Minister's absence: joint KP opposition stages walkout

Joint opposition in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Tuesday protested the absence of the health minister from the house and staged a token boycott of proceedings of the house. It was call attention notice of Amna Sardar of PML-N regarding health department. The PML-N legislators in her call attention notice highlighted the failure of the provincial government in bringing improvement in the dilapidated conditions of the teaching hospitals of the provincial capital.
She said that out of the three teaching hospitals, a ward of Neurology is established only in Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), which is consist of only 28 beds while Neurology wards so far could not be established in Khyber Teaching Hospital (KTH) and Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC), due to which the problems of paralysis and Neuro patients had multiplied.
In the absence of the concerned minister, the chair first asked the Provincial Minister for Law, Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi to respond. However, he turned over the mike to Special Assistant to CM on Social Welfare, Dr Meher Taj Roghani. Dr Meher Taj Roghani, who is senior paediatricians made utmost efforts to satisfy the opposition. But, the parliamentary leader of PML-N, Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha protested the absence of the minister concerned and announced walkout of the house. Other, the legislators of other opposition parties also joined them and come out of the house.
The chair, Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli asked Provincial Ministers, Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani and Inayatullah for persuading the opposition to bring them back in the house. Later, the opposition ended their boycott and return to join the proceedings of the house while Senior Minister for Local Government, Inayatullah Khan told the house about the complaints of the opposition legislators regarding the absence of the minister and not releasing of development funds for their constituencies.
The chair, Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli in her ruling said that prior intimation is obligatory for the ministers, whose business is on agenda of the house. Similarly, she said that the staff of the advisors, special assistants and parliamentary secretaries will also have to inform the house about their absence. She said beside, the people of the province the whole world eyeing the provincial assembly. She said that junior officers, except few deputy secretaries no senior functionary is attending the proceeding of the house. She asked the senior officials for taking the business of the house seriously. Otherwise, she said the matter will be taken up at higher level.