Daily Times

The slogans demanding resignation of Punjab minister for Health Dr Yasmin Rashid were raised from the opposition benches on Wednesday during the ongoing session of the Punjab Assembly. It all started when Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz lawmaker Azma Bukhari highlighted the issue regarding a leaked audio call between the law minister Raja Basharat and Medical Superintendent of Benazir Bhutto Hospital Rawalpindi Dr Tariq Niazi in which the MS refused to obey the orders of minister and didn’t transfer Dr Areeba Abbasi-the daughter of jailed PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi from one department to the other.

A working lady doctor, who is also a mother, was forced to leave her workplace and she is right now sitting in her home after resigning from her duty just because of the health department that has completely failed to deliver, said Azma Bukhari while speaking on a point of order. She further added that stern action should also be taken against the MS of the hospital who leaked the audio call between him and law minister as it was not possible to leak the call without the permission of the MS. She also demanded to launch a case against the MS of that hospital under the cybercrime act. The stance of Azma was also supported by minister for Public Prosecution Chaudhry Zaheer-ud-Din who concurred that the case should be registered against the MS under cybercrime act. Malik Muhammad Ahmed of PML-N was of the view that the utmost responsibility of every member sitting in this house is to highlight the problems of the people hailing from his constituency and there is nothing wrong in it if Raja Basharat did so being the representative of his constituency.

Answering the lawmakers over the issue, minister for health Dr Yasmin Rashid said that it is the responsibility of every government employee to obey the orders of his or her department as it is a binding on all the government employees. If Dr Areeba Abbasi was transferred from one department to another, then it was her duty to obey those orders because she was a government employee, said the health minister. She further added that she herself remained a target of political victimization by former Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif who transferred her to Rawalpindi from Lahore despite the fact that her family was living in Lahore and she had to travel to Rawalpindi on daily basis for three years. It prompted the opposition members to raise slogans like ‘Give your resignation, the Health minister’.

Earlier, the journalists and members of Press Gallery boycotted over the arrogant and rude attitude of minister for Information and Culture Feyyaz Ul Hassan Chohan who misbehaved with the media persons during a ceremony in Lahore on Tuesday. The opposition members also walked out from the house in solidarity with the media persons against the attitude of Chohan. Slogans were also raised outside the assembly against Chohan who later apologized over his conduct with the media persons. “I apologize if someone is disheartened due to my behaviour as I was mentally disturbed that day,” said Chohan while speaking on floor of the House.

The Parliamentary leader of PPP Syed Hassan Murtaza wanted to bring an out-of-turn resolution to condemn the attitude of Chohan with media but law minister Raja Basharat requested him to bring the resolution next day in the presence of the said minister as Chohan had left the floor.

The Punjab Occupational Safety and Health bill 2019 was also introduced in the house. It would be referred to the concerned standing committee as the process to constitute the standing committee is close to be completed. The opposition has nominated MPAs Samiullah Khan, Chaudhry Shafique and Malik Nadeem Kamran to negotiate on behalf of the leader of the opposition with the government regarding the formation of all the standing committees.

The session was later adjourned for Thursday morning.

Published in Daily Times, January 10^th 2019.