PML-Q files adjournment motion to discuss YDA issue
15 February, 2013
LAHORE: The second largest opposition party in the Punjab Assembly, the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), showing solidarity with the Young Doctors' Association (YDA), filed an adjournment motion in the Punjab Assembly Secretariat on Thursday. The PML-Q is supporting the YDA's demands from the day first and has already urged the provincial government time and again – inside as well as outside the House – to handle the issue properly. The party has also condemned the government's rigid stance against doctors, especially their recent arrests following a baton-charge by the police. In favour of the demands of the YDA, the adjournment motion from the PML-Q was filed by its female member Dr Samia Amjad, who is a medical doctor by profession and has been running a hospital in Khanawal along with her husband and daughter. She is a practicing physician and is the president of the Pakistan Society of Family Physicians since 1996. Dr Samia Amjad had raised her voice on several occasions against the Punjab government's health polices on the assembly floor, In her new adjournment motion, she urged the authorities to settle the doctors' issue as soon as possible and said that the provincial government had neglected the hunger strike of the YDA members, which could bring negative results. She also warned the Punjab government that it would be held responsible for any misshape to young doctors at their hunger strike camp. Talking to the media after submitting her adjournment motion, she said that a prolonged hunger strike would definitely take a toll on the young physicians' health. She also demanded Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana Iqbal to adopt her adjournment motion in the House in the next session for debate. Court case: Meanwhile, Justice Ijazul Ahsan of the Lahore High Court on Thursday sought a detailed reply from the Punjab government on a petition on behalf of the YDA, seeking action against the authorities involved in torturing young doctors and detaining them for eight hours without registration of any case. The judge sought the reply until February 22 with remarks that the court would determined who crossed the limits of the law. Counsel for the YDA Noshab A Khan alleged that the Lahore police at the behest of the Punjab government ransacked a peaceful hunger strike camp set up by the young doctors outside Services Hospital, Jail Road, on February 10. He alleged that a police party severely tortured not only male but also the female doctors without any discrimination. He submitted that because of the police action, many of the doctors received serious injuries and were admitted to the hospital. He said that the police had arrested doctors and detained them in the North Cantonment Police Station for eight hours without registration of any case. He requested the court to order a judicial inquiry into the incident and bring the responsible to book. In response to the petition, Punjab government law officer Faisal Zaman submitted that doctors had left the patients unattended and took to the roads. He said that on February 10, doctors tried to create unrest by blocking the way of diplomats of different countries, who had been invited to the inauguration ceremony of the Metro Bus Service in the city. He said that the YDA members were also violating the Supreme Court and LHC orders and the district government wanted to maintain law and order, due to which the authorities only restrained the doctors from creating problems. End.
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