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| August 16, 2006 | Wednesday | Rajab 20, 1427 |
Opposition seeks joint session: PSM privatisation
ISLAMABAD, Aug 15: Leader of the Opposition in Senate Mian Raza Rabbani on Tuesday called upon the government to convene a joint session of parliament to seek consensus on privatisation of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PMS) after the Council of Common Interests had failed to reach a unanimous decision on the issue.
Speaking on behalf of the combined opposition, he said the matter could only be resolved at a joint session after the NWFP chief minister had dissented from the decision of CCI which, at a 90-minute meeting, had given ex post facto approval to privatisation of 28 units and sanctioned 10 more, including the PMS, for sell off.
Mr Rabbani asked the National Accountability Bureau to initiate an inquiry against the prime minister and members of the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCOP) in the light of the Supreme Court’s verdict in the PSM case.
The treasury members, defending the government, replied that the privatisation process would not stop.
Mr Rabbani pointed out that CCOP was reconstituted by the prim minister in 2003 and therefore he was squarely responsible for the undue haste with the PSM had been privatised. He said the prime minister should better resign before he was forced to quit through 58(2)b.
He, however, said that since the opposition had opposed the infamous article it would not welcome its application even against the prime minister.
He said the government had failed to prove its claim of good governance as one scam after another — sugar, cement, black cab and PSM sell-off — had exposed its wrongdoing.
He mocked the official claim that top functionaries were not corrupt.
Defending the government, Shipping and Ports Minister Babar Khan Ghauri said nowhere in its verdict the Supreme Court had indicted the prime minister or CCOP for corruption.
He dismissed as baseless the allegation that the haste with which the PSM deal had been finalised was proof of corruption.
He said the opposition was trying to exploit the apex court verdict for political mileage.
He said the present government had followed the same procedure that had been applied by Ms Benazir Bhutto and Mr Nawaz Sharif in the privatisation of MCB, ABL, DFC, etc.
Mr Khalid Somoro of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal complained about the attitude of two Islamabad policemen for hindering the way of a Muttahida Qaumi Movement MNA and himself, even after they had shown them their membership cards.
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