ISLAMABAD: An independent lawmaker from Balochistan sitting on the treasury benches on Friday decried “ongoing exploitation” by the Chinese companies working on various power projects in the province, accusing them of destroying environment and marine life in the coastal areas, besides denying jobs to locals.

Speaking on a point of order in the National Assembly, the lawmaker representing Lasbela and Gwadar, Aslam Bhootani, criticised Chinese firms for not coming to the help of the people at the time of devastating floods in the province. He called them “cheaters”, alleging that the companies were not paying taxes.

Meanwhile, Minister for Water Resources Syed Khursheed Shah drew the attention of the house towards the devastation caused by floods in Sindh and asked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to come to the house to brief the parliament over the situation and about his visit to the United Nations.

Mr Shah insisted that the world should compensate Pakistan that suffered losses worth Rs2,000 trillion due to the climate change-induced floods despite the fact that its contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions was less than one per cent.

Khursheed Shah calls for imposing ‘economic, agricultural emergencies’

Taking exception to the criticism against the Sindh government for failing to prepare for the floods despite prior warnings, the PPP leader said the Met Office had made ‘incorrect’ forecast by predicting 40 per cent more rains. The actual rainfall was many times more than the prediction, he said, adding that some areas that had never received over 120mm of rainfall had received 1,780mm rainfall.

Demanding that economic and agricultural emergency be declared in the country, Mr Shah warned of further devastation if urgent steps were not taken, as 80 per cent crops in Sindh province had been destroyed. With 10.5m trees in Khairpur under threat and many areas still submerged by water, Sindh would not be able to export dates this year, he added.

Despite clearly lacking quorum, the lower house of the parliament also passed two bills, minutes before Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf adjourned the proceedings till Monday evening.

At the outset, Mr Bhootani said Chinese companies were operating as “forces of exploitation” in Balochistan. “No doubt, China is our friend and helped us on numerous occasions. We have no complaints against China. But the Chinese companies are playing havoc in the area,” he said, asking the government to “reign in the companies”.

Bhootani said it seemed those companies considered themselves not answerable to anyone, as they had been operating under the protection of army. The Chinese companies, he said, which had set up a coal plant at Lasbela, were destroying the marine life, ending the livelihood of local fishermen

Besides, the legislator regretted, even the environment tribunal was not taking any action against those companies.

“Working under the protection of army doesn’t mean that you have the permission to destroy infrastructure,” he remarked.

Without elaborating, he alleged that Pakistan Navy had also done injustices with the fishermen at Ormara, asking the spea­ker to take up the matter with the naval chief.

Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir assured the Balochistan MNA that he would soon arrange his meeting with representatives of the Chinese companies to sort out the issues.

Mr Bhootani was scheduled to meet the premier in the afternoon, but the meeting could not take place due to undisclosed reasons.

Earlier, the speaker administered oath to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf leader Asiya Azeem who had returned to the assembly on a seat reserved for women that had become vacant after the acceptance of the resignations of 11 party members.

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2022