Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has urged all political parties to support government’s agenda of making South Punjab a separate province without any political point scoring.

Participating in the debate on a Bill in the Senate on Monday, he said a separate South Punjab province will not only strengthen the federation but also help locals to get their equal rights.

Shah Mahmood Qureshi said to pursue our agenda in this regard, under ring fencing policy; we have fixed separate funds for the people of South Punjab on the basis of population equation.

He said the rule of business has also been amended to strengthen the voice of South Punjab in Punjab Assembly and to this effect a notification has also been issued by the Punjab government. 

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan said the incumbent government has left no stone unturned in highlighting the Kashmir issue and human rights violation at world forums.

Winding up the debate on a motion, he said we submitted a dossier of war crimes and human rights violations by Indian Occupational forces in IIOJK.

He said due to our efforts, the first time ever the President General Assembly criticised India’s illegal steps of 5th August that reinforced our stance on Kashmir.

Human Rights watch also gave an extensive overview of Pakistan’s dossier that was also highlighted by Amnesty International. He said due to all these efforts, Indian narrative has failed and their so-called bilateral issue is now being discussed at world parliament.

He said we have proposed a way forward to resolve this long standing issue. It includes highlighting the criminal attitude of RSS-led Indian government’s attitude, work to reverse Indian illegal steps of 5th August, proceed against perpetrators of human rights violation in IIOJK, halt and reverse the demographic changes and make every effort to grant inalienable right to self-determination to Kashmiri people.

The Adviser expressed hope that the day will come when the Kashmir issue will be resolved according to the aspirations of Kashmiri people.

Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Kahn said we are working on various hydal power projects that will decrease energy prices in near future.

Speaking on a motion, he said regretted that previous governments didn’t take sufficient steps for cheap electricity and its transmission system. He said we are taking every possible step to reduce prices of electricity for the provision of relief to the masses.

Leader of the opposition in the House Yusuf Raza Gilani urged the government to fulfill its promise of making South Punjab a separate province on priority basis. He recalled his government’s efforts during his tenure for making South Punjab a separate province.

Seven bills were introduced in the Senate on Monday.

These include; The Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2021],  The Guardians and Wards (Amendment) Bill, 2022,  The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2021 (Amendment of Articles 175A, 181, 182, 183, 184, 195, 196, 197 and 209,  The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2021, Amendment of Articles 1, 51, 59, 106, 154, 175A, 198 and 218), The Prime University of Nursing, Sciences and Technology (PUNST) Islamabad Bill, 2021,  The Children (Pledging of Labour) (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and The Establishment of the Office of Wafaqi Mohtasib (Ombudsman) (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

The House today (Monday) unanimously passed three resolutions.

The first resolution recommended that the Federal Government may take initiatives to empower the Copyright Board regarding fixing of the royalties for licensing and assignment of work and ensuring payments to the artists whenever their artistic work are used in any fashion or way.”

The second resolution recommended the Federal Government to fund the Metro Bus as well as Circular Railway Projects including auxiliary routes in Quetta, from the Federal PSDP to meet the shortage of transport in the metropolitan city to the benefit of the public.”

The third resolution urged upon the Government to implement the agreement concluded with the Federal Government employees in 2021, in letter and spirit, with particular reference to the up-gradation of posts of scale 1-16 and merger of all ad-hoc allowances in the basic pay.”

The House also passed two bills.

These include The National Highways Safety (Amendment) Bill, 2021 and The Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

Earlier, the House offered Fateha for the departed soul of brother of Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani.

The House will now meet again tomorrow at 10.30am.