Punjab Assembly laments Swat tragedy

Punjab Assembly members from the treasury benches criticised the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government on Saturday a gory incident of the death of tourists in Swat.

They also accused the opposition in assembly of adopting an immature conduct.

The treasury lawmakers said K-P government had played the role if a silent spectator when a family's members, including children, lost their lives while crying for help.

Punjab Information Minister Azma Bukhari came down hard on the K-P government, saying tourists from across Pakistan used to visit Swat River but it was astonishing that appropriate arrangements had not been made to deal with such an eventuality.

The members prayed for those martyred in the incident.

Speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan said he was at a loss to understand the logic of K-P Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur regarding the incident.

Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarian's (PPPP) Syed Ali Haider Gillani welcomed the repeated mention of South Punjab in Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz's speech, saying it indicates the region is among her top priorities, which is a good omen.

The opposition lawmaker entered the house silently and left after a short duration.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Chief Whip Rana Arshad presented a resolution, which was passed, condemning the Swat incident and demanding the K-P chief minister's resignation, and investigation into the matter to fix responsibility and concrete measures to avoid such accidents.