January 25, 2007	Thursday	Muharram 05, 1428

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 24: The opposition and the ruling coalition staged protest walkouts from the Senate on Wednesday to cap a row over high domestic petroleum prices after the upper house passed the first bill of its current session with near unanimity.

The opposition parties walked out to protest against the government's opposition to the admission of an adjournment motion seeking a debate on what they called too little relief in the prices of petrol and diesel while the ruling coalition walked out to protest at what the leader of house Wasim Sajjad called unjustified opposition move.

As the two sides were storming out of the chamber almost simultaneously, acting chairman Jan Mohammad Jamali adjourned the house until 4pm on Thursday when a two-hour debate over the affairs of the Pakistan International Airlines is to be held.

The house quickly passed the National Institute of Oceanography Bill designed to give a legal cover to an existing institute and its reconstitution for research and development of the country's maritime resources as the opposition withdrew its amendments to honour the recommendation of a joint mediation committee of the National Assembly and the Senate.

The bill had already been passed by the National Assembly but the Senate had refused to endorse it, necessitating its reference in April last year to the mediation committee, which two MMA senators complained took too long to report compared to mandatory 90 days.

Opposition leader Raza Rabbani voiced his reservations about the introduction of the mediation committees through the controversial 17th constitutional amendment to resolve disputes over bill between the two houses of parliament instead of the previous practice of a joint sitting, but he said he had withdrawn his amendments to the present bill to honour his colleagues in the mediation committee.

Mr Sajjad said he too was not happy with the present mediation process and suggested to the opposition leader to come out with suggestions so the two sides could improve the process.

In contrast with a conciliatory attitude over the bill, the opposition was vigorous in pursuing its adjournment motion on the perceived inadequacy of a reduction of the petrol price by Rs4 per litre and of diesel by Re1 per litre and seemed disappointed by the government's refusal to hold a debate though Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Resources Mohammad Naseer Khan Mengal promised a further review after defending the present rates.

"We are not ready to accept the minister's statement," Mr Rabbani said and accused the government of "playing in the hands of multinationals", to let them maximise their profits rather than pass on the benefits of the world oil price falls to Pakistani people, before leading the opposition out of the house in what he called a token walkout.

Mr Sajjad called the opposition action unjustified and immediately led ruling coalition senators in a "token walkout against their token walkout" before the acting chairman announced the adjournment to an empty house.

The PPP's Senator Rukhsana Zuberi, who moved the adjournment motion, described the Jan 16 price cut as too little compared to what she called about 36 per cent reduction in world oil prices and said she had heard the government might announce a substantial cut just before the next elections in what she feared would be a "pre-poll rigging".

The MMA's Prof Khurshid Ahmed accused the government of promoting an elitist and "exploitative economy" and said about five per cent cut was not proportionate to the world price fall of 38 per cent in the past three months and that too little relief was given on diesel used eight times more than petrol.