South Punjab Secretariat, A Milestone Marked On Way To Separate Province, Says Dr. Firdaus Ashiq Awan

Punjab Chief Minister's advisor on information Dr. Firdaus Ashiq Awan described foundation stone of south Punjab secretariat laid by Prime Minister Imran Khan in Multan on Monday as a milestone marked perfectly bringing the dream of separate province closer, insight and achievable to protect peoples' rights

MULTAN, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Apr, 2021 ) :Punjab Chief Minister's advisor on information Dr. Firdaus Ashiq Awan described foundation stone of south Punjab secretariat laid by Prime Minister Imran Khan in Multan on Monday as a milestone marked perfectly bringing the dream of separate province closer, insight and achievable to protect peoples' rights.

Flanked by Special Assistant to Prime Minister Malik Muhammad Amir Dogar, Federal parliamentary secretary on finance Makhdoomzada Syed Zain Hussain Qureshi, Punjab parliamentary secretary on information and culture Muhammad Nadeem Qureshi, federal parliamentary secretary for planning and development Kanwal Shauzab, Dr. Firdaus made these observations at a press conference at Multan Tea House.

She expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Imran Khan for taking a leap forward on way to achieving the objective of south Punjab as separate province, Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, the parliamentarians from Multan, the media for keeping the issue alive in headlines, PTI workers and above all the inhabitants of south Punjab, particularly Multanites who voted to power all the PTI candidates in the elections 2018 reposing their trust on the party and Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Dr. Firdaus Ashiq Awan said that Prime Minister Imran Khan launched 100 mega development projects worth over Rs 37 billion for Multan district including south Punjab secretariat adding that gone are the days when funds meant for south Punjab were shifted to Takht-e-Raiwind usurping the rights of the people of South Punjab towards health, education, justice. It's a step forward by PM Imran to ending the story of injustices meted out by past governments to the people of south Punjab, she added.

To a question regarding the issue of the withdrawal of powers of secretaries in south Punjab, She said that an inquiry was ordered on the demand of parliamentarians of this area and promised that its findings would be made public and those found involved would face action as per law. Parliamentary secretary on finance Makhdoomzada Zain Hussain Qureshi said that rules of business were being modified and their ratification would plug all the chances of such happening in future.

No one will be able to rollback it, he said adding that the powers of south Punjab secretariat would stay for good governance. He said that the next annual Punjab budget 2021-22 would have two annual development plans published in the form of separate books and funds allocated for South Punjab have been ring-fenced, explaining that these funds could not be repatriated and would only be invested in south Punjab.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister Malik Muhammad Amir Dogar said that south Punjab secretariat was a significant step forward on the political landscape of Pakistan during the 70 years long history of the country. He hailed the Prime Minister Imran Khan and Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar for 33 per cent job quota allocated for the youth of south Punjab and said that PTI leadership was sincere and making efforts to protect rights of 45 million people of south Punjab.

He said that past governments set up committees for separate province headed by former Governor Malik Rafiq Rajwana and Hamza Shahbaz but did nothing practical. All they did was lip service.

Makhdoom Zain Qureshi said that past government repatriated hundreds of millions of funds meant for south Punjab to other areas but promised that nothing of that sort would recur again due to the safeguards being put in place by the PTI government.

Federal parliamentary secretary for planning and development Kanwal Shauzab said that the south Punjab secretariat emerged as a ray of hope for the dream of their elders who left this world without seeing it materialized. However, she added, our younger generation would benefit from it. She said that government was also planning to invest billions into improving municipal services in eighteen tehsils of south Punjab including clean drinking water, sanitation adding that its completion would solve a lot of problems being faced by the people.