CM orders action against land-grabbers, criminals

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif has ordered strict action against land-grabbers, extortionists and outlaws in the province. He said that those playing with the lives of the innocent citizens deserved no leniency and action should be ensured against all such criminals.

He said an effective system should also be evolved for scrutinising private security agencies and only such companies should be allowed to work as fulfilled merit and conditions and their security guards should also be well-trained and equipped with modern weapons. He said a procedure should also be adopted for renewal of licenses of security agencies every year.

The chief minister was presiding over a meeting to review law and order and curbing crime in the province here on Thursday.

He said land-grabbers had become a menace to society during the last 10 years. He said the PML-N government had rooted them out during its last tenure and now it is active for eliminating them again. He said the campaign launched against land-grabbing in Lahore and Faisalabad had yielded positive results.

Shahbaz said that in view of the recent incidents that took place in the country, police should remain fully alert and utilise all their capabilities for protection of life and property of people and keep a vigilant eye on anti-social elements. He said police should eliminate gangs involved in heinous crimes and take effective steps for curbing incidents of kidnapping for ransom, car-lifting and street crimes. Lauding the successful police operation against the accused involved in heinous crimes in riverine areas of Rahimyar Khan and Rajanpur, he said that a vigilant eye should be kept on hideouts of criminals for keeping the areas free of crimes and sustainable measures should also be taken so that the criminals might not take refuge there. He said police would be equipped with modern weapons for countering criminals in riverine areas of Rahimyar Khan and Rajanpur and directed the inspector general police to inform about the requirements of the police in this regard. The CM said there was a mushroom growth of private security agencies which were minting money. He said the performance of some security agencies was very poor and security guards were neither fully trained nor were equipped with modern weapons. He said a comprehensive system should be evolved for reviewing the performance of private security agencies.

He directed the Home secretary to arrange a detailed briefing with regard to private security agencies during the next few days in which all the matters including performance of security agencies, training of security guards and renewal of license each year be included. The chief minister said that arrangements should be made in consultation with the authorities concerned regarding security of financial institutions. He said enemy was trying to destabilise the country and the entire nation would have to be united for foiling its nefarious designs.

He said promotion of religious harmony and brotherhood was the need of the hour and the meetings of peace committees in all districts of the province should be convened regularly. A number of important decisions were taken in the meeting regarding maintenance of law and order. Inspector General Police Javed Iqbal and Capital City Police Officer Ahmad Raza Tahir gave briefing to the meeting. The chief secretary, home secretary, Addl.

programME for IT: Stressing the need to equip the young generation with modern knowledge, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Thursday that the Punjab government was implementing a comprehensive programme for promotion of Information Technology in the province.

While launching of a Microsoft Workshop here, the chief minister said that launching of Microsoft Workshop was a good programme to impart IT training to the youth and it would yield far-reaching results.

Provincial Minister for Education Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman, Member Provincial Assembly Dr. Saeed Elahi, the Higher Education secretary, the Punjab Board of Information Technology chairman, the Country Manager of Microsoft and the Punjab Youth Council chairman were also present.

Shahbaz Sharif said that the cooperation of Microsoft with regard to launching of Microsoft Workshop was praiseworthy, adding that, under the programme, training workshops would be arranged in nine divisions of the province through which opportunities of training regarding Information Technology, Women Development, Media & Communication and Management would be available to 360 members of Youth Council.

He said that programme of holding training workshops for creating awareness among the youth about Information Technology was a commendable step and it would be implemented through the Punjab Youth Council.

Saif Hameed said that, on the directions of the chief minister, Punjab Youth Council had been set up to include the youth in the development process of the province. He said that members of the Youth Council took active part in the flood relief activities, and now the Council was also taking part in the process of verification of particulars in the Aashiyana Housing Scheme. He disclosed that Microsoft had made the largest funding for Microsoft Workshops in the region so far.