"Don't close your eyes from history", Naveed Qamar to Govt

ISLAMABAD: People’s Party’s Naveed Qamar on Wednesday said that Khawaja Asif has taken the Gul Plaza fire issue to some other direction, “We will deem Khawaja Asif’s statement as the government’s policy,” PPP’s parliamentarian said on the floor of the National Assembly.

He was speaking in the National Assembly during a debate on the Karachi fire tragedy.

Naveed Qamar, a senior PPP member, asked the government, “Not to play with fire. You don’t know what is federalism”.

“If you have to win hearts and minds of people, see them with their perspective,” he said.

He said Pakistan will become strong when its federating units will be strengthened. “You want to transfer the provincial resources to the Centre”, he said.

Naveed Qamar-uz-Zaman said deduction of funds of health and education sectors and law and order is not an appropriate way of conduct.

“We have offered sacrifices to strengthen the system, don’t close your eyes from the history,” he advised.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday said repeated fire incidents in Karachi, including the deadly blaze at Gul Plaza, had exposed the failure of urban governance in the city and urged for an empowered local government system across the country and stressed for the transfer of power from provincial capitals to districts, tehsils and neighborhoods.