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Pharmacist union official says won’t end protest until Punjab govt ends Schedule-G, Drug Act 2017
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Lahore police spokesman silent over violation of protest ban as citizens suffer due to traffic jams
LAHORE: The pharmacists and medical stores’ owners continued their shutter-down strike on the fifth day and held a rally at Charing Cross Chowk on Monday.
The leaders of medical stores and chemist associations from across Punjab vowed to continue their protest until their demands are met.
“We will stay here until our demands are met, we are even ready to sacrifice our lives for our cause,” the president of the Medical Store Association Lahore said.
Meanwhile, President Pharmacists Association Okara, Chaudhry Javaid said that medical store owners and pharmacists are reaching Lahore to join the protest from across the province.
“Our businesses are being closed down due to the new drug act, it is the fourth day we are on roads while our shops are shut down,” he said, adding that the government has to accept their demands.
Moreover, President Chemist Association Bahawalpur Chaudhry Shahid Hassan told Pakistan Today that everyone in this protest is linked to this business. “Medical store owners, pharmacists, chemists, and medicine distributors are here today, there is no outsider,” he said.
Talking about their demands, Hassan said that they want Schedule-G, and Drug Act 2017 to end. “Government must end these laws and re-implement Drug Act 1976,” he demanded.
Interestingly, the Punjab Home Department had recently declared Mall Road as ‘red zone’ and imposed a ban on holding protest gatherings in the area for six months.
A traffic warden present on the site told Pakistan Today that they had received no order from the government on how to tackle the protest. Other police personnel also gave similar statements, saying that until they get an order from above, they cannot do anything.
When contacted about the protest on Mall Road, Lahore Police spokesman Syed Hammad Raza said that there is a strategy of the government to stop protesters from coming to Mall Road but “I will not tell you about that”.
“Only two hours have passed yet, we are doing negotiations with the protesters and will brief media once there is any development in the issue,” Raza said before putting down the phone.
