Pervaiz condemns torture of doctors

LAHORE, March 29: Pakistan Muslim League-Q leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi condemned on Tuesday the brutal and inhuman treatment being meted out to doctors in Punjab at the hands of Shahbaz Sharif. In a statement, he said the chief minister had treated doctors like hardened criminals and instead of paying attention to their just demands, he ordered their arrest, torture and dismissal. Mr Elahi expressed his solidarity with Punjab's protesting doctors, and flayed the chief minister for arresting doctors. Without citing the treatment of PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif in London, Mr Elahi said as the rulers get treatment from UK and US doctors, they are least bothered about disruption in the health infrastructure meant for the poor Pakistanis. He held the Punjab government's hostile and vindictive policies responsible for the flight of doctors to other countries. He condemned the Shahbaz government for deploying official machinery and financial resources to silence doctors in the province. He said instead of spending huge public funds on media campaigns against doctors the Punjab government should have used the money to increase doctors' salaries and privileges. "The blood of poor farmers spilled in Khanewal was still fresh in the mind of the public that the Shahbaz government went one step further by ordering police to unleash indiscriminate violence against doctors today," he said.