Friday, August 7, 2009

Rs200mn announced for Gojra rehabilitation


TOBA TEK SINGH: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Thursday that rehabilitation of Christian families affected by recent incidents in Gojra would cost Rs200 million, half of which would be provided by the federal government.
Addressing members of the Christian community and other people here, he said there would be no point-scoring and the federal and provincial governments would work jointly to rehabilitate the affected families.
He said the federal cabinet and the National Assembly had acted promptly and passed unanimous resolutions against the outrage.
Mr Gilani said the government would bear all expenses of development, renovation or repair of churches, shrines and other places of worship and raise the quota of scholarship for Christian students.
He announced that a minorities’ day would be observed in the country on August 11 and urged the administration to make arrangements in such a way that it did not clash with Independence Day functions.
He said the chief minister of Punjab would form a committee to supervise rehabilitation work in Gojra and to create religious harmony in the province.
He said that his government had doubled development grants of parliamentarians belonging to the minority community.
The prime minister said an inter-faith harmony committee had been formed at the federal level and it would be extended to the district and tehsil levels in the country.
Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said the rehabilitation work had been undertaken and all damaged houses would be rebuilt within a month. He said 98 suspects had been arrested so far.
He said the findings of the Lahore High Court judicial commission, which was recording evidences, would be fully implemented and those found guilty would be punished.
Federal ministers Rehman Malik, Hamid Saeed Kazmi, Shahbaz Bhatti and Rana Farooq and provincial ministers Raja Riaz Ahmad, Rana Sanaullah, Dost Muhammad Khosa, Haji Mohammad Ishaq, Begum Neelum Jabbar and Kamran Michael also attended the meeting.
PROTEST: Soon after the departure of the prime minister, dozens of women staged a demonstration outside the TMA complex in Gojra.
They were carrying placards inscribed with demands for action against policemen who, according to them, had arrested innocent people.

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