ISLAMABAD: The controversy over the mysterious role of the World Bank in drafting a law about apportionment of the country’s natural resources and attempt to delink the petroleum and natural gas regulator from provincial oversight took a new turn on Tuesday, with Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani ruling that the federation is required to exercise its authority in the executive, administrative and regulatory spheres jointly and equally with the provinces.

Referring to a statement made by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in the Senate recently that the World Bank was engaged as a consultant and that engagement had ended, the chairman said: “Notwithstanding the position taken by the prime minister, an attempt to delink the petroleum and natural gas regulator from provincial oversight in contravention of constitutional provisions by playing with a draft law on the dictates of World Bank is unacceptable.”

He said it was unfortunate that the federation did not act upon the decisions of the implementation commission for bringing a balanced law for the regulation of joint control of oil and gas.

Mr Rabbani said this was not the first case and observed that since the passage of the 18th Amendment, some foreign organisations and donors were trying hard to roll back the scheme of devolution.

PM’s adviser rules out PIA’s privatisation

He said: “Natural resources, including oil and gas, are strategic assets of the state which are directly linked with the national security of the country. Interference of international donors, especially the IMF and the World Bank in policy decisions and legislations, in any form, exposes the national security of the country which can be manipulated to the disadvantage of state. Therefore, giving access to the international donors and organisations to the internal affairs of the federation is not only unconstitutional, but also can prove to be a serious threat to the national security of Pakistan.”

He directed the government to frame a policy to the extent of involvement of international donors and organisations in the internal affairs of the federation, especially its policies and legislations, and place the same before parliament for approval within two months.

Interpreting Article 172 (3) of the Constitution, the Senate chairman said it provided for equal ownership of mineral oil and natural gas within a province or the territorial waters adjacent to that province.

“In terms of the new role of the federation and provinces, as conceived by clause 3 of Article 172, a new mechanism was to be devised to exercise joint authority by the federation and the provinces with regard to executive, administrative and regulator dimensions of the oil and gas sector. For this reason the implementation commission decided that a regulatory authority may be established through an act of parliament, giving due representation and share to the provinces,” he said.

The Senate chairman said that from the briefing of the Ministry of Petroleum it appeared that the office of director general petroleum concessions had been assumed by the federal government as a substitute of the regulatory authority to be established by an act of parliament. This is mainly the reason that the provinces are constantly complaining about no or minimal consultation before taking decisions regarding the oil and gas sector. Not a single province is satisfied with the operationalisation of clause 3 of Article 172 and contested the federal government’s position.

He ruled that all decisions, except day-to-day working, pertaining to or related with these matters shall be taken by the Council of Common Interests as this entry falls in part II of the federal legislative list of the Constitution.

Adviser to the prime minister on aviation Mehtab Ahmad Khan ruled out privatisation of the national flag-carrier by the present government. “Privatisation takes time and is not possible in a few months,” he informed the Senate. “Let the management and staff of the airline work for PIA’s turnaround and bringing it out of losses. Do not talk or think of privatisation at this stage,” he said.

When the Senate chairman referred to the recent remarks made by Privatisation Minister Danyal Aziz offering anybody interested to bring money and buy PIA and noted that the remarks set in an air of frustration and uncertainty in employees, the adviser said: “I do not see any process of privatisation at all. We have not moved an inch on it.”

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2018