among the foremost priorities of the government.