The dengue fever epidemic in the province dominated the Punjab Assembly proceedings on Wednesday, as the opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) held the provincial government responsible for the uncontrolled spread of the disease and staged a token walkout from the House in protest.
Earlier, Opposition leader Raja Riaz Ahmed offered cooperation to the chief minister to deal with the epidemic. PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid leaders said the government was not taking the matter seriously since the disease had been prevalent in the last two years also. Legislators on the treasury benches said all was being done to wipe the disease out from the province and experts had been called in from Sri Lanka.
Raja Riaz said Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was incompetent, adding that it was “a stubborn mosquito against a stubborn CM”, to which Parliamentary Secretary Zaeem Hussain Qadri and Rana Muhammed Arshad lashed back, turning the House into a fish market as slogans, pro and anti-government, were raised by the members.
Provincial Minister Ahmad Ali Aulakh gave satisfactory answers to the queries of the legislators regarding the Livestock and Dairy Development Department in the Question Hour.
An Indian lawyers’ delegation also visited the Punjab Assembly to witness the proceedings. Provincial Minister Nadeem Kamran and Opposition member Shaukat Basra welcomed them saying that exchange of delegations between the two neighbouring countries would enhance friendly relations at all levels.
PPP Deputy Parliamentary Party leader Shoukat Basra also criticised the government for using ineffective and adulterated repellents to kill dengue mosquitoes.
Member of the treasury benches, Saeed Akbar Nawani said he supported the opposition in its protest and that enough was not being done to control the spread of dengue.
Qadri, defending the government, said the deaths were due to some other lethal disease and not dengue, a statement that was ridiculed by most members in the House. He admitted that some medicines and sprays were ineffective as they were not mixed properly.
Earlier, Farah Deeba, a treasury member complained to the Chair that a TV channel aired false news that said that she was suffering from dengue and action should be taken against it. The speaker asked the media to be careful.
Lawmakers Seemal Kamran, Sheikh Allaudin, Arifa Khalid Pervez, Rana Arshad, Dr Ashraf Chohan, Deputy Speaker Rana Mashhood, Fauzia Behram, Qamar Amir Chaudhry also spoke on various issues during the session.
