Speaker slates govt over ‘flawed polices’ on narcotics

Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervez Elahi came down hard on the government’s ‘flawed policies’ to control the use of narcotics in schools, colleges and universities.

“There doesn’t seem any viable policy in place through which use and availability of drugs could be checked at educational institutes,” Speaker Elahi said while criticising the government.

“This menace is increasing day by day but the government is doing nothing. There is a need to take concrete measures to control it.”

On this occasion, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) MPA Samiullah Khan pointed out to the Speaker that some PTI’s ministers are annoyed over the conduct of Speaker Elahi in which he grills the ministers over their poor performance.

MPA Sami said everyone knows PA Speaker Elahi speaks the truth but some Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) members did not bear such truth especially when Speaker snubs the ministers or the parliamentary secretaries over their inefficiencies.

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Meanwhile, Provincial Law Minister Basharat Raja, responding to the Speaker’s grievance admitted that no doubt the menace of narcotics was on the rise and the government has constituted a directorate that will work on it.

He said excise, taxation, and narcotics control department had been overburdened but their initiative to constitute directorate will bear fruit and they will control it.

Monday was the second consecutive day when most of the Punjab Assembly’s business was panned including general discussion on agriculture owing to the absence of the PTI’s ministers.

Earlier on Friday, in question-hour session, 11 “Zero Hour Notices” out of a total 14 and other business has been panned while the law minister also admitted lack interest of the PTI’s ministers and secretaries of the relevant departments in the assembly’s business.

The PA’s proceeding started on Monday under Chair of Speaker Chaudhry Pervez Elahi with laps of 3 hours and 22 minutes.

However, both the treasury and the opposition lawmakers unanimously passed a resolution with demands for the government to ensure daily assembly sessions at schools, recitation of the Holy Quran, prayer for Pakistan’s sovereignty and then the national anthem.

The Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) parliamentary leader Syed Hassan Murtaza also slated what he termed the “non-seriousness of the government”.

“The government summons the PA session but it has no business to run, neither PTI’s ministers take interest in PA’s business nor they come to the assembly for responding their queries. No one cares about millions of rupees spent on assembly’s session.”

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd, 2021.