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FIA to investigate people trafficking in quake areas

PESHAWAR: The Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) anti trafficking unit (ATU) will dispatch a three-member team to the earthquake-affected areas to investigate human trafficking in the area. Saleh Muhammed Khan, the ATU assistant director, told Daily Times on Monday that the decision has been taken after the media reported that some people were abducting and trafficking women and children from the earthquake affected areas. He said that a team consisting of Inspector Shoukat Ali Khan, and two sub-inspectors, Fazal Akbar and Amjad Ali, will assess the exact number of women and children missing from the areas. He said that Tariq Khosa, the immigration additional director general, has already been appointed the coordinator of relief operations to investigate the reports. He said that Aftab Ahmad Sherpao, the federal interior minister, had expressed concern over the issue in a November 2 ministry meeting. “Security and protection of the destitute and unattended women in the earthquake affected areas is of supreme importance, and steps should be taken to avoid their abduction and trafficking,” he quoted the minister as saying. In a letter to the FIA, the minister directed the agency’s Rawalpindi and Peshawar anti-trafficking units to remain on high alert to deal with any such incident. “Visiting the earthquake affected areas, tent villages and camps may be helpful in the collection of intelligence and the retrieval of any possible abducted child or woman,” the letter said. The ministry also suggested a team consisting of two ATU officials be dispatched to the areas. javed afridi

Madrassa certificate issue politically motivated: Fazl

ZHOB: The issue of religious seminaries’ certificates is a government decision and was taken to appease certain political elements, said Maulana Fazlur Rehman, opposition leader in the National Assembly, on Monday. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal MNA added that religious scholars would not compromise on the issue of Madaris certificates. Fazl said the recent earthquake caused widespread destruction in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and the North West frontier Province. Earthquake-affected areas are 17 kilometres in radius in NWFP and 13 kilometres in AJK, he said. Around 500,000 houses were destroyed and the government has decided on compensation of Rs 100,000 per house, while the local government had recommended Rs 200,000, he added. The MNA said the Pakistan Army was doing its best in rescue and relief operations and the MMA was satisfied with their progress. He said that he objected to NATO’s involvement in relief operations because the latter’s participation was initiated without taking the National Assembly into confidence. Aid is stil coming for earthquake victims and the entire nation should set an example of solidarity and oneness in this crucial hour of need, he added. online

Surgeons, equipment needed

PESHAWAR: Plastic surgeons, medicines and equipment are urgently needed for earthquake survivors to avoid limb amputation, said Dr Abdul Hameed on behalf of the Plastic Surgeons Association of Pakistan (PSAP). He said that hundreds of orthopaedic surgery patients with limb fractures needed reconstructive surgery to avoid infections leading to amputation. He said the PSAP was operating on 85 reconstructive surgery patients weekly, free of charge in Abbottabad, out of which 40 percent were children, 40 percent women and 20 percent men. He added that four plastic surgeon teams were required in Mansehra and Balakot where most of the patients were coming from. “We are running out of time and cannot afford delay,” he said. Dr Abdul Hameed said the foreign field plastic surgery hospital in Muzaffarabad could not deal with complicated patients requiring reconstructive surgery, who were being shifted to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in Islamabad. He said French, American, Italian, Swedish and UAE-based plastic surgeons had set up field hospitals in Mansehra in collaboration with PSAP but they were not accessible to all patients. The association had set up two fully equipped operation theatres at the 25-bed Women and Children Hospital in Abbottabad and acquired 35 beds in the private Gilani Hospital in Abbottabad free of cost. He said those with serious and complicated injuries were being referred to Shaikh Zayed Hospital and Jinnah Hospital in Lahore, currently serving 30 such patients each and some patients had been sent to Karachi where the Emergency Foundation Organisation was paying their expenses. staff report

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