Resolution demands university be named after Dr Ruth Pfau

Hina Pervez Butt says she was the Mother Teresa of Pakistan as she dedicated her life to fighting leprosy

LAHORE: The treasury benches in the Punjab Assembly demanded that either a university, a road or a public building be named after Dr Ruth Pfau in recognition of her efforts to eradicate leprosy in Pakistan.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Legislator Hina Pervez Butt demanded this through a resolution she submitted in the Punjab Assembly on Friday. She contended that Dr Ruth was the Mother Teresa of Pakistan because she spent over 50 years of her life to serve the nation.  She said the services of the German native for Pakistan and patients of leprosy could not be forgotten.



Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had earlier announced a state funeral for Dr Ruth, who made eliminating leprosy from Pakistan her life’s mission. She came to Pakistan when she was 29 in 1960 and decided to stay after she witnessed the suffering of the country’s leprosy patients. With her efforts, the World Health Organisation, in 1996, declared Pakistan one of the first countries in Asia to have controlled leprosy.  She was awarded the Hilal-e-Imtiaz in 1979 and Hilal-e-Pakistan in 1989.

Dr Pfau has dedicated her entire life to treating patients in Pakistan. She founded the Marie Adelaide Leprosy Centre in Karachi and in all regions of Pakistan, including Gilgit-Baltistan. She has travelled to various parts of Pakistan to medically facilitate leprosy patients, a journey she said she enjoyed tremendously because of the marked difference in the lives of her patients.

She was admitted to a hospital a few days ago because she was suffering from old age complications. She passed away in a Karachi hospital at the age of 87 on Thursday morning. Her funeral mass will be held on Saturday, August 19, at 11am at St Patrick’s Cathedral. She will be buried in the Christian Cemetery of the southern port city.

Opposition demands action against Nawaz

Opposition benches in the Punjab Assembly demanded action against former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif under the Article 6 of the constitution for desecrating constitutional institutions.



The demanded was put forward by opposition leader Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed through a resolution submitted in the Punjab Assembly. He contended that Nawaz was involved in disgracing the institutions in his rally on GT Road and inciting people against those judges who disqualified him in the Panamagate Papers scandal.

He implored that the conduct of Nawaz was illegal and tantamount to contempt of court.  Rasheed demanded the chief justice of Pakistan to take suo moto notice against Nawaz and proceed under Article 6 of the constitution.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 12^th, 2017.