Party-based LG polls to produce genuine leaders

LAHORE: Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has said that genuine leadership will emerge at the grassroots by holding party-based local governments (LG) elections in the province.

He was chairing a consultative meeting at his office with the special participation of Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. The meeting reviewed party affairs and suggestions regarding LG elections. Various options were discussed in detail as the participants presented their views about LG elections.

Other issues related to local bodies elections were also debated, said a handout issued here Friday. Usman Buzdar said that the government was ready to hold local government elections and the PTI would field strong candidates, he said adding that sincere and strong candidates would be chosen from the party after consultations.

The new Local Government Act would solve the problems of people at their doorstep, he said. The meeting was also attended by Provincial Ministers Raja Basharat, Mian Mahmood-ur-Rasheed and officials concerned while Federal Minister Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar and Provincial Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht participated through video- link.

HEALTH CARD: The chief minister termed the New Pakistan National Health Card a historic initiative of the PTI-led government for public welfare as there is no precedent of such a programme for people’s welfare in the history. In a statement issued on Friday, the chief minister said that every family in Punjab would have access to free quality medical treatment through this scheme. Universal Health Insurance Programme is successfully benefiting masses in Rawalpindi, Lahore, Sahiwal and Dera Ghazi Khan Divisions as more than one lakh people have benefited from free medical treatment facilities through 287 selected hospitals in these divisions, he noted. The government has paid about Rs2.17 billion for the treatment. By the end of March, all families in Punjab will be eligible for free treatment up to Rs1 million per annum under this programme, he added. Issuance of the Health Card In Bahawalpur, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Multan and Sargodha Divisions will be completed within two months, he added.

The National Health Card is the right of people which the PTI is giving back to them, he said adding the government is fulfilling its promise of providing health facilities to every citizen.

BLAST: The chief minister has strongly condemned the landmine blast in Sui, Balochistan province and expressed grief over loss of human lives.

In a statement, the chief minister extended sympathies to the bereaved families and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured.The sympathies of the Punjab government are with the bereaved families, he added and lamented that the enemy was attempting to create instability in the country.

The Pakistani nation’s strong resolve cannot be weakened by the heinous acts of terrorism as the nation is fully united against terrorism, he emphasised.Usman Buzdar paid homage to the sacrifices of the martyred soldiers for the beloved homeland. He said the martyrs had rendered their lives for maintaining peace in the homeland.

He asserted that a handful of centrifugal elements could not lower the morale of the nation through a spate of terrorism.The nation is fully united against the menace of terrorism as Pakistan has made unprecedented sacrifices in the war against terrorism, he stressed. The sacrifices of the martyrs will not go in vain, he said and added that unity was a must to thwart nefarious intentions of the wicked enemy as it was constantly conspiring to destabilise Pakistan. The CM vowed that the nefarious intentions of the enemy would be foiled through national unity.