Opposition requisitions assembly session

PPP demands answers on Taseer’s abduction and south Punjab.

LAHORE:

The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on Tuesday submitted a requisition for a Punjab Assembly (PA) session on two issues, Shahbaz Taseer’s abduction and the creation of a new south Punjab province.

PPP Deputy Parliamentary Leader in the PA Shaukat Mehmood Basra said that 103 PPP members had signed the requisition and it was the opposition’s sixth requisition. He said Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had attended none of the five earlier sessions.

He said that he had also submitted a call-attention notice regarding the abduction of Taseer and hoped that Sharif himself would answer questions.

He said criminals appeared to rule the province while Law Minister Rana Sanaullah was using the police against his political opponents. Patwaris, he said, were participating in PML-N’s workers’ conventions. He said that district coordination officers across the province were busy with Sharif’s hopeless schemes like Sasti Roti Scheme and Ramazan Bazaars.

Basra said the government structures of the province had been damaged. He said the Punjab government had formed nine teams to find Taseer. He said that Sharif should inform the house about his government’s efforts.

He said that Sharif should also inform the house about the grievances of south Punjab and explain why his government was not doing anything to address them.



Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2011.