Punjab CM to take PA into confidence on Sahiwal tragedy report

LAHORE: Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat told Punjab Assembly Thursday that inquiry report into the Sahiwal tragedy, in which CTD policemen shot dead an innocent man, his wife and their daughter, was already submitted to Chief Minister Usman Buzdar.

He was replying to a point of order by PML-N member Azma Bukhari who had asked the deputy speaker as to when the government would take the House into confidence regarding the findings of the incident in which an innocent family was gunned down in cold blood on the suspicion that they were terrorists.

The law minister told the House that the chief minister would consult the cabinet members regarding the matter and then he would surely take the House into confidence on the findings of the inquiry report soon.

Earlier, Punjab Minister for jails told Punjab Assembly Thursday that a total of 217 prisoners in the provincial jails were suffering from Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), of which 187 were being given proper treatment while the remaining 30 were still under the diagnosis process and would be given regular treatment under Punjab AIDS Control Programme after the completion of the diagnosis process.

The AIDS-patient prisoners were kept in separate cells under the supervision of medical, paramedical and special jail staff, and subjected to medical check-up on daily basis, and at the time of their release they were given special instructions to keep in constant touch with Punjab Aids Control Programme, he said while replying to members’ queries during Question Hour.

However, the jail minister received heaps of taunts and criticism for his lack of knowledge over the affairs of his ministry, and several members from both treasury and opposition complained to the chair that his replies to the supplementary question were not up to the point.

To another question, the minister said 120 minor children were also detained in Punjab jails along with their 99 mothers, adding that according to the laws, children can be kept in jails with their mothers until the age of six years, after which they were handed over to other relatives, and if no relative was ready to keep them, they were handed over to SOS village or Child Protection Bureau.