15 April 2005	Friday	05 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

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ISLAMABAD, April 14: The Parliamentary Committee on Balochistan has recommended an increase of around Rs1.48 billion in the gas royalty being paid to the province by the centre, a source told Dawn here on Thursday.

The source said the committee, which met here on Thursday with the president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML), Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, in chair, discussed the formula of increase in gas royalty presented by Senator Syed Dilawar Abbas.

The source said Senator Abbas had suggested that the federal government should increase the well-head price of the gas from the existing Rs26 per unit to Rs70 per unit. After this increase, the gas royalty of Balochistan would be increased from Rs6.32 billion to Rs7.80 billion, he said.

The source said the opposition members had boycotted the parliamentary committee meeting owing to various reasons. Some of the opposition members complained that they had not been informed about the time of the meeting while the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) members Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Raza Rabbani informed the committee chairman that they were boycotting the meeting to protest the arrest of a large number of party activists by the government to stop them from receiving Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday.

Later, briefing reporters, PML chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said as a result of his “successful meetings” with Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) chief Nawab Akbar Bugti, roads and markets in Dera Bugti and Sui had been opened and people were busy in normal activities in the areas.

He said it had been decided that all unnecessary checkpoints would be removed from Dera Bugti.

Chaudhry Shujaat praised President Gen Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Nawab Akbar Bugti and FC men for extending cooperation to him during his visits to Balochistan, and said all of them gave importance to the national cause.

The PML chief said the committee had been successful in resolving the issues of Sui and Dera Bugti and the issue of gas royalty would also be resolved soon. He said Senator Dilawar Abbas had presented a formula on gas royalty which would be taken to parliament.

About the opposition’s boycott, the PML chief said some of the members had objections over the committee’s composition. As far as the PPP was concerned, he said, they were busy in preparations of a “Dhamal” (dance) in Lahore.

Mr Hussain said the arrival of Asif Zardari had no link with the ongoing reconciliation process in the country. He said the PPP wanted to give an impression that Mr Zardari was arriving in the country as a result of any understanding with the government, which was wrong. He said the government would not allow Mr Zardari to use the shoulders of others to fulfil his dreams of becoming a leader.

The PML chief, however, said that he did not have any hard feelings for the PPP. He said it was because of his soft corner for the PPP that he had offered Makhdoom Amin Fahim a share in the Sindh government. He again invited all the opposition parties to hold negotiations on different issues with the government. He said that he had recently contacted opposition leader Maulana Fazlur Rahman and asked him to attend the National Security Council meeting.

Replying to a question, the PML president said that according to initial report of the inquiry commission, corruption charges had not been proved against former Sindh revenue minister Imtiaz Sheikh. He said the ongoing political crisis in Sindh would be resolved once Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim returned from the UK.