09 December 2004	Thursday	26 Shawwal 1425

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

ISLAMABAD, Dec 8: The government told the Senate on Wednesday that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was seeking an amicable settlement on the next National Finance Commission award after the opposition staged a token walk out , accusing the centre of denying provinces their due share in taxes.

Senators from the Democratic Alliance and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal accused the federal government of harming inter-provincial harmony by delaying the award and linked their protests to the resignation of a private NFC member from Sindh on Tuesday.

The government's assurance of sincere efforts being made to settle the row came from Minister of State for Finance Omar Ayub Khan after the opposition members ended their brief walkout. "The prime minister wants to settle the issue amicably...so that all provinces receive their due share," he said and urged opposition parties not to politicize the matter.

The issue generated a heated discussion after Democratic Alliance's parliamentary leader Raza Rabbani raised the matter of the protest resignation announced by NFC member Abdul Karim Lodhi, who told a news conference in Karachi on Tuesday that the NFC had been made a "handmaiden of the central government".

Opposition members also exchanged hot words with Mr Omar Ayub and two other ministers during the sitting that passed a non-controversial Corporate and Industrial Restructuring Corporation (Amendment) Bill without a debate after deferring further discussion on the Anti-Terrorism (Second Amendment) Bill already passed by the National Assembly until Thursday and referred two other bills to standing committees concerned.

"God-willing, there will be solution of the NFC (issue)," minister of state Omar Ayub Khan said without specifying any time-frame. Mr Rabbani blamed the federal government for the NFC's failure to give a promised award before the last budget and wanted to know when the next NFC award would be made.

He said Sindh and the NWFP had particularly faced financial problems in preparing their budgets in the absence of a new NFC award and that the provinces were made to beg for their share. "This is not a charity to be given by the centre," he said and asked: "How can you expect inter-provincial harmony if the provinces are not given their due share?"

MMA's parliamentary leader Prof Khurshid Ahmed said the federal government must change its attitude viz-a-viz the NFC award, and give the provinces their due share instead of sticking to an eight-year-old share determination.

Sanaullah Baloch of the Balochistan National Party (Mengal group) accused the federal government of "stealing the resources of provinces" and said population should not be the only criterion for determining the shares.

PML's Nisar Ahmed Memon said the NFC award was an important matter both for the opposition and treasury benches but urged the opposition to be patient in view of the ongoing opposition-government dialogue.

Both Mr Rabbani and ANP leader Asfandyar Wali immediately denied that any such dialogue was in progress. There was a brief pandemonium in the house during exchanges between Minister of State for Religious Affairs Aamer Liaquat Hussain and some MMA Senators who accused him of insulting ulema in a speech on Tuesday.

The minister denied the allegation and said he had only referred to a reported incident of sodomy in a Madressah and urged ulema to caution people about the AIDS. The MMA senators were not satisfied with the minister's clarification and staged a token walkout, which was also joined by the Democratic Alliance members.

During a brief discussion on the Anti-Terrorism (Second Amendment) Bill, Mr Rabbani said although the opposition favoured strict action against terrorism but the new law could be used against political opponents and provided for a system of parallel judiciary that was opposed by the legal community.

The government agreed to defer the debate till Thursday after the ruling party senator Khalid Ranjha and some opposition members called for copies of the original Anti-Terrorism Act and the proposed amendments.

A heated debate ensued after Mr Omar Ayub Khan presented a copy of a bill to amend the Federal Employees Benevolent Fund and Group Insurance Act 1969, already being reviewed by the National Assembly, as a money bill on which the Senate could only give recommendations. Mr Ranjha and some opposition members contested the government's contention that it was a money bill that cannot be amended or passed by the Senate. But Deputy Chairman Khalilur Rehman accepted an assurance by leader of house Wasim Sajjad that the National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain had declared the new law as a money bill and referred it to a Senate committee to prepare the upper house recommendations to be considered by the lower house while passing the bill.

The Corporate and Industrial Restructuring Corporation (CIRC) (Amendment) Bill that was passed by the Senate simplifies and broadens the CIRC entry criteria to accommodate financial institutions irrespective of the government equity.

The two other bills earlier referred to standing committees concerned were the Gwadar Port Authority (Amendment) Bill and the Contempt of Court Bill - both already passed by the National Assembly. The house was adjourned till 4:15pm on Thursday.