ISLAMABAD, Sept 22: Federal Minister for Water and Power Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao has suggested formation of a committee of the Senate members to discuss the political aspect of water issues and expressed his willingness to brief the upper house on the Thal canal project.

He was speaking in the Senate on Monday, in response to a point of order raised by Babar Ghori of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on the Thal canal issue.

The minister said water had become an important issue not only in the country, but also at the international level. Mr Sherpao said he was pleased that the Thal canal issue had been raised in the Senate where all the provinces had equal representation. The minister said he was ready to give a briefing to the members of the upper house on the issue at any time to remove apprehensions of any federating unit.

Mr Sherpao said the government wanted to run the country with the cooperation of all federating units. He said Gen Musharraf during his recent visit to Sindh had discussed the Thal canal issue with people belonging to various sections of society, including editors, teachers and even students. He vowed that misunderstandings between the federating units on the water issue would be removed.

Mr Ghori welcomed the proposal and offer of the minister and said that besides the constitution of a committee, a roundtable conference on the issue should also be convened.

Earlier, the Muttahida senator had to raise the issue on the point of order as the resolution moved by three MQM senators asking the government to stop work on the greater Thal canal was at number 20 on the long agenda of the upper house. He said that as the matter was of great importance and the federal minister for water and power was present in the house, therefore he (Babar) should be allowed to raise the issue out of turn.

Through a resolution moved by Anwar Bhinder, the Senate also approved formation of a 17-member special committee to suggest ways and means to face challenges of the WTO regime, which is coming into force in 2005. The body will submit its report to the upper house within two months.

The committee comprises Abdul Hafeez Shaikh (chairman), Prof Khursheed Ahmed, Mushahid Hussain Syed, Ishaq Dar, Nisar Memon, Dr Akbar Khawaja, Javed Ashraf Qazi, Syed Dilawar Abbas, Azam Khan Swati, Anisa Zeb, Waqar Ahmed Khan, Ilyas Bilour, Naseer Mengal, Abbas Kumaili, Roshan Khursheed, Dr Shahzad Waseem and Anwar Bhinder.

Federal Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar said he had no objection to the formation of this committee as several committees had already been formed on the issue. He however informed the deputy chairman that the committee would cease to exist after submitting its report.

Earlier, soon after recitation from the Holy Quran, Prof Khursheed of the MMA and Babar Ghori simultaneously stood up and asked the chair to allow them to speak on points of order. When the deputy chairman gave floor to Babar Ghori instead of Prof Khursheed, PPP’s Mian Raza Rabbani and other opposition members criticized the deputy chairman for ignoring the opposition.

On the occasion, Mr Rabbani and Mr Ghori also exchanged some hot words. After making arguments for about five minutes, the opposition members staged a walkout from the house, raising slogans against the LFO and Gen Musharraf.

The Senate could not complete the agenda of the day comprising introduction of four bills, five resolutions and 23 motions. Only 30 to 35 members were present in the house. Deputy Chairman Khalilur Rehman deferred introduction of all bills due to the absence of the state minister for parliamentary affairs.

The debate on a motion to discuss the overall performance of PTV was also deferred as Federal Minister for Information Sheikh Rashid Ahmed was out of the country.