Govt criticised for power failures: Debate in National Assembly
By Raja Asghar
ISLAMABAD, May 3: Opposition in the National Assembly on Wednesday blamed the government for frequent power cuts across the country, some saying a more democratic setup could remedy the situation.
It was the second day of the debate on power outages, sought by adjournment motions moved at the weekend by opposition Alliance for Restoration of Democracy and Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and ruling coalition partner Muttahida Qaumi Movement.
While the first day of the discussion on Saturday was devoted to problems faced by citizens and industries in Karachi owing to crippling loadshedding by the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation, members spoke on Wednesday about the situation in the rest of the country supplied by the Water and Power Development Authority.
“The electricity crisis has gripped not only Karachi but the entire country,” said Raja Pervez Ashraf of the People’s Party Parliamentarians. He accused the government of having no policy or plan to solve the problem and called for fixing responsibility for power failures.
He blamed sweeping powers assumed by President Pervez Musharraf for ‘multiple crises’ facing the country. He referred to a recent report in US journal ‘Foreign Policy’ ranking Pakistan ninth in a list of 20 most unstable countries and said: “This is due to concentration of power in one man’s hands.”
The MMA’s Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri said the situation in Balochistan was critical because of power breakdowns blamed on sabotage, and deplored government failure to protect power installations in the province.
Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali said the government had failed to provide any relief to people, and then led a partial walkout by the MMA members to protest against ‘the opening of an office of US Federal Bureau of Investigation in Chitral to monitor the situation there.’
Chaudhry Ejaz Ahmad of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League called for building small and large dams to meet increasing electricity needs and permission for duty-free import of small turbines for private power houses.
The PML’s M.P. Bhandara linked power shortages to government’s failure to construct the Kalabagh dam and costly power generation by independent power producers.
Bushra Anwar Sipra proposed ‘higher tariffs for the areas where electricity is stolen to save honest consumers from being punished for the fault of others.’
The MQM’s Abdul Kadir Khanzada said ‘some conspiratorial elements in the government had created a situation forcing people to take to streets.
After a speech by Water and Power Minister Liaqat Ali Jatoi winding up the debate on loadshedding, Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain said he would take up the opposition’s adjournment motions seeking a debate on recently increased petroleum prices on Thursday.
NEW ORDINANCES: Earlier, the government laid before the house three recently promulgated presidential ordinances, provoking a protest from the PPP’s Zafar Ali Shah.
He said the previous assembly session was abruptly prorogued so the president could enforce some ordinances to avoid a government obligation to bring a new law only in the form of bill.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan Niazi, denying the charge, said the government had a constitutional right to enforce ordinances while the parliament was not in session, and reminded the MNAs of their right to move for disapproval of any ordinance.
Eleven PPP members took up the challenge and sent a notice to the assembly secretariat of their intention to move a resolution for the disapproval of one of the decrees, the National Accountability (Amendment) Ordinance 2006.
They said it was not in accordance with national interest and violated law and constitution for being a repetition of an earlier ordinance.
The other two decrees are: the Federal Public Service Commission (First Amendment) Ordinance 2006 and the Intellectual Property Organisation of Pakistan Ordinance 2006.
CHERAT WAR GAMES: MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed and some other members of the alliance gave a notice to the assembly secretariat of their intention to move an adjournment motion for a debate on the beginning of joint war games by Pakistani, US and Afghan troops in Cherat area of the North West Frontier Province.
The motion says the manoeuvres have caused concern among the people.
