Daily Times

LAHORE: A resolution has been passed in the Punjab Assembly to rename a government-run eye hospital after the name of Mian Shujaur Rehman, father of MPA Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman.

The resolution was moved by a female legislator elected on a reserved seat from the treasury, Shazia Kamran, saying that the House had earlier recommended the government to rename a public health facility ‘Hospital for Eye Diseases’ in Lahore after Mian Shujaur Rehman, father of sitting Minister Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman.

However, opposition benches and some of the treasury members decries renaming the hospital after Mian Shujaur Rehman, saying it would be an obliging move. They suggested the House to rename the hospital after Abdul Sattar Edhi, an iconic social worker and philanthropist who even donated his eyes after his death on July 8, 2016.

Those opposed the resolution raised questions about the political and even social identity of Mian Shujaur Rehman, who was the Lahore mayor in the military regime of Gen (r) Ziaul Haq, and said he had made the hospital with the public funds.

When the mover of the resolution could not throw weight behind her proposal, Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana Iqbal and provincial minister Khalil Tahir Sindhu intervened after which the resolution was passed despite severe opposition.

Meanwhile, during the Private Member’s Day

During the Private Member’s Day, the House also passed three other resolutions, including a resolution moved by Dr Waseem Akhtar of the Jamaat-e-Islami to take measures for making Quranic education compulsory in schools and colleges across Punjab.

Initially, a minority member, Shenila Ruth, opposed the resolution, demanding the government that it should maintain the syllabus in educational institutes as per the beliefs of students. However, she did not argue more when the resolution was amended to make the Quranic education compulsory for Muslim students only.

The provincial assembly session was started one-and-half-an-hour late to its scheduled time on Tuesday with Speaker Rana Iqbal in the chair.

During the Question Hour session, Mian Aslam Iqbal of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) called into question raids conducted by former Punjab Food Authority (PFA) director operations Ayesha Mumtaz, saying: “She was not eligible to conduct raids it was a job of field officers of the food department and not of the director operations.

However, due to “unsatisfied” answers from the Parliamentary Secretary for Food Asadullah Arain, the speaker referred the question to the standing committee.

Later, the proceedings of the house were adjourned till today at 10am.