Governor Acting Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on Wednesday said that poli
tical dialogue in th
e parliament helped overcome differences and boycott was not the remedy to grievances between the government and the opposition.
Addressing journalists at oath-taking ceremony of Punjab Assembly Press Gallery Committee at Governor’s House here, he sa
id parl
iament was the right platform to achieve consensus on all issues, adding that the opposition parties should take part in the upcoming Senate elections as well as the Local Government (LG) polls.
Pervaiz Elahi recalled that Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) boycotted the 1985 general elections and the boycott cost PPP dearly on the poli
tical front, adding that the PPP leadership regretted the poli
tical mistake later.
Hailing decision of the opposition to contest upcoming Senate elections, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi said politics was not about winning or los
ing but staying within the poli
tical system, adding that all poli
tical parties should take active part in the mainstream politics for the good of democracy.
“Parl
iament is the only viable forum to resolve people’s problems besides the poli
tical issues,” he said and added that only the path of th
e parliament should be adopted to address poli
tical and public grievances.
He said power was not permanent and the politicians should work for the public welfare so that they were remembered and loved by their constituents.
He regretted the fact that former chief minister Shehbaz Sharif always put a spanner in the development works started by the PML-Q government of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, adding that Shehbaz Sharif stopped funds of the public welfare projects in Gujrat and other districts as a poli
tical revenge.
Acknowledging the importance of parl
iamentary reporting in a democracy, he said th
e parliamentary reporters were vital to the public-welfare legislation in th
e parliament, adding that the journalists helped the politicians in right decisions in th
e parliament.
Parl
iament and the reporters must work in close liaison with each in order to ensure public-friendly legislation and highlight the mistakes of the treasury and the opposition, he added.
Pervaiz Elahi said new building of the Punjab Assembly would be completed by the end of February 2021, adding that Prime Minister Imran Khan would inaugurate the new assembly chambers during the next month.
He assured the journalists that he would personally ask Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar to allocate land for Phase II of the Journalist Housing Society in the provincial metropolis.
Earlier, Acting Governor Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi administerd oath to the newly elected President Ayaz Shuja and Secretary Shahzad Malik of the Punjab Assmebly Press Gallery Committee.
Secretary Punjab Assembly Muhammad Khan Bhatti, DG Parl
iamentary Affairs Anayatullah Lak, President Lahore Press Club Arshad Ansari, and a large number of journalists attended the ceremony.
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