LAHORE: Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Law Minister Basharat Raja to complete the local government legislation and hold elections at the earliest.

Presiding over a meeting at the CM secretariat on Friday, the prime minister asked the Punjab government to take measures to adopt and implement law reforms.

The law minister briefed the PM and CM on legislative matters in the province and discussed upcoming local government elections.

The prime minister said necessary legislation should also be introduced to provide justice to the people and eliminate unnecessary delays in judicial cases.

Mr Khan said efforts of the Punjab Cooperatives Department for retrieving land from illegal occupants and for unprecedented recovery were commendable. “Appointment of a new chairman for the Cooperatives Bank after seven years and formulation of farmer friendly policies are right moves,” the PM said.

Earlier, the chief minister held a marathon consultative meeting at his office which was also attended by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, provincial ministers Basharat Raja and Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed while federal minister Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar and Punjab finance minister Hashim Jawan Bakht joined it through video link.

The meeting reviewed party affairs and suggestions regarding local government elections. Various options were discussed in detail as the participants presented their views about the upcoming elections.

The chief minister said the PTI would field strong candidates for the LG elections.

JIT: The Punjab home department on Friday constituted a five-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to conduct investigation into the Anarkali bomb blast.

Counter Terrorism Department’s SP Naseebullah Khan is the convener of the JIT with DSP Ashraf Chadhar, investigation officer Munir Ahmad and one each representative of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Inter-Services Intelligence Services (ISI) as its members.

A notification issued by the Additional Chief Secretary (Home) states the FIA, FMU, SECP and SBP shall assist the JIT in financial investigation as required by policy in financial investigation of terrorism cases.

At least three persons were killed and 20 others injured in the Jan 20 blast.

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2022