PPP Punjab stages sit-in at CM Secretariat

HAMID WALEED

LAHORE: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Punjab staged a sit-in at the Chief Minister Secretariat Saturday against deaths due to dengue fever and worsening law-and-order situation in the province.

Opposition leader in the Punjab assembly Raja Riaz and PPP Punjab President Imtiaz Safdar Warraich led the procession of PPP MPs in Punjab Assembly. The protesting MPs marched from the assembly house to the Chief Minister Secretariat and remained there for half an hour. They protested against what they said criminal negligence of the Punjab government in controlling the dengue outbreak in the province, which resulted in deaths of more than 200 people.

Talking to media, Raja Riaz said Shahbaz Sharif is a failed Chief Minister and Nawaz Sharif should ask him to resign. He said dengue and robbers rule the province in the day and night, respectively. He further expressed the hope that the Supreme Court would also disqualify Shahbaz Sharif from the provincial assembly.

Raja Riaz also condemned absence of a Health Minister in the province, causing ill-planning on how to deal with dengue virus and resultantly deaths of hundreds of people.

The Pakistan Muslin League-Q members also joined the protest and shouted slogans against the Punjab government.

He criticised Chief Minister Punjab for one-man show type administration in the province.

The participants offered fateha for those died of dengue fever. Meanwhile, they also denied mineral water bottles and dengue kits offered by the Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on the occasion.

It may be noted that Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah had said a day earlier that the PPP was responding to the PML-N protest and sit-in outside the presidency. According to him, the Punjab government would offer refreshments to the opposition during sit-in.