Daily Times

The Punjab Assembly has passed a unanimous resolution demanding the protection of women’s rights on Tuesday. As per the details, all the women MPAs of Punjab were unanimous over the issue, demanding equal rights irrespective of gender divide. PTI’s MPA Ayesha Nawaz Chaudhry said in the House that women must be given representation according to their proportion. “There should be equal representation in the standing committees of the House according to the gender parity,” she said while also demanding equal share in the list of parliamentary secretaries. She also demanded the formation of women caucus of Punjab Assembly during the ongoing session that is pending for almost one and half year.

Kanwal Pervaiz of PML-N said that the rules must be made where we can ensure that every girl attends her school regularly. She also demanded rights for women while condemning the honor killings and under-age marriages of girls. Later, the resolution was passed unanimously for the women rights.

Earlier, both the parliamentary leaders of PML-N and PPP have taken notice of the meeting of MPAs from their parties with Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar on Tuesday. As per the details, the opposition leader in Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz and PPP’s parliamentary leader Syed Hassan Murtaza said that they will take action against the MPAs who called on CM Buzdar. It was reported that six MPAs from PML-N and one from the PPP called on CM on Tuesday regarding the development funds and constituency related issues.

“Yes, I met with Chief Minister today as he is also my CM and I discussed with him my constituency related issues,” said PML-N MPA from Gujranwala Ashraf Ali Ansari. I am part of the PML-N and I had a meeting with CM in my personal capacity, he told journalists in Punjab Assembly on Tuesday. It is pertinent to mention here that a group of 15 MPAs from PML-N also had a meeting with Prime Minister last year in June but party didn’t take any disciplinary action against them. “It came to my notice that PPP’s MPA Ghazanfar Ali had a meeting with CM and I have asked his reply being the parliamentary leader of the party,” said Syed Hassan Murtaza. “We’ll make a policy after getting his reply,” he said.

Lamenting over the development, opposition leader Hamza Shahbaz said that such efforts were also failed in the past and it will fail again this time too. He was of the view that the people are suffering from inflation and poverty but our rulers are busy in changing the loyalties of MPAs instead of resolving the issues. We’ll take notice of meeting of our MPAs with CM after discussing the issue in party meeting. “We are not selected as we have roots in the public. Let us hold an election and it will be clear who the true representative of the people is,” said Hamza, while talking to media outside the Punjab Assembly. PML-N senior lawmaker Samiullah Khan said that the party must take a stern action against those who called on CM as they have also done the same in the past.

Earlier, Speaker Ch Pervaiz Elahi took notice of marriage functions being held in historical ‘Bagh-e-Jinnah’ despite the fact there is ban on it. He directed the officials concerned to look into the matter. The session was later adjourned to meet again on Wednesday afternoon.