Pack your bags and get out, Lahoris tell intelligence agencies
Pack your bags and get out, Model Town tells security agencies
* MTS residents hold protest, demand removal of security offices from residential neighbourhood
* Demonstrators carrying placards, banners demand compensation for victims of terror attacks
* Slam MTS admin for inability to act on residents’ behalf
LAHORE: Residents of Model Town and several members of the Model Town Society (MTS) administration on Sunday organised a protest for the removal of offices of security agencies from residential areas due to the massive loss of life and valuables in the two terrorist attacks in the area.
The protest was organised outside Model Town Park and a large number of residents, including women and children, turned out to demonstrate.
Provision: The protesters held placards and banners, demanding the removal of the security agencies’ offices from the locality and the provision of the promised compensation to those who had lost their loved ones and belongings in the recent bomb attack on the Special Intelligence Agency (SIA) office on March 8.
Inability: The protesters chanted slogans against the MTS administration for their “inability” to remove “illegally developed offices” and “commercialised facilities” across the locality. Model Town Residents Association (MTRA) President Amir Azam told Daily Times that there were more than 400 houses in K block alone – where the SIA building had been attacked – and that almost all of them had been badly damaged on March 8. He said that a number of people were planning to evacuate their houses in the area, fearing that they their houses would need to be fully or partially reconstructed in order to live in them. Participating in the protest, MTS Managing Committee member Muhammad Shoaib told Daily Times there was “no logic in using innocent civilians as human shields to continue working against terrorists”.
Illogical: He said it was illogical to establish a high-risk area in the middle of a residential facility, adding that investigations against terrorists should be carried out in highly secure zones in isolation.
Another member of the management committee, Naila Najam, asked how many more innocent lives needed to be lost before the government and the MTS administration reached a decision on removing the offices of security agencies from the locality. She said the MTS administration was equally responsible for the loss of lives in terrorist attacks, adding the administration did not need any permission from the courts to serve a notice to security agencies, asking them to leave the area. Sania, a protestor, said, “It is a pity that none of the current rulers, including the president, prime minister or even the chief justice of Pakistan, have taken notice of the plight of residents who are losing their lives and are
being used as human shields.
Source: Daily Times
Model Town residents demand removal of security agencies’ offices
LAHORE: Residents of Model Town held a protest on Sunday to demand the shifting of offices of security agencies located in the area.
Residents had staged a similar protest last week but no action was taken by the authorities, which has compelled the protestors to hold a protest every Sunday until their demands are met. The protest was organized outside the Model Town Park and a large number of residents including women and children participated in it. The protesters held placards and banners, demanding that the offices of security agencies be shifted from Model Town and the victims of the March 8 suicide bombing on the Special Investigation Agency (SIA) office be compensated. The protesters chanted slogans against Model Town society’s inability in shifting the offices of security agencies and for not compensating the blast victims. Naila Najam told Daily Times that although they had held a protest last Sunday but the offices of security agencies are still located in Model Town and the blast victims have not been compensated yet.
She said Model Town is a residential area and offices of law enforcement agencies should not be located here as their existence threatens the lives of the residents.
Naila said the residents paid taxes to Model Town Society (MTS) so the organisation should solve their problems. She said if the MTS would not solve their problems they would approach the Punjab chief minister and Lahore High Court chief justice to demand the shifting of offices of the security offices. staff report
http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=20103\29\story_29-3-2010_pg7_17