LAHORE, Aug 11: Barrister Zafarullah Khan, whose Watan Party was one of the petitioners on whose plea the Supreme Court scrapped the privatisation of the Pakistan Steel Mills, said here on Friday that “conspiracies” still continued to dispossess the country of the vital industry.

Talking to reporters, he pointed his finger on Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz who was “pushing the issue of the Pakistan Steel Mills auction more than anyone else which showed that he is on top of the list of people who want to sell a vital national asset for reasons only known to them.”

Referring to the recently held meeting of the Council of Common Interests, he said the NWFP chief minister voted against the deal which meant that all the federating units did not approve the proposal.

The CCI decisions, he said while quoting Article 154(5) of the constitution, had to be unanimous and any disagreement on a national issue had to be adjudicated by the Majlis-i-Shoora, which meant either the National Assembly or the Senate. In case difference was not resolved, a joint session of parliament was the final arbitrator.

Barrister Khan said the authors of the 1973 constitution made such a provision for inter-provincial harmony which was vital for the integrity of the federation. But, it was deplorable to note that the prime minister had, at the end of the CCI meeting, declared that the council had given a decision in favour of the government. “This is clearly an unconstitutional response made under malafide intentions,” he added.

He said the NWFP chief minister was now under a constitutional obligation to file a review petition before the Supreme Court to get a verdict that the issue of the PSM privatisation was a dispute among the federating units.

He said if the chief minister failed to file a plea, the Watan Party would move the apex court in vital national interest.

Advocate Khan said the privatisation was also against the national interest because the successful consortium of bidders had a clear Indian connection.

Lakshami Mittal, said to be ‘steel king’ of India who has steel industries in 16 countries, including the US and Saudi Arabia, and had recently purchased a unit in France for $34.5 billion, had a close working relation with the Saudi Arabia-based Al-Tawairqi Limited which, along with Arif Habib Securities, were the successful bidders in the PSM privatisation, he maintained.

He said director Bilal Husain of Al-Tawairqi, was also a director in some of the steel companies, including the Mesteel, owned by Mittal.

He said Mittal was acting behind the scene during the entire process of PSM privatisation. He quoted sources in leveling the allegation against the prime minister that he had a meeting with Mittal in London when the Privatisation Commission of Pakistan had just initiated the process.

POLICY: Barrister Zafarullah said the Supreme Court referred to the Council of Common Interests the issue for a decision on the ground that it could not take a judicial review of policy matters. He cited articles 2-A, 9, 37 and 38 of the constitution to plead that if the policy was formulated with a malafide intention, like the sale of profitable national asset, the apex court had all the powers to take a judicial review of the policy.