SAHIWAL: Around 115 political workers of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf from Sahiwal division were released from Sahiwal Central Jail on Saturday.

Jail Superintendent Noor Hasan Bahgeela confirmed that all PTI political workers detained in the jail had been released after necessary documentation. He said the prisons department had received the detention orders for the PTI workers for two days, after which neither the district administration nor did the district police seek to extend the detention and all of the party workers were released.

Reports said around 16 senior PTI stalwarts from the Sahiwal division had not been released as all of them were detained for one month in Central Prison, Lodhran on Feb 28.

The party workers and leaders from the Sahiwal division had courted arrest under the PTI’s ‘Jail Bharo Tehreek’ announced by Imran Khan on Feb 28. This was the highest number of political workers who courted their arrest after Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Gujranwala. On a single day, around 135 political workers and their leaders had courted arrest. The police had sent them to Sahiwal prison from where the leaders were shifted to Lodhran. Those detained for one month in Lodhran jail include Ali Shakoor, Muzzafar Shah, Chaudhry Asif Ali, Mian Anwarul Haq Rammy, Rai Murtaza Iqbal, former MNA, Ghulam Sarwar former MPA, Shabbir Mustafa, Sherazi, Mian Sajjad Nisar, Irshad Kathiya, Ahmed Safder Khan, Rai Iqbal, Muhammad Yar, Shahbaz Khan Mardana, Rana Tanveer and Rizwan Muzzafar Shah, ex-chairman of the Parks and Horticulture Authority.

HARAPPA FESTIVAL: A week-long Harappa Festival-2023 kicked off with a colorful craft exhibition, folk dances, and folk music at the Sahiwal Art Council.

Commissioner Shoaib Iqbal inaugurated the festival being hosted by the Punjab Council of the Arts. It has a number of events, including Qawwali Night, folk music and dance shows, ghazal night, Sufi music, kids show and a crafts and painting exhibition of the local artists.

Sahiwal Arts Council Director Riaz Hamdani said Sher Miandad, Zahoor Lohar, Wahdat Rameez, Muskan Javed, Ramzan Jani, Toufeeq Khan, Raheela Khan and Baber Ali will perform in the festival in the coming days. The festival has food stalls and special shows for children and areas have been set up for children where they can participate in different interactive games.

The Harappa festival is also having a two-day conference where archeologists, community activists and historians will share their work on Harappan culture. The conference organisers also developed a Harappan Punjabi song, ‘Hariyopia’ which will run as the conference’s title song. The conference’s theme is “Harappa Civilization and Pakistan” while the sessions would be held on “identification of archeological and cultural identity”, “cultural Impact of Harappa civilization”, and “community initiatives in restoring Harappa Museum land”.

A 40 minutes stage play, Mayavati, written by Bilal Bajwa would also be performed in the conference. The conference delegates will visit Harappa Museum. Hasan Khokhar, deputy director, Department of Archeology, Asim Dogar, former curator, Prof Imran Jaffer, Prof Shafiq Khalil and Prof Bilal Bajwa would be the key speakers in the conference.

OVERSEAS PAKISTANIS: Around 119 complaints are lying pending with the local chapter of the Overseas Pakistani Commission (OPC) for the last 15 months.

Syed Khadim Abbas, the provincial chairman of the OPC, took serious notice of the pending complaints and directed the divisional and district administration to resolve the complaints of the overseas Pakistanis at the earliest.

Mr Abbas said there should be a timeline for the redress of each complaint as overseas Pakistani had less time to stay in Pakistan. He said illegal occupants of expatriate’s land must be dealt with an iron hand.

Dawn learnt from sources that a total 471 complaints were launched and 185 of them were resolved, 150 closed because of fake claims while 119 were pending. Among the pending complaints, 84, 31, and three were from the districts of Sahiwal, Okara and Pakpattan, respectively.

Mr Abbas said most of the overseas Pakistani complaints were related to the illegal occupation of land, property and other immovable assets. He said it was the responsibility of police to protect the genuine interests of the overseas Pakistanis. The review meeting was attended by district and divisional heads of police and revenue departments and the DCs.

DIGITAL CENSUS: The digital census kicked off in Sahiwal division, Commissioner Shoaib Iqbal inaugurated the digital census by numbering and feeding data of a family on a digital tablet.

Published in Dawn, March 3rd, 2023