By Asim Shahzad
LAHORE: The opposition in the Punjab Assembly on Thursday strongly condemned police violence against protesting health department employees, while Provincial Minister Mian Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman assured the Grand Health Alliance (GHA) that their issues would be resolved.
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MPA Amjad Ali Javed urged the government to take the alliance’s grievances seriously. “The Grand Health Alliance has been staging a protest for ten days. The relevant minister must come to the House and inform us of the steps being taken,” he said.
PPP MPA Mumtaz Chang criticized the handling of the protest, saying, “In a democratic government, dismantling protest camps and forcibly removing women demanding their rights is unacceptable. They should be allowed to protest peacefully.”
In response, Minister Mujtaba Shuja informed the assembly that committees had been formed both at the departmental and government level to address the alliance’s demands.
However, PPP’s Mumtaz Chang didn’t spare his own coalition government from criticism. “We cry about law and order, yet no progress is visible. The police have been given huge budgets, but the situation in the *kaccha* area remains unchanged. No police check posts exist on the border. Roads remain unpaved. Investment must be redirected toward health and essential infrastructure,” he said.
He further added, “Twenty years ago, health units were only repainted, not rebuilt. Instead of spending funds on agriculture in other provinces, the government should have procured wheat from local farmers. Over fifty cusecs of canals are being paved in irrigation elsewhere, but not a single canal in my constituency is paved.”
Opposition Leader Ahmed Bhachar also criticized the treatment meted out to party leaders during a visit to the imprisoned founder of their party. “It took half an hour just to get permission. We were transported in a prisoner’s van. The way social media spun the event on TV was absurd and brought embarrassment to the Punjab government,” he said.
“With permission from the Supreme Court’s larger bench, we went to meet our party founder in jail. Are we terrorists? We were treated like Mossad or RAW agents,” he added.
