LAHORE, Jan 29: In a rare goodwill gesture, unheard of any chief minister in the past, Pervaiz Elahi on Wednesday visited opposition leader Qasim Zia in his chamber, garlanded him and assured him that he would take the opposition along in formulating good policies for the province.

Mr Elahi remained in the chamber of Mr Zia for quite some time and told him that he would welcome proposals from opposition on various issues. Opposition’s ideas on legislation, improvement of the law and order situation, education and health standards would be received with an open mind and given due importance, Mr Elahi said.

He said he would not unduly defend police or any other department for their shortcomings.

Mr Zia said the opposition would also extend cooperation to the government for the uplift of the masses. He expressed the hope that the chief minister would give legislators their due status and also honour his word with respect to cooperation with opposition.

Some other members present on the occasion gave various suggestions.

Lodhran district opposition leader Ashiq Baloch told the chief minister that he had been falsely implicated in the murder of former state minister Siddiq Khan Kanju. Mr Kanju’s son, who is now district Nazim, wanted to have him killed, Mr Baloch said.

He told the chief minister the way he had been interrogated by various agencies.

The chief minister said he would contact the late Kanju’s son to know about the latest situation.