Daily Times

LAHORE: All four opposition parties in the Punjab Assembly (PA) on Wednesday boycotted the session proceedings on the recent killings of three workers of Pakistan International Airline (PIA) during their protest to stop its privatisation.

Opposition Leader in PA Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed, before boycotting the session, strongly condemned the killings and demanded an independent inquiry against the responsible.

He demanded that the opposition parties should be allowed to move a condemned resolution against the killings of PIA workers.

Jamaat-e-Islami leader Dr Waseem Akhtar on the occasion said that the government had taken strict action on the PIA issue on the direction of International Monitory Fund (IMF). He warned that due to such killing incidents under the nose of the government, democratic system is becoming increasingly vulnerable.

Following Akhtar’s address, the opposition legislators, while chanting against PML-N, left the House. Later, on the request of the chair, they returned and joined the proceedings after half an hour.

Punjab Assembly’s Wednesday session started one hour late to its scheduled time. After recitation of the holy Quran, the House adopted question hour on agriculture and youth affairs. Provincial ministers Dr Farukh and Rana Mashhood answered the queries.

During the session, the issues of agriculture sector, especially the rates of potato crops and the pending payments of sugar mills were highlighted. It was decided that a general discussion on it would be held next week.

Moreover, a lone voice for the rights of eunuchs echoed in the Punjab Assembly from treasury member Sheikh Allaudin.

He moved an adjournment motion in the house in which he demanded the government to fix 20 to 25% quota in the medical colleges and hospitals for eunuchs.

Replying to this motion, Parliamentary Secretary Nazar Gondal informed the House that there was open merit for eunuchs on all posts in the hospitals and medical colleges and they could get chances of such jobs equivalent to other citizens who are eligible for the posts.

Later, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan tabled four bills in the House including a bill on animal slaughtering control.

It is pertinent to mention that the House did not entertain any amendment given by the opposition benches to improve the said bills as per their opinion.

The bills that were passed included the Punjab Revenue Authority (Amendment) Bill 2015, the Infrastructure Development Authority of the Punjab Bill 2015, the Punjab Food Authority (Amendment) Bill 2015, and the Punjab Pure Food (Amendment) Bill 2015.

After completing the day’s agenda, Deputy Speaker Sher Ali Gorchani adjourned the session till Thursday (today) at 10am.