ISLAMABAD: Amid dissatisfaction expressed by the provinces over ‘non-implementation’ of the article 158 and 172 of the constitution, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has ordered convening a special dedicated meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) to debate the roles and powers of the federation and its four federating units.

A senior government official told Dawn that the prime minister had passed these directives at the previous CCI meeting held on Nov 24 and was perturbed over repeated complaints of the provincial governments regarding oil and gas issues, particularly the import of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and its allocations.

Official documents seen by Dawn suggest the Inter-Provinical Coordination Division (IPCD) reported to the council that the Inter-provincial Coordination Committee (IPCC) led by Federal Minister Riaz Hussain Pirzada and attended by chief ministers had taken up the LNG policy 2011 on the instructions of the CCI to reach a way forward.

The issue was taken up by the IPCC in its two meetings but despite “lengthy debates, consensus could not be arrived at”. It was therefore, decided that the provincial governments would submit their observations in writing for submission to the CCI for decision. The governments of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have submitted their responses and had strong observations.

The CCI was also informed that the IPCC had also discussed “the issue of implementation of the article 158 and decided that as three provinces ie Sindh, KP and Balochistan had the same stand, therefore, it should be implemented in letter and spirit”. It was also decided to revise criteria for provision of gas per consumer making them uniform for all provinces with specific provision that the federal government will bear the expenditure over and above the said criteria.

The CCI was also told that that the issue was earlier also referred to a committee headed by the minister for law and justice which recommended that the matter of LNG policy 2011 be placed before the CCI. Pursuant to the said advice, the Petroleum Division had placed the LNG policy 2011 before the CCI in a meeting held in August.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah told the meeting that summary was submitted to the CCI for information and not for approval. “He was of the view that the Petroleum Division should have submitted the LNG policy for approval,” and demanded that as some improvements were being envisaged by the Petroleum Division, a revised and updated LNG policy should be submitted to the CCI for consideration and approval.

This did not go well with Prime Minister Abbasi. “The prime minister observed that pursuant to the decision of the committee under Minister for Law, the LNG policy 2011 was placed before CCI for information and its approval was not required from the CCI”.

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2017