SUKKUR: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah has said Nawaz Sharif’s harsh tone in his recent remarks for the protesting employees of the Pakistan International Airlines is unbecoming of a prime minister.

The prime minister should not make any decisive comments on the issue and let his cabinet members handle the situation, he said while talking to journalists at his residence here on Sunday.

The government should not act like a dictator in handling the crisis as it ran counter to democratic norms to use batons against the weak and make dialogue with the powerful, he said.

He advised the government to inject at least Rs300 billion into the PIA after taking out funds from the Rs350 billion schemes of Orange Line as well as Abdul Hakeem road in Lahore.

The airline should be given a grace period of nine months to cover up losses and in case it failed to do so within the stipulated period then he, too, as leader of opposition would support the government stand, he said.

Mr Shah made an offer that he was ready to act as mediator if the government was sincere to settle the crisis through talks. “Let us sit together to settle the issue,” he said.

He said that Essential Services Act, 1952, which was introduced during the tenure of Z.A. Bhutto was applicable to law-enforcement agencies, fire brigade and satellite system but the law was now being used to close down CBA of the PIA employees, which was quite wrong.

About the allegations hurled by PML-N ministers against him, Mr Shah said that he was waiting for the prime minister to make his rare visit to the parliament and then he would talk to him and ask him face to face what favours he had asked from him. “If the allegations are proved I’ll quit politics forever,” he said.

He said that if the government wanted genuine development it would have to do away with all the costly schemes like Metro bus and Orange Line and spend the money instead on building dams for production of cheap electricity.

He cited the Rs19 billion project for Bolan Dam which had been cancelled thrice although its tenders had also been issued. It was a highly beneficial scheme for Balochistan which was to make 60,000 acres of land cultivatable and make available water to irrigate more land, he said.

On the other hand, he said, a subsidy of Rs4 billion annually was being given to Metro Bus project and billions of rupees would be injected in the 25-kilometre Orange Line, which was nothing but wastage of nation’s wealth as it would not provide any relief to a large section of population.

Mr Shah said the government had taken huge loans amounting to Rs4,500 billon, which was a record of sorts in the country’s history.

He said that another misconceived project was that of Rs33 billion coal fired power project in Sahiwal, which was a fertile area and the government wanted to destroy its beauty by the power plant. Besides, he said, Rs350 billion were being spent unjustifiably on Motorway.

Answering a question about negligible deduction in oil prices, he said that despite the fact that oil prices were on the decline in the word, the government had done little to adjust with the trend the local fuel prices.

Even after including all taxes, price of diesel came to Rs44 per litre which was sold at Rs64.50 per litre although its maximum price should be around Rs55 per litre, he said.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2016