Azad Kashmir Spectator

MUZAFFARABAD (INP): AJK flood affectees have blamed the Revenue Department of Azad Jammu and Kashmir of awarding Watan cards to the influential people of the area while deserving and poor genuine people have been deprived of this facility. A group of flood-hit people of AJK told INP that deserving people have not been given Watan cards by the Revenue Department of AJK because the poor people have neither any approach to the officials nor they can influence them to acquire the cards. Sources said that merely less than 3 percent deserving people had been given the Watan cards and rest of them have been ignored because the officials of the Revenue Department were only considering the cases of only influential people and ignoring the applications of the deserving one. "Our cases were not considered by the officials of the Revenue Department because we have neither any money to bribe them to consider our applications nor we have other means to influence them," the flood-effectees blamed. All the benefits extended by the government of Pakistan to the flood-hit people including the Watan cards were being enjoyed by the affluent and those who have terms with the officials of Revenue Department, they accused.

Source : The frontier post

LONDON, March 11 (APP)- Azad Kashmir Police has decided to establish an overseas police complaint cell for the British Kashmir Diaspora to deal with their grievances.The decision was announced by Tarik Khokhar, Inspector-General, Police, Azad Kashmir, while addressing a community meeting at Slough on the outskirts of London last evening.The IG who is currently on an official visit to the UK on the invitation of the Home office and Metropolitan Police, has met members of Kashmiri and Pakistanis communities in various cities of the UK to know first-hand their grievances from the police administration in Azad Kashmir.
Khokhar told the meeting that he was fully aware of the problems faced by expatriate Pakistanis including cases of kidnap for ransom, police heavy-handedness, lack of response, tribal-oriented litigation and targeting of the overseas Pakistanis by the criminal gangs including some rotten apples from within the police services.
He told the community that the decision to set up the cell was taken on the demand of the expatriate community members.

“The Complaint Cell has been established in the Central Police office (IGP Office), Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu & Kashmir to receive process, inquire and redress the complaints of the overseas community on a fast track basis,” Khokhar told the meeting.
He said that the Complaints cell will be monitored and supervised directly by the Inspector General of Police, AJK, and managed by the Personal Staff Officer (PSO) to IGP on daily basis.
Khokhar also informed the community of the serious problems the police force in AJK was facing due to the economic situation of Pakistan and the lack of funds.
He said with a shoe-string budget the police was doing everything to perform their duties in the best possible manner and to serve the communities.
He informed how the police wants to map all the major AJK cities with CCTV cameras to keep an eye on criminal elements who take advantage of the lack of modern surveillance technology.
He also informed of the plans to set up small mobile units at the grassroots level in major cities to create a better and direct policing interaction with the local communities.
He appealed to the communities to also assist the police in improving its operations, not through monetary grants but taking interest in neighbourhood and community projects in collaboration with the police.
The IGP invited the community to interact with the AJK police to create a better sense of things and to improve the situation at every level of the policing.