Daily Times

Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi admired the efforts of his arch-rival former Punjab CM Shehbaz Sharif for eradicating dengue from the province in his previous tenure.

Elahi also admonished Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid for not taking effective measures to control the outbreak of the disease this year. As per the details, Yasmin Rashid was giving answers of the queries of lawmakers during the question-hour on Monday in the ongoing session of Punjab Assembly. Health Minister was replying to the question of PML-N MPA from Okara Iftikhar Chhachhar related to the dengue outbreak. The government of Shehbaz Sharif took good steps to eradicate the menace of dengue and one should appreciate the good initiatives of anyone but this government changed the entire team of dengue and the people had to suffer ultimately, said Speaker Elahi, while addressing the health minister. He also refuted the claim of Yasmin Rashid that 26 people lost their lives due to dengue as the deaths are in large numbers while Pervaiz Elahi also directed the law minister Raja Basharat to constitute a committee for holding impartial inquiry of deaths due to the dengue outbreak.

Earlier, provincial minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Raja Basharat said that the recent decision against former Army Chief General Pervez Musharraf has raised many legal questions and if the legal shortcomings contained in the decision are not resolved, in the future, such decisions may come against any one. This decision has ridiculed the country across the world. He was giving a media briefing regarding the ongoing session of Punjab Assembly on Monday. He said that the government is trying to solve the problems of the masses through record legislation but the attitude of the opposition is very regrettable which has broken the record of boycotting the sessions. Raja Basharat said that the opposition’s discourse inside the house is entirely different from what it presents outside before media, however the actual point of view is that which is offered inside the House. “Even during a session called in the public interest, the opposition does not play its parliamentary role,” said the law minister. The law minister added that the opposition’s claim on the Public Accounts Committee was wrong as Shehbaz Sharif has himself resigned from the PAC of the National Assembly. He said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief Minister Usman Buzdar was seriously controlling the economic crisis and was focusing on solving public problems. He expressed the hope that in its recent session, the Punjab Assembly would pass more legislative bills of public interest. “Cancelation of Law licences by the Bar Association may not scare, neither me nor the chief minister,” he added. He was of the view that he has submitted the report of PIC incident to CM Punjab after holding in inquiry.

Earlier President Lahore Press Club Arshad Ansari admired the efforts of the CM and law minister made for bridging up the relations between government and the press. Press Gallery Committee President Mian Aslam and Secretary Faizan Bangash were also present on the occasion.