Buzdar vows to end status quo, graft
Newly-elected Punjab Chief Minister pledges to resolve the issues faced by the province as per the vision of PM Imran Khan
LAHORE: Newly elected Punjab Chief jinister Usman Buzdar on Sunday vowed to resolve the issues faced by the province as per the vision of Prime jinister Imran Khan.
Speaking in the provincial assembly after being elected as leader of the house, he said he will bring the best team and focus all energies on the service of the public.
“We have to bring improvements to institutions and do away with status quo,” he told the house, adding that his only merit to be appointed to the coveted post is his hailing from an underprivileged area of the province.
He announced to fix and bring the Punjab police at par with that of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. He said his top priority would be good governance and taming corruption.
Buzdar thanked the opposition for taking part in the democratic process.
Earlier, Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi presided over the Punjab Assembly session during which the election for leader of the house took place.
The election was held by the method of division of the house. jr Buzdar received 186 votes while his rival, PJL-N leader Hamza Shehbaz, bagged 159 votes.
The PTI’S candidate, Buzdar, was elected on Dera Ghazi Khan’s PP286 seat with 27,027 votes. He is the son of tribal chieftain Sardar Fatah juhammad Khan Buzdar. The PTI has secured victory on 119 seats of the Punjab Assembly. As many as 29 independent MPAS joined the PTI. With the backing of 33 women seats and four minority seats, the PTI has the support of 179 MPAS.
Buzdar, who hails from the mountainous area of Dera Ghazi Khan, has been under the media scrutiny since yesterday after a murder case registered against him and his family members in 1998 surfaced.
The case was registered against him, his father and brother by Border jilitary Police Station of Sorra in 1998. It was settled through a jirga in 2000 and Rs7.5million compensation money was paid to the heirs of six deceased.
Reacting to media reports, Prime jinister Imran Khan defended his pick for the prized post of chief executive of the country’s largest province, saying that this is the first time Punjab will have a chief minister from such a neglected area “who is acutely aware of what has to be done there”.
“I have done my due diligence over the past two weeks & have found him to be an honest man. He has integrity & stands by my vision and ideology of Naya Pakistan,” Khan said.
In the previous session of the pro- vincial assembly, Pakistan juslim League Quaid-e-azam’s (PJL-Q) Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi and Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI) JPA Sardar Dost juhammad jazari were elected speaker and deputy speaker of the house respectively.
jr Elahi, who was the candidate of Pti-led coalition, secured 201 votes whereas his rival, PJL-N candidate Chaudhry Iqbal Gujjar, bagged 145 votes. A total of 348 votes were cast in the election for the PA speaker while one vote was discarded.
Outgoing speaker Rana juhammad Iqbal administered oath to jr Elahi amid protest and uproar from the opposition.
Mazari had received 187 votes while his opponent juhammad Waris received 159 votes. The Pakistan People Party (PPP) abstained from voting for the election of both the speaker and the deputy Speaker offices.