Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar visited the police martyrs monument at Shahrah-e-Quaid-e-Azam and offered Fateha for the police martyrs. He also laid floral wreath at the monument and paid rich tributes to the great sacrifices rendered by police martyrs while protecting the people. Police Martyrs Day commemorates the great sacrifices of the brave sons and the Punjab government expresses complete solidarity with the police martyrs’ families, he added. The government will continue to look after martyrs’ heirs and they will not be left alone, he further said. Information Minister Fayyaz ul Hassan Chohan, IG Police, CCPO Lahore, Secretary Information and DC Lahore were also present. Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar has said that one year has passed to illegal lockdown in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) but the miseries of the enslaved Kashmiris have not been lessened. In his message, he pointed out the world could not endure a few months of lockdowns due to corona but Kashmiris are languishing under brutal Indian lockdown since long. The silence of the international community against intolerable brutalities committed against the Kashmiris is deplorable, he maintained. It is sanguine that patience and commitment of the Kashmiris are intact, even, in prevailing difficulties and the international community has also acknowledged the righteous freedom struggle of the Kashmiris, the CM asserted. He repeated that Pakistan will not pull back from the just demand of Kashmiris’ right of self-determination as the Kashmir issue has turned into a huge humanitarian crisis which speaks volume about the impassiveness of the international community. Though the world is silent on Indian cruelties against Kashmiris, Pakistan will continue to stand with its Kashmiri brethren with full zeal and strength, he said. India will have to pay back every crime committed against Kashmiris and their freedom struggle will soon materialize, the CM added. Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar has directed to run an effective campaign against artificial price-hike and hoarding by activating price control committees at the district level. In a circular to provincial minister and head of price control taskforce Aslam Iqbal and chief secretary, the CM directed that the price control committees be activated and provision of essential items be ensured at fixed rates. He ordered the district price control committees to keep strict vigilance of the essential items’ rates and further directed that a vigilant eye be kept on hoarders. Similarly, the price control task force should devise effective steps to solve the artificial price-hike issue. The CM reiterated that people cannot be left at the mercy of hoarders and added that any negligence will not be tolerated by him. I will personally monitor action against artificial price-hike, hoarding and illegal profiteering as these are an enemy of the society as well as the law, he said. I will personally check the rates of essential items through surprise monitoring and no one will be forgiven if negligence is proved, he warned. Meanwhile, a meeting of the provincial price control task force has been called to review the steps for providing relief to the masses. Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar has directed to take prior steps to counter the possibility of urban flooding due to possible rains in the current week and issued directions to the secretaries of housing and local bodies departments. The CM has directed that cleanliness of flood channels and drains be ensured and the concerned officials should take steps so that urban flooding could be dealt with effectively especially in the low lying areas. He added that local governments and WASAs should take advance steps to deal with the rain-spell and provision of resources be accelerated. He made it clear that strict action will be taken if the water is accumulated on roads as people face difficulty and this is intolerable. It is not dutifulness that concerned officers continue to sit in their offices while roads are immersed in water, he further warned. A traders and industrialists delegation led by President Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry Sheikh Irfan Iqbal met with Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar at his office here on Tuesday and discussed the problems being faced by the business community. The CM assured to solve their problems on a priority basis and reiterated the PTI government is business-friendly and urgent steps will be taken for the solution of their problems. My office is always open to you and instructions will be issued for the solution of problems pertaining to industries, labour, social security departments, police and administration, he said. He maintained that lockdown was imposed before Eid ul-Azha in the larger public interest and its already ended three days earlier. More businesses will be unlocked under SOPs to boost economic activities but the businesses included in the negative list will, so far, remain closed, he added.