PTI Core Committee For Zero Tolerance For Rampaging Lawyers: Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan Thursday said Prime Minister Imran Khan and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Core Committee had strongly condemned the lawyers attack and rampage at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC).

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Dec, 2019 ) :Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan Thursday said Prime Minister Imran Khan and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Core Committee had strongly condemned the lawyers attack and rampage at the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC).

The Core Committee, which met here with the prime minister in the chair, declared that zero tolerance against such mongers of violence at public departments, providing facilities to the general public, should be observed.

It decided that the party's legal wing leadership should start consultation with the lawyers' bodies and associations, and bar councils, besides taking the apex judiciary on board for devising a robust policy to discourage such law-abettors among the ranks of lawyers' community, Dr Firdous said while talking to the media after the Core Committee meeting.

She stressed that the lawyers fraternity should pinpoint such black sheep and expel them from bar councils.

The entire lawyer community should not be blamed for heinous criminal act as miscreants were merely a handful who would be identified from the video footages and punished in accordance with law.

She said the prime minister was briefed on the PIC attack issue by the Punjab Chief Minister, Inspector General of Punjab Police and Chief Secretary whereas the final report was yet to be presented.

Firdous said the Core Committee focused on four key agenda items, including inflation that had put serious burden on the masses and initiated a crisis in the country.

She said inflation was extensively discussed by the Core Committee. The party leaders presented various proposals to control price hike in the markets.

"The recommendations of the committee would be sent to Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan where we have our coalition governments for implementation and relieve the masses of increasing prices of goods at the grassroots level," she added.

Dr Firdous said the prime minister was briefed on positive economic indicators, relief measures taken to facilitate the general public and the overall political situation prevailing in the country.

The prime minister, she said, directed the committee members to complete the party's restructuring at the earliest, and also create mass awareness on the importance of local bodies system and the efforts made by the government to control inflation. He also reviewed the steps taken by the provincial governments to curb inflation. She said the prime minister emphasized the need to strengthen the parliamentary committee constituted for the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and members of the Election Commission of Pakistan.

Expressing the hope that consensus would be developed between the opposition and the government, the Core Committee members observed that in case of disagreement, the latter should set its own priorities over the matter.

Dr Firdous said the social media cell in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting was going to be upgraded as a digitalized wing.

The SAPM said, "It is a strange that all the political leaders seeking bail from the higher courts on medical grounds are going to their homes instead of hospitals where the 'critical patients' like them can b cured." She said a well-coordinated system was being devised to ensure smooth dispensation of facilities to the people at different public institutions and to trickle the impact of reforms undertaken by the PTI government down to the masses while removing all the hindrances in that regard.

Dr Firdous said the Core Committee had a serious debate on the governance issues, particularly in the administrative and financial departments, including revenue and police, which had direct interaction with the masses.

She said there was consensus that no leniency should be observed in the accountability process as Prime Minister Imran Khan also wanted to ensure an across the board accountability of the corrupt.

To a question, she said the district management and price magistrates' empowerment to control artificial price hike in the markets was under discussion in Punjab whereas a special and technology based system would be introduced in that regard.