Daily Times

The Multi-Party Conference (MPC) of Punjab called by the Pakistan People’s Party has demanded immediate restoration of the local bodies of the province to fight the COVID-19 in the province, while rejecting the PM’s idea of establishing the ‘Tiger Force’.

The MPC was called by the provincial chapter of PPP that was chaired by Punjab President Qamar Zaman Kaira while other parties including the PML-N, PML-Q, Jamat-e-Islami, JUI-F, ANP, Awami Workers Party, Brabri Party and Left Front also participated in it through the video link. The MPC also issued a unanimous charter of demand while also giving suggestions to the government to contain the outbreak of Corona pandemic.

As per the details, Qamar Zaman Kaira said that the Prime Minister and his whole team failed miserably in this time of crisis as government couldn’t take timely measures to contain the epidemic. The MPC demanded that all the local bodies of the Punjab must be restored immediately while local level committees should be constituted to fight the COVID-19 as was done by the Sindh government. Kaira was of the view that the Punjab government doesn’t have any relief mechanism for the poor people of the province during this hard time. The federal government is trying to give a wrong impression that the Sindh government imposed a ban on the goods transporters as there is no such ban on the items related to the food and medicine, he said. Speaking in the MPC through video link, PML-N Punjab President and MNA Rana Sanaullah said that the COVID-19 is spreading rapidly here due to the incompetency of both the federal and provincial government. “It is the responsibility of the government to show its performance and the opposition’s job is to highlight the deficiencies of the government and we are just doing our job by pointing out the loopholes here,” said Rana Sanaullah Khan of PML-N.

The Parliamentary Leader of PPP in Punjab MPA Syed Hassan Murtaza said that the ruling PTI was also invited in this MPC but it avoided attending it. “The Speaker Punjab Assembly should immediately call the assembly session through video link or he should at least call the meeting of parliamentary leaders of Punjab to apprise them regarding the measures being taken by the Punjab government to contain the pandemic,” said PPP leader Hassan Murtaza. The MPC issued an eleven point resolution after the meeting while twenty four suggestions were also given by the joint opposition of the Punjab. It said that the stunts like establishing the tiger force will further divide the nation instead of uniting the people in this crisis.

The MPC demanded that the testing at mass level must be conducted in Punjab to ascertain the actual figure in the province and the government must not conceal the facts related to the pandemic. It further added that the 20,000 rupees should be given to deserving families of the Punjab during the lockdown. It was also decided that the MPC of opposition will remain continue during the pandemic and the next meeting will be hosted by the PML-N in few days. The MPC was attended by PPP’s Qamar Zaman Kaira, Ch Manzoor, Aslam Gill, MPA Syed Hassan Murtaza, PML-N’s Rana Sanaullah, Awais Laghari, Atta ullah Tarar, Jamaat-e-Islami’s provincial Amir Javed Qasuri, PML-Q’s Senator Kamil Agha and provincial heads of ANP, JUI-F and AWP.