PM terms extremism international issue

KARACHI: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Sunday visited the Gulshan-e-Iqbal residence of teenaged student Sabika Sheikh, who was killed in a mass shooting incident at a high school in the Texas state of the USA on Friday.

The prime minister, accompanied by Sindh Governor Mohammad Zubair, condoled with the father and other bereaved family members of Sabika Sheikh, who went to the United States on a US students’ exchange programme. The PM expressed his profound grief and sorrow over the tragic death of the student.

The PM said on the occasion that the entire nation had been saddened over the tragic and sudden demise of Sabika Sheikh. He said that the late teenager was indeed intelligent and hard working. He prayed for the family of the late Sabika to have patience, perseverance, and fortitude to cope with this tragic and irreparable loss of the family.

Speaking on the occasion, the PM said that the issue of extremism was not confined to any particular country or region, rather it was an international issue. He said that the root-cause of this issue had to be determined to counter such extremist tendencies while steps should also be initiated to undo the basic causes behind extremism. He said that there was a need to share useful experiences with each other on the international level for countering the global menace of extremism.

The PM offered full assistance of the federal government, including those required from the Pakistani foreign missions in the USA, to the family of Sabika Sheikh at this hour of tragedy.

It may be mentioned here that the bereaved family living in Gulshan-e-Iqbal is still awaiting the arrival of the body of the deceased student from the USA, which is expected to arrive early coming week.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the government will soon initiate a cancer control programme both at the federal and provincial levels as up to 75 percent patients suffering from different types of cancers in the country died without getting any proper treatment.

The government will initiate the cancer control programme under the mode of public-private partnership in the entire country, said the PM while speaking at the fundraising programme for the Cancer Care Hospital here at the Sindh Governor's House on Sunday.

The PM said the government would provide maximum facilities in the entire country for prevention and treatment of cancerous diseases. He said that philanthropists and affluent persons should wholeheartedly support the welfare projects initiated in the country for treatment of cancerous diseases.

The PM said that cancerous diseases had been spreading in the society like an epidemic and steps should be initiated on an emergency basis to overcome the menacing situation in the health sector. He conceded that the country lacked treatment facilities it should have to treat cancer patients. “The information and statistics provided to me show that up to 75 per cent cancer patients in the country died without getting any treatment facility,” he said.

He said the government had been taking steps to ensure progress of the health sector as it was the priority of the government to expand the scope of health treatment facilities to all parts of the country. He said that establishment of the Cancer Care Hospital was a good sign as this was a Rs9 billion project. He congratulated Dr Shaharyar and his team for establishing this hospital.

He said that running a hospital in an efficient manner was even a bigger challenge than establishing it. A trust should be established to run this hospital in a composite manner, suggested the PM.

He appreciated that the cancer hospital had been working in a better manner as in future, scope of its treatment facilities would be expanded to other areas. He said the federal government had been providing all the lawful facilities including exemption from taxes to promote philanthropic activities by the corporate sector.

He said the health sector had been facing shortage of resources but this shortage could easily be overcome by forging partnership with the private sector. He said the private sector should also come forward and lend support to the government for treatment and prevention of the cancerous diseases in Pakistan.

The PM hoped that philanthropists would provide utmost support to the newly established hospital for its cause to treat and prevent cancerous diseases in Pakistan. He said that federal and provincial governments had been collaborating well with each other to provide healthcare facilities to treat and prevent fatal and contagious diseases. In this regard, programmes are being successfully run both at the federal and provincial levels for preventing diseases like polio, tuberculosis, and malaria. The PM on the occasion announced Rs100 million donation for the Cancer Care Hospital.