ISLAMABAD: Amid dissatisfaction expressed by the provinces
over ‘non-implementation’ of the article 158 and 172 of the
constitution, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has ordered convening a
special dedicated meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) to
debate the roles and powers of the federation and its four federating
units.
A senior government official told Dawn that the
prime minister had passed these directives at the previous CCI meeting
held on Nov 24 and was perturbed over repeated complaints of the
provincial governments regarding oil and gas issues, particularly the
import of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and its allocations.
Official
documents seen by Dawn suggest the Inter-Provinical Coordination
Division (IPCD) reported to the council that the Inter-provincial
Coordination Committee (IPCC) led by Federal Minister Riaz Hussain
Pirzada and attended by chief ministers had taken up the LNG policy 2011
on the instructions of the CCI to reach a way forward.
The
issue was taken up by the IPCC in its two meetings but despite “lengthy
debates, consensus could not be arrived at”. It was therefore, decided
that the provincial governments would submit their observations in
writing for submission to the CCI for decision. The governments of Sindh
and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have submitted their responses and had strong
observations.
The CCI was also informed that the IPCC had
also discussed “the issue of implementation of the article 158 and
decided that as three provinces ie Sindh, KP and Balochistan had the
same stand, therefore, it should be implemented in letter and spirit”.
It was also decided to revise criteria for provision of gas per consumer
making them uniform for all provinces with specific provision that the
federal government will bear the expenditure over and above the said
criteria.
The CCI was also told that that the issue was
earlier also referred to a committee headed by the minister for law and
justice which recommended that the matter of LNG policy 2011 be placed
before the CCI. Pursuant to the said advice, the Petroleum Division had
placed the LNG policy 2011 before the CCI in a meeting held in August.
Sindh
Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah told the meeting that summary was
submitted to the CCI for information and not for approval. “He was of
the view that the Petroleum Division should have submitted the LNG
policy for approval,” and demanded that as some improvements were being
envisaged by the Petroleum Division, a revised and updated LNG policy
should be submitted to the CCI for consideration and approval.
This
did not go well with Prime Minister Abbasi. “The prime minister
observed that pursuant to the decision of the committee under Minister
for Law, the LNG policy 2011 was placed before CCI for information and
its approval was not required from the CCI”.
