(Left) Bilawal Bhutto (Right) Pakistan PM Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif
JAMMU: The differences between the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) are deepening with every passing day. Over the past month or so, the PPP has, on many occasions, ditched the government at crucial moments leaving it red faced and stranded. By all available indications, it seems Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is in for tougher days ahead because of this.
When the proceedings of the National Assembly began some days ago, the PPP legislators walked out when they saw that most PML-N members were absent. They realised that their walking out will lead to lack of quorum and indeed this happened. At that time, the government had planned to move 21 Bills in Parliament and they all went for a six because of the PPP planning.
Several PPP leaders declared later that the PML-N government will not be getting their support in Parliament and face this on daily basis. It has now decided to block parliamentary proceedings henceforth and not extend support to PML-N. On Friday, it stalled two government bills dealing with natural gas-related revenue adjustments. This happened amid the latest political bickering in the ruling coalition over recent Pakistan Occupied Jammu Kashmir (POJK) elections and discourse on the proposed new provinces.
The bills had to be dropped after a meeting of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Petroleum, presided over by PPP’s Syed Mustafa Mehmood, lawmaker. Besides him, former Federal minister for petroleum and finance Syed Naveed Qamar asked the panel at the outset not to discuss the Natural Gas (Development Surcharge) Amendment Bill and the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) Amendment Bill.
The Petroleum Division had proposed the GIDC bill to expand the scope of GIDC funds’ utilisation for strategic oil and gas reserves from its existing specific mandate. These bills were being borught in for developing Pakistan-Iran, Turkmenistan-Pakistan and cross-country gas pipelines. About Rs 295 billion remains unutilised in the public kitty, while more than Rs 400bn collected by fertiliser companies from consumers remains outside the national exchequer because of legal issues.
Outside the meeting, Qamar told reporters that the PPP was not a coalition partner but had been supporting the government and that the relationship could not be carried forward unilaterally forever. He said his party had conveyed certain reservations to the government which, if it required PPP’s support, it had to resolve. These complaints related to POJK elections, appointment of judges and other matters.
He said the government had promised to look into those issues but had not shown any progress. Therefore, the PPP had decided that it would not support the government until tangible progress was seen.
He said the government had tried to bulldoze a bill through the interior panel a day earlier. He said the Islamabad Local Government Bill was unacceptable even otherwise and the PPP had filed a dissenting note. “The government needs to resolve these issues and take steps,” he said, adding that the law minister was abroad and it was unclear where he was active these days.
Committee Chairman Mustafa Mehmood said cheap gas should not be provided to fertiliser companies if the benefit did not reach the farmer. The committee then decided to defer both bills.
The PPP, so far a key ally of the PML-N-led government, has now questioned PM Shehbaz Sharif’s silence over the debate on creating new provinces and sought his stance on the matter. The PPP had earlier maintained that any move to create additional federating units must follow the procedure laid down in the Constitution.
In a sign of its hardening of stance against PML-N, the PPP-led Sindh government has got a resolution passed by the provincial assembly opposing any further division of the country’s existing four provinces. This is meant to be a clear signal to PM Shehbaz Sharif that creation of new provinces is not something it will allow in any easy manner.
Meanwhile, PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah on Friday reiterated that no preparations were currently under way for the creation of new provinces. His statement is being interpreted as PML-N’s official stance as of now.
During parliamentary proceedings last month, PPP lawmaker Agha Rafiullah had called on PM Shehbaz Sharif to come to the National Assembly and give a policy statement on the issue of new provinces. Absenteeism from proceedings of the National Assembly by Mr Sharif is legendary as he rarely attends them lest he be cornered into answering uncomfortable questions.
PPP Parliamentarians Secretary General Nayyar Hussain Bokhari has asked PM Sharif to state the government’s position on the issue. A debate over the creation of new federating units has continued for the past couple of months in different circles. However, there has been no official confirmation about the origin or contours of any proposal. Some ruling-party leaders and Federal cabinet members have publicly expressed support for the idea at different forums, including in Parliament.
Media reports have suggested proposals ranging from eight to as many as 30 provinces, though no official plan has been announced. Bokhari has stressed that the government should first place the issue before the Federal cabinet for discussion and then take all political parties into confidence.
He said that if the government sought to delete Article 239(4) of the Constitution to bypass the mandatory consent of the existing province from which a new province was to be carved out, Article 1 would also have to be amended. Bokhari said that any constitutional amendment would require a two-thirds majority in Parliament, for which the government would need the support of the PPP and other political parties.
It needs to be stated here that creation of new provinces is an idea floated on behalf of the Army by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi. He is someone who entered Parliament with the support of both PML-N and PPP. But due to his proximity to Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Field Marshall Asim Munir, he has become a major problem for both the parties.
