ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has decided to remove an old radio transmitter from Manawan near Wagah border that was set up decades ago to counter the Indian propaganda against Pakistan in an effective manner.
By doing this, the prime minister has proved that he is quite keen on friendship with India. On the other hand, the prime minister has decided to remove the historic transmitter and hand over the land worth billions of rupees to the Punjab government illegally. The Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC), which is a federal organisation, owns this precious land.
A meeting on April 5 under the chairmanship of Federal Minister for Information Pervaiz Rashid decided to allot this land to the Punjab government.
The federal information secretary, internal publicity wing director general, PBC director general, Engineering Broadcasting Corporation director and the counsel for the PBC attended the meeting. Dr Zulfiqar and Dr Saeeda represented the Punjab government at the meeting.
It is pertinent to mention here that this land is disputed and the case is sub judice. The Supreme Court has issued notices to the parties in the case. However, the Punjab government and the federal government have decided to resolve the issue outside the court.
According to the documentary proof available with Daily Times, the radio transmitter installed at Manawan broadcasts national programmes in Urdu and Punjabi languages in collaboration with the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army. These programmes are aimed at countering the Indian propaganda against Pakistan.
However, the powerful land mafia in the Punjab government of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif wanted to grab this precious land. Some attempts were made in the past to grab this land, but the PBC foiled them. Radio workers knocked the door of the court of law and the case was now pending in the Supreme Court.
In the past, the officers of the PBC were threatened with consequences for raising their voice against the transfer of this land to the Punjab government.
An assistant commissioner of Lahore’s Shalimar Town opposed the proposal of the Lahore district commission relating to the transfer of the radio transmitter to some other place and refused to allot this land to the provincial government.
The Punjab government claims that it wants to build a state of art hospital on this land, whereas the PCB officers are of the view that vast tracts of land are available around the transmitter and the Punjab government should build a hospital there.
They are of the view that the transmitter has a historic significance; therefore, they would not allow the authorities to bulldoze it. The Punjab government has assured the Federal Ministry of Information and Broadcasting that a monument would be built beside the hospital and a plaque inscribed with the historical significance of the radio transmitter would be installed there. The provincial government would bear the expenses of this monument.
When Nawaz Sharif came into power, he took the decision to get rid of the transmitter, which played a very important role in the wars of 1965 and 1971. When contacted, Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid told Daily Times that it was just an exchange of land. He said the Punjab government would build a big hospital at the land where the transmitter had been installed and give the PBC alternative land for installation of the transmitter.
.jpg)
