Punjab PA all praise for govt over minerals discovery

LAHORE: Acting Speaker Sher Ali Gorchani Thursday in Punjab Assembly criticised Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif cabinet for failing to ensure the regular attendance of Home Minister Col (r) Shuja Khanzada to answer pressing questions on the security situation of the province.
‘His irregular attendance is unacceptable. No matter how high-profile the visit of the Turkish Prime Minister to Lahore may be, the Assembly is not low profile and should not be treated as such’, said the deputy PA Speaker, responding to a justification given by cabinet member Bilal Yasin, who himself is an erratic attendee of most PA sessions.
The session resumed here Thursday with less than 30 MPAs present and only one person on the opposition bench. The vacant seats in the House once again irked opposition parties leading PML-Q MPA Khadija Umar to call quorum later in the session. Absence of cabinet members, including Education Minister Rana Mashhood also drew criticism from the Opposition bench.
Favouring treasury bench members, the Speaker allotted generous time at the onset of question hour to PML-N MPAs praising the Sharif brothers for discovery of iron ore and copper deposits in Chiniot. Meanwhile, other PML-N MPAs chose to highlight more serious issues in their point of orders. MPA Maulana Ghiasuddin flayed MQM for being complicit in the killing of 258 innocents in the Baldia Town fire as per a JIT probe and demanded that the case be immediately transferred to a military court for trial. He flayed Punjab police for going beyond their call of duty in enforcing the National Action Plan by illegally detaining innocent individuals and violating the sanctity of mosques premises.