May 01, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 24, 1429

ISLAMABAD, April 30: The leader of the opposition in Senate on Wednesday scolded the ruling coalition over the skyrocketing prices of essential commodities, challenging it to “prove that you are better than us”. Kamil Ali Agha took offence at the remarks by government senators blaming the previous government for the prices spiral.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar had earlier assured the upper house that ‘maximum relief’ would be provided in the next budget for the ‘poorest of poor’ through subsidies.

The coming budget, he said, would be an effort to put the country on the road to a ‘truly Islamic welfare state’.

Mr Dar said that unless parliament decided to freeze all development projects for a year, there was no way that the increase in prices of petroleum products not be passed on to consumers.

Claiming that he would not agree to increase petrol prices by Rs8 or kerosene oil, the minister informed the house that the government was paying a subsidy of ‘Rs20 to Rs21 per litre’ on petroleum products and ‘losing Rs4 million on a daily basis’.

He complained that documents relating to cabinet meetings had been leaked to the media even before the implementation of decisions.

The minister criticised the previous government for having erred in estimating subsidies on petroleum products and electricity.

Hitting back at the government, leader of the opposition Kamil Ali Agha warned that any further increase in POL prices would push items of daily use beyond the reach of the common man. He said that parliament should be taken into confidence before any such decision.

The opposition leader said: “Let us admit that we failed in governance. But if the government claims to be in a better position, it should devise its own policies instead of following ours.” He said prices of almost all items of daily use, including foodstuffs, had gone up between 23 per cent and 48 per cent since Nov 15. “The poor man is dying of hunger.”

Mr Agha said the opposition would cooperate with the new government but it “will not be a party to price hike in POL products because it will destroy whatever agriculture is left in the country as poor farmers depend on diesel operated equipment.

Defending the outgoing government, Mr Agha said: “For God’s sake! Get out of this blame-game mindset and prove that you are better than us”.

The PML-Q’s Tariq Azeem questioned the veracity of finance minister’s remarks, saying that the minister had himself erred in interpreting figures. He warned that if the finance minister persisted with such sweeping statements, he could hamper the flow of foreign investment and create doubts about the country’s economic performance.

The former leader of the house, Wasim Sajjad, referred to newspaper reports and said further increase in POL prices would be disastrous predicting that wheat flour price might shoot up above Rs25 per kg.

Leader of the house Raza Rabbani, instead of defending the government’s point of view, objected to the opposition leader’s detailed speech on price hike and said a regular debate on price hike was scheduled for next Friday.

He said that during its tenure, the previous government had increased POL prices 26 times in one year. He alleged that ruling party made no increase in oil prices last year so as not to spoil PML-Q’s election chances.

The house was stunned when Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that Gwadar port had not yet attained the status of a cost effective seaport and the fact needed to be investigated by the house standing committee on shipping.

Speaking on a call-attention notice by MMA’s Liaqat Bangulzai, the minister said the port had yet to attain the status of a fully fledged port to handle huge shipments.