07 February 2005	Monday	27 Zilhaj 1425

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ISLAMABAD Feb 6: Balochistan Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani on Sunday called for quick implementation of the proposed constitutional and development package for his province.

During a meeting with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz here on Sunday, Mr Ghani discussed in detail the proposed constitutional package in line with the parliamentary committee's recommendations and said that the package should be made public as soon as possible to defuse the volatile situation in the province.

Mr Ghani, who had met President General Pervez Musharraf last week, had driven straight from Peshawar, his hometown, where he was on a weekend trip.

Prime Minister Aziz assured the Balochistan governor that his government was striving to find a political solution to the province's problem and was accelerating the pace of development work.

In addition to working on a comprehensive package, including constitutional changes to give greater provincial autonomy, the government was equally committed to protecting national installations in the province and would provide full security cover to the province.

According to official sources, Mr Aziz said he was of the firm belief that an overwhelming majority of the Baloch people was patriotic and would back the government in its agenda of change through unprecedented development activity it had initiated five years ago.

The governor said there was need to accelerate work on various development projects in order to provide maximum amenities to the people. He particularly briefed the premier on the status of Sabakzai and Mirani dam projects as well as Gwader port.

He requested the prime minister to order acceleration of construction work on the important Quetta-Zhob-D.I.Khan road linking Balochistan with the NWFP.

Mr Aziz extended his government's full support to the ongoing mega projects and promised more funds for initiating new developmental activities. Final parliamentary committee report not in sight

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the leader of the house in Senate and head of the sub-committee on constitutional matters relating to Balochistan, Senator Wasim Sajjad, will soon meet the president and the prime minister to discuss matters pertaining to proposed constitutional amendments to satisfy various political and militant groups in Balochistan.

Sources said that while the sub-committee headed by Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed had finalzed its recommendations on political and financial reforms, the sub-committee under Senator Wasim Sajjad was still to get approval from the government to give a final shape to its recommendations.

A final report will be compiled on the basis of the reports of the two sub-committees.

The sources said that any delay in submission of the report of the Wasim Sajjad sub-committee might also delay finalization of the proposed constitutional package which had to be prepared in line with the parliamentary committee's recommendations.

When contacted, Mr Sajjad told Dawn that the sub-committee under him had received proposals and demands of various political parties of Balochistan which would be given the shape of a report after discussions with the concerned quarters of the government.

He contended that the sub-committee believed that some demands of the Baloch leadership were negotiable while a few others were unacceptable and needed further discussion. He said that since the constitutional package had to be put for approval of parliament by two-thirds majority, a consensus would have to be achieved from the government side as well.

For this purpose, he said the sub-committee had held meetings with PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and now it planned to meet the president and the prime minister.

Meanwhile, the Mushahid Hussain committee is reported to have recommended substantial enhancement of gas price, to almost double of the present price to about Rs70 per MMBTU, to enhance the gas royalty and the lease money to the provincial government and the owners.

Its recommendations include binding the companies working on gas fields to spend at least 15 to 20 per cent of their profits on development of local infrastructure.

According to sources, the Mushahid committee has proposed in its 31-point report to waive off the 43-item concurrent list from the federal list which was a constitutional requirement as well in order to gradually enhance provincial autonomy.

It has proposed that there should be a give-and-take with the Baloch leadership on their demands for drastic constitutional changes for providing maximum political as well as financial autonomy.

There are 57 items on the federal list which could also be negotiated to bring their number down to achieve consensus of the federating units, the committee has proposed.

The committee recommends the handing over of maximum provincial autonomy not only to Balochistan but also to other provinces under the planned devolution of powers, the first part of which was achieved through local bodies.

It recommends implementation of all confidence-building measures proposed for the Gwadar port project and recruitments in F.C. levies and armed forces from Balochistan.

A reconciliation committee is proposed to work out a middle way on the demand of payment of arrears from the gas royalty accounts to the government of Balochistan.