MULTAN, April 26: People belonging to various walks of life formed on Saturday an ‘action committee’ to, what they said, thwart bids to shift the proposed institute of cardiology from Multan to upper Punjab.

A meeting in this regard was organized at the local press club by the Multan chapter of Pakistan Medical Association. Representatives of various political parties, trade bodies, Bar associations, journalists organizations and trade unions attended the meeting.

The meeting expressed concern over the ‘wrangling’ that where should the proposed

institute of cardiology be set up in Multan city — either on the premises of former commissioner’s house or somewhere else. Speakers said the commissioner’s house had been allocated for the institute and a building plan was also ready.

They claimed that the bureaucracy in Lahore was creating hurdles in the implementation of the project. Some speakers claimed that a federal minister from Rawalpindi wanted the institute in his area and all the bickering over the matter of the institute site was to create an impression that the Multanis were not serious to have a cardiology hospital.

They criticized the decision-makers for alleged step-motherly treatment they often meted out to southern Punjab.

The meeting unanimously adopted a resolution rejecting shifting of the proposed institute to somewhere else.

The action committee will hold its first meeting on April 28 to chalk out a strategy.

Prominent members of the action committee are; Ahmad Raza Bokhari (president of Lahore High Court Bar’s Multan bench), Dr Syed Muhammad Ali (Punjab PMA president), Jamshed Hayat Khan (Multan District Bar Association president), Khaliq Qandeel Sindhu (Multan Powerloom Owners Association secretary general), Khalid Mahmood Qureshi (Chamber of small traders), MPA Ibrahim Khan (PML-Q), MPA Nafees Ansari (PML-N), Habibullah Shakir (Multan district PPP president), Maj Mubashir (Tehrik-i-Insaaf), Ali Raza Gardezi (Milli Yakjehti Council) and Rao Zafar Iqbal (MMA).

Later, Punjab PMA president Dr Ali told Dawn that they would go to any extent to get the rights of south Punjab.