CM to take House into confidence on Sahiwal tragedy report, PA told

LAHORE: Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat told Punjab Assembly Thursday that inquiry report into the Sahiwal tragedy, in which CTD policemen shot dead an innocent man, his wife and their daughter, was already submitted to Chief Minister Usman Buzdar.

He was replying to a point of order by PML-N member Azma Bukhari who had asked the deputy speaker as to when the government would take the House into confidence regarding the findings of the incident in which an innocent family was gunned down in cold blood on the suspicion that they were terrorists. The law minister told the House that the chief minister would consult the cabinet members regarding the matter and then he would surely take the House into confidence on the findings of the inquiry report soon.

Earlier, Punjab Minister for jails told Punjab Assembly Thursday that a total of 217 prisoners in the provincial jails were suffering from Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), of which 187 were being given proper treatment while the remaining 30 were still under the diagnosis process and would be given regular treatment under Punjab AIDS Control Programme after the completion of the diagnosis process.

The AIDS-patient prisoners were kept in separate cells under the supervision of medical, paramedical and special jail staff, and subjected to medical check-up on daily basis, and at the time of their release they were given special instructions to keep in constant touch with Punjab Aids Control Programme, he said while replying to members’ queries during Question Hour.

However, the jail minister received heaps of taunts and criticism for his lack of knowledge over the affairs of his ministry, and several members from both treasury and opposition complained to the chair that his replies to the supplementary question were not up to the point. To another question, the minister said 120 minor children were also detained in Punjab jails along with their 99 mothers, adding that according to the laws, children can be kept in jails with their mothers until the age of six years, after which they were handed over to other relatives, and if no relative was ready to keep them, they were handed over to SOS village or Child Protection Bureau.

To another question, the minister said that there was only one jail for women in the province in Multan, where entry of male officials was strictly banned and only female staff was deployed on the premises. However, due to the hardships of family members coming from far away to meet the prisoners, a policy was devised in 2005 to detain female prisoners in the jails close to their hometowns. For this purpose, female wards in the jails at Sialkot, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Lahore and Sahiwal where separate barracks were constructed for female prisoners.

To another question, the minister said that two borstal jails were constructed in Bahawalpur and Faisalabad where prisoners under 21 years of age were kept.

They were given special vocational training providing them useful skills to earn livelihood to enable them lead a respectable life after release.

The deputy speaker kept an adjournment motion pending for Monday on the request of Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid in which the mover Sheikh Alauddin asked what measures government was taking to check roadside quacks and small time quacks providing sexual powers enhancing drugs to innocent people which actually cause complicated ailments and led them to sudden deaths due to either containing banned chemicals or steroids.

The mover Sh Alauddin had elaborated that quackery gained space because a specialised medical treatment course namely LSMF which was imparted by British colonist rulers in the Indian subcontinent was suddenly revoked in 1971 allegedly with the connivance of some mafia.

He said LSMF qualified physicians were given MBBS degrees after a two years education in medical colleges, adding that LSMF qualified paramedical experts rendered great services during World War II and played a key role in treating wounded and the sick.

The House also passed a unanimous resolution asking the Punjab government to impress upon the federal government to convert Indus Highway from Kashmore to DI Khan into dual carriageway. The resolution highlighted that the single road at the Kashmore-DI Khan section had been causing frequent accidents causing loss of numerous innocent lives.

It also noted that sometimes back nine members of a family died in a tragic accident.

The deputy speaker kept another adjournment motion pending by Neelam Hayat seeking what action the information and culture ministry was taking against the TV channels showing round the clock vulgar dramas containing love stories, dances, drugs and household intrigues involving mothers-in-law and daughters-in-laws against one another.

The mover said the vulgar contents in dramas were destroying moral values of young generation and also encouraging them to use drugs.

No sooner than the House took up the official business of general debate on the annual reports of the development authorities of Rawalpindi, Multan, Gujranwala and Faisalabad, when opposition members indicated that the House lacked quorum. Deputy Speaker suspended the proceedings to ring bells for several minutes and finally adjourned the proceedings for today (Friday) when the government failed to maintain quorum.