PHOTO: ZAHOORUL HAQ/EXPRESS
LAHORE: MPA Ayesha Ghaus Pasha was sworn in as the provincial finance minister and MPA Rana Sanaullah as law minister at a ceremony at the Governor’s House on Friday. Governor Rafique Rajwana administered the oath to the new ministers.
Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif attended the oath-taking and congratulated Sanaullah and Pasha on assuming their new responsibilities.
Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal, provincial ministers, MPAs and high-ranking government officers were present at the ceremony.
Sanaullah had resigned from his position following the Model Town violence on June 17, 2014, in which 14 workers of the Pakistan Awami Tehreek were killed. His return to the cabinet comes in the wake of a report by the joint investigation team probing the incident that had cleared him of all charges.
After the ceremony, the chief minister met the governor and discussed his recent visit to south Punjab. Sharif said the government was taking solid measures to raise the standard of living of the financially disadvantaged segments of the society.
He said they had initiated several projects to provide basic amenities to citizens. He said development projects in south Punjab would be completed on priority. He said once again, the government was allocating more funds to south Punjab than its share of population.
The governor congratulated Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on getting all political parties to agree on the Pak-China Economic Corridor. He said this was an important initiative which would give a positive message to the world.
PAT protests
Hundreds of PAT workers took to the streets to protest against Sanaullah’s re-induction as law minister.
They held a rally from China Chowk to the Governor’s House and shouted slogans against the government and Sanaullah.
PAT central general secretary Khurram Nawaz Gandapur, who was leading the rally, said Sanaullah was responsible for the killing of PAT workers. He said his re-induction had exposed the chief minister’s “so-called democratic leadership”.
Gandapur said the JIT report on the Model Town incident was a pack of lies. He said the report had given a clean chit to those who had ordered the killings. Gandapur said the show had been put up to silence the PAT workers. The JIT report had been prepared well before the JIT was even formed, he alleged.
“We demand that the JIT explain how a major suspect in a murder case was allowed to take oath as a member of the provincial cabinet while the case was being investigated,” he said.
Gandapur said the JIT’s report was of no value for PAT workers. “We will protest till we get justice,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 30th, 2015.
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