Maintaining peace and order is also responsibility of provinces, says Azma Bukhari

LAHORE  -  Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari said on Saturday that the fire in Parachinar was now spreading to the streets, while Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Gandapur was sleeping on the issue.

Addressing a press conference at DGPR, she said the KP CM was only focused on one dream, how to launch an attack on the federal government with the help of provincial government employees. She regretted that Gandapur had never held any meeting regarding law and order in KP. She said the federal government would help the provincial government to solve its problems if the latter would become active first. Gandapur was more concerned with how to distribute billions of rupees among protesters than the safety of his people. They should be ashamed of spewing venom against the very country from which they have been doing business with diamonds.  

The provincial information minister said, “We cannot leave Islamabad at the mercy of these goons. Maintaining peace and order is the responsibility of both the provinces and the federal government, and we will fulfill this responsibility. Anyone who tries to take the law into their own hands will be treated like the Khawarij.

She added that the Islamabad High Court had clearly stated that no one would be allowed to disrupt the situation, and they should be given a designated place for protests.  

Azma said, “Imran Khan is in jail for corruption and theft cases. Nawaz Sharif did a lot for him, but betrayal is Imran’s nature.”

In response to questions, Azma Bukhari said Punjab is a province where development is taking place rapidly, and developmental projects are being completed swiftly. However, disruptive elements are preventing peace even in Punjab. She stated, “They want to neither do any work themselves nor allow others to do it.”  

She added, “We know exactly how to deal with these troublemakers. If necessary, any province has the right to call the army or rangers to maintain peace and order. We have never heard of interim bail being granted for a year and a half in any case. It is unheard of that a case is registered in one province and bail is granted in another.” Azma Bukhari also criticised the PTI for exploiting innocent children under the guise of its youth wing, stating that these children are left abandoned with no one to care for them.

ePaper - Nawaiwaqt