LNG import deal with Qatar will destroy Sui Southern Gas, warns Sheikh Rasheed
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Awami Muslim League (AML) leader Sheikh Rashid on Wednesday said that a 15-year agreement to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Qatar would have devastating impact on Sui Southern Gas Company.
"We did not have the courage to utilise gas from Iran's pipeline," Rasheed said while speaking at the National Press Club in Islamabad.
In February 2016, Islamabad signed a $1 billion annual LNG supply deal with Qatar, under which Qatar Liquefied Gas Company Limited is to sell LNG from 2016 to 2031 to Pakistan State Oil (PSO).
The deal was signed by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi while he was serving as the minister for petroleum and natural resources.
During the press conference, Rashid also levelled allegations of corruption against the incumbent prime minister and further demanded that he should appoint a new foreign minister within two days.
"Ishaq Dar employs technical ways to give contracts to companies of his choice," the AML leader said.
He asked the Supreme Court to immediately start hearing of the 2000 Hudaibiya Paper Mills case.
The 2000 money laundering reference was initiated on the basis of an April 25, 2000, confession statement from Dar, wherein he admitted to his role in laundering money to the tune of $14.86 million on behalf of the Sharifs through fictitious accounts. Dar was, however, pardoned by the then NAB chairman.
In July, delivering its verdict in the Panama Papers case, the apex court had asked NAB to reopen the case.
Safdar's speech 'full of filth'
During his press conference, Rashid also spoke about the controversial speech delivered by retired Capt Muhammad Safdar in the National Assembly a day earlier.
Rashid said that Safdar's tirade against the persecuted Ahmadi community was "full of filth".
On Tuesday, the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's son-in-law and a member of the ruling PML-N, Safdar had accused the faith group of acting against the country's interests and called for an action against its members.
"These people [Ahmadis] are a threat to this country, its Constitution and ideology," Safdar had said.
Safdar's incendiary speech caused a public uproar on social media with some questioning whether action could be taken against the lawmaker.
