CM Punjab for renewed zeal to end polio

LAHORE:Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar inaugurated the five-day long province-wide anti-polio campaign by administering anti-polio drops to the children.

Provincial Ministers Dr Yasmin Rashid, Raja Basharat, Saeed-ul-Hasan Shah, assembly members Sanaullah Mastikhel and Ch Shahbaz Ahmed also administered anti-polio drops to the children. Chief secretary, secretary (P&SH) and others were also present.

Talking on this occasion, the chief minister said that more than 50,000 teams will administer anti-polio drops to around 20 million children of less than five-year age during this door-to-door campaign. The deputy commissioners have been directed to monitor this campaign and the provincial ministers have been directed to supervise it at divisional level. He asked the parents to cooperate with the anti-polio teams to make Punjab a polio-free province. Success is the only option in this continuous struggle of securing the future of the children, he added.

The polio virus will be eliminated with collective efforts, he emphasised. The world is polio-free but regrettably this disease exists in Afghanistan and Pakistan, he lamented. We will have to work with renewed zeal to defeat polio as it is a national issue. Collective efforts are being made to completely eradicate polio from the country, the chief minister concluded.

APS: A ceremony was held in the main mosque of CM Office on the eve of fifth anniversary of APS Peshawar tragedy which was especially attended by Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar. Auqaf Minister Saeed-ul-Hasan Shah led the prayers for the martyrs. The chief minister said that the wounds of APS Peshawar are still alive as innocent children and their teachers were mercilessly butchered. This was the worst and painful incident in the recent history.

The nation fully shares the pain of bereaved families, he added. Usman Buzdar said that APS Peshawar carnage united the nation in war against terrorism and memories of this tragedy would forever remain alive. Assembly members Sanaullah Mastikhel, Ch Shahbaz Ahmad, officials of the CM Office, Khateeb Badshahi Masjid Maulana Abdul Khabeer Azad and others attended the prayer ceremony.

PTI UK leader: A senior leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) from the United Kingdom (UK) Chaudhry Aftab called on Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar and discussed problems being faced by the expatriate Pakistanis. Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister termed expatriates a precious asset to the country and assured that their problems would be solved on priority basis.

The Punjab Overseas Pakistanis Commission (OPC) has been activated to help solve problems of Pakistanis living abroad, he said and added that the district committees of the OPC Punjab had also been constituted and overseas Pakistanis would be given the best facilities.

The chief minister reiterated that expatriates' role in strengthening of national economy could not be ignored. The Punjab government would continue to protect properties and legal rights of the expatriate Pakistanis, concluded Usman Buzdar. Chaudhry Aftab invited the chief minister to visit UK, and the chief minister promised to visit Britain as early as possible.