PTI to make democracy stronger: governor

LAHORE: Punjab Governor Ch Muhammad Sarwar has said neither the government nor democracy but corrupt people are in danger in the country, adding: “We will make democracy strong by cleaning it from corruption.”

Talking to a delegation of journalists that called on him at Governor House here on Monday, Sarwar said beyond any doubt, judiciary was giving decisions independently without any intervention.

He added that the PTI government was the only government in history which had not done political victimisation. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the government is delivering on all fronts, he added.

The governor said when the government assumed power, economy was trembling but ‘we took immediate steps to relieve it from economic crisis.’ “We have also taken steps to eradicate corruption from the country, our government believes in independence of media and we will take steps to assist journalists in averting crisis,” he said.

“We believe in nonintervention in affairs of institutions and we will stick to our principles,” he said. Sarwar added: “Confidence of investors in economy was increasing due to steps taken by our country. Pakistan had great potential for foreign investment and investors must invest in Pakistan.”

Daycare centres: Punjab Minister for Women Development Department (WDD) Ashifa Riaz Fatyana has said the daycare centres will provide relief to the working parents who are unable to stay with their children.

The minister said this while chairing the meeting of Board of Governors of Punjab Daycare Centre Fund Society at Women Development Department. Since a long time, there was a need for such basic facilities and now the government was destined to make it a reality for working mothers so that they could go to work without worrying about their children. She said the provision of daycare facility is mandatory for the empowerment of working women.

Women Development Department Secretary Irum Bukhari, Additional Sectary Afzal Wariach, Director General Arshad Baig, who is also the Secretary of Punjab Day Care Fund Society, along with representatives from finance department, school education department, special health department and Shaheryar Mehdi attended the meeting. The minister said steps would be taken to speed up the process for the establishment of the DCCs.

Irum said the department has changed the application process to make it easy and short. The lengthy documentation procedure has also been cut down to ensure fast processing. 14 new daycare centre applications have been finalised which would increase the number of total daycare centres in Punjab to 113. 18 applications were also eliminated considering the supply and demand. During the meeting the matters regarding increasing and upgrading of the budget for all three DCC categories were also discussed.

CPSP: A large number of the fellows of College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan (CPSP) took part in elections and 53 candidates contested for 20 seats of the council of the CPSP. The twenty winners included Prof Zafar Ullah Chaudhry, Prof Khalid Masud Gondal, Prof Aamer Zaman Khan, Prof Mahmood Ayyaz, Prof Muhammad Tayyab and Prof Abrar Ashraf Ali from Lahore, Prof Waqar Alam Jan from Peshawar, Prof Jahngir Khan from Abbotabad, Prof Ayesha Siddiqa from Quetta, Prof Syed Khalid Ahmed Ashrafi, Prof Masroor Ahmad, Prof Shahid Pervaiz, Prof Ambreen Afzal from Karachi, Prof Abbas Memon from Hyderabad, Prof Ghulam Mujtaba from Multan, Prof Muhammad Asghar Butt from Faisalabad, Prof Muhammad Shoaib Shafi from Islamabad, Maj-Gen Shehla M Baqai, Brig Farrukh Saeed, Maj-Gen Mazhar Ishaq from Army Medical Core. They got highest votes.

The council unanimously elected Prof Zafar Ullah Chaudhry as the President of CPSP whereas Prof Khalid Masud Gondal and Prof Khalid Ashrafi were elected as the vice-presidents.

In the faculty of CPSP Prof Shams Uddin Sheikh, Prof Shamsa Hamayou, Prof Zahid Kamal Siddique, Prof Junaid Rashid, Prof Khalid Mahmood Khan, Dr. Imran Anwar, Prof Munir Ahmad Azhar, Prof Pushpa Siri Chand, Prof Abdul Mutaqi, Prof Hakim Ali Abro, Prof. Tanvir Khaliq, Prof. Mubarak Ali were elected as the members of the faculties besides the senior Professors from the four (04) Provinces of Pakistan. The newly-elected president, Prof Zafar Ullah Chaudhry, thanked the fellows of the CPSP for having full trust in him.

session: The Investment Climate Reform Unit Planning and Development Board in collaboration with Financing Sustainable Development (FSD) on Monday held a consultative session for the establishment of a web portal for ease of doing business and private sector engagement in the Punjab for Sustainable Development Goals.