Daily Times

Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on Tuesday raised serious questions over the functioning of the Punjab Aab-e-Pak Authority as he expressed his dismay over its bad performance.

While chairing the provincial assembly’s session, Elahi showed his concerns in the question-hour. Speaker questioned the Parliamentary Secretary for Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering department regarding the performance of Aab-e-Pak Authority in provision of clean drinking water to which the concerned Parliamentary Secretary Malik Taimoor Masood remained silent, except for acknowledging that no significant improvement was made in the last one year.

Speaker Elahi rebuked the secretary and noted that despite the passage of over one and half year, even the basic infrastructure of Aab-e-Pak Authority couldn’t be made. Meanwhile, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Raja Basharat said that there were issues in the Board of Governors of the authority that have now been addressed and assured that the work will be done at full pace.

The role of Governor Punjab in Aab-e-Pak Authority was also criticized by some PML-N MPAs. “Governor Sarwar holds an important role in the Aab-e-Pak Authority. Don’t impose him as an alternate Chief Minister,” said PML-N MPA Samiullah Khan.

Earlier, the session of Punjab Assembly started with a delay of almost two hours from its scheduled time with Speaker Elahi in the chair. Newly elected MPA of PML-N Barrister Moazzam Sher Ali took the oath of his seat. He won the seat in the recently held by-elections that were held due to the death of his father Waris Kallu.

The House also unanimously passed the Punjab Compulsory Teaching of the Holy Quran (Amendment) Bill 2021 as both the opposition and government supported the bill.

Later, a joint resolution was also passed to show solidarity with the people of Palestine while condemning the brutality of Israeli forces. Provincial Law Minister Raja Basharat presented the joint resolution which was passed unanimously. The resolution said that the Prophet (PBUH) said that a Muslim who does not stop oppression as much as possible is himself a victim of it.

Raja Basharat said, “We condemn the United States and call on 1.65 billion Muslims of 55 Islamic countries to take practical steps against Israeli aggression. Israel is verily responsible for the deteriorating situation in Palestine, which has desecrated Al-Aqsa Mosque in violation of international law and has committed war crimes by attacking unarmed Palestinians,”

The resolution called for an immediate end to attacks on Palestinians and for the international community to stop Israel from committing grave human rights abuses. It further said that the Security Council must play its role in bringing peace to Palestine. The resolution recommended that the federal government should do its part to condemn and prevent Israeli barbarism. Also, the feelings and sentiments of the Pakistani people should be conveyed to the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) and human rights organizations.

The federal government was also recommended to reaffirm its political and moral support to the Palestinians and reassure them that the Pakistani people stand by them in this hour of hardship. MPAs Syed Hassan Murtaza, Malik Ahmed Khan, Samiullah Khan, Maulana Ilyas Chinioti, Maulana Muawiya Azam also delivered speeches to condemn the Israeli forces.

The session was later adjourned to meet again on Friday morning.