PM orders drug prices be reversed within 72 hours

LAHORE: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said federal and provincial governments have collected evidence to open new cases against the Sharif family.

He was addressing the joint parliamentary meeting of the PTI MPAs and allies during his visit to Lahore. Following the meeting, Provincial Housing Minister Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed talked to the media and said the cases the Sharifs are facing at present are old, now new cases against them will be opened. He said the prime minister has tasked the ministers with exposing the corruption committed by the Sharifs.

He said the prime minister has ordered immediate action against drug dealers and withdrawal in increase of medicines in 72 hours. Earlier, the PM ordered stern action against corrupt and inefficient bureaucrats and directed his ministers to lead from the front in Punjab. He also promised a revolution in Punjab through an effective local government system being introduced by the PTI government. The prime minister said the prevailing problems faced by the country have been inherited by the PTI government and it isn’t responsible for them. He said it is the result of the flawed policies of the previous government that pushed the country towards problems and added that the country has a tough time ahead. He said the volume of foreign debt increased multiple times in the five-year tenure of the PML-N government due to which the entire nation is suffering. He urged his stalwarts to gear up for a testing time that could continue for next four to five months after which the situation would improve.

Sources stated the prime minister on the occasion also regretted the decision of accepting Shahbaz Sharif as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. He stated that neither he made any compromise in the past nor would he make any compromise in the future over corrupt elements. The sources stated that some of the PTI MPAs lodged protest over the attitude of bureaucracy and prevailing corruption in different departments. A PTI legislator from Multan accused the deputy commissioner of the district of promoting corruption. Besides, an MPA from Faisalabad raised similar complaints and the PM was told that still the bureaucracy posted by Shahbaz Sharif is callings the shots in Punjab and called for removal of officials causing loss to the repute of the government.

The sources said the prime minister immediately ordered Chief Minister Usman Buzdar to take action against corrupt officials and remove them immediately from their posts. Moreover, the sources said, Bau Rizwan, PML-Q MPA and one of the two PML-Q ministers in the cabinet of Buzdar, urged the prime minister to take Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and his party into confidence before doing any legislation over local governments.

The prime minister, while taking the parliamentary party into confidence over the new local govt system, stated that the PTI government is coming up with a new LG system that would empower the masses in letter and spirit and ensure solution to the problems of people. He said the proposed LG system would give rise to a new vision and create a revolution in the lives of people. The PM told the meeting that the new system aims at transferring all powers, including political, administrative and financial to the grassroots level.

Under the new law, he said, separate governments would be set up in rural and urban areas of a district whereas the Panchayat system would also be initiated. It was also told that Tehsil Council elections would be held on a party basis and polls for Neighbourhood Councils and Panchayat would be held on a non-party basis.

The PM said the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa expressed confidence in the LG system given by the PTI government and it helped address problems related to health, education and law and order.

Chief Minister Usman Buzdar; Central PTI leader Jehangir Tareen; Minister for Law, Parliamentary Affairs, and Local Govt Basharat Raja; spokesman to PM Nadim Afzal Gondal; spokesperson to Chief Minister Punjab Dr Shahbaz Gill and others were present.

Raja Basharat gave a briefing on the LG system. Meanwhile, the prime minister ordered the formation of a judicial commission on the Sahiwal killings, a demand put forward by the deceased's family for the last three months, sources informed the Geo News.

The relatives, in a meeting with the premier and the Punjab chief minister on Wednesday, expressed reservations that the government has not yet accepted any of their demands. The premier assured the family that the government will try to accept all of their demands. Handing over cheques to them, he said human life cannot be compensated and the government shares the loss with the family.