PESHAWAR, March 17: The treasury benches on Wednesday evaded a discussion initiated by the opposition on the Wana killings. Speaking on a point of order , Khalil Abbas Khan of the Awami National Party drew the attention of the chair towards the killing of tribesmen and Frontier Corps personnel in battles in Kalusha near Wana, headquarters of the South Waziristan Agency, on Tuesday.

He wanted to seek a religious explanation of the killing from the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal's ulema in the provincial assembly, but the MMA lawmakers avoided his query and remained silent.

Mr Khan said he had raised the issue in the morning, but the MMA was silent over it. Anwar Kamal Khan of the PML (Nawaz) warned the federal government of playing with the fire. He said the entire country was being bulldozed on the order of an individual, which was a badomen for the unity and solidarity of the country.

He said President Gen Pervez Musharraf was carrying out an unending and prolonged US agenda in this part of the world. In pursuance of the Washington's agenda, he said, the general had put the solidarity of country at stake.

He asked the chair to order offering of Fateha for the people killed in Wana, but Speaker Bakht Jahan Khan parried his demand and abruptly adjourned the session till Thursday morning.

ANP lawmakers Bashir Ahmed Bilour, Khalil Abbas and their other friends offered Fateha for the Wana operation victims outside the main hall of the assembly building.

Earlier, the House adopted a resolution jointly moved by Abdul Akbar Khan (PPP), Bashir Ahmed BiIour (ANP), Syed Amanat Ali Shah (MMA) and Anwar Kamal Khan (PML-N) with majority against the privatization of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco).

The movers told the House that the Pesco privatization might be disastrous for the NWFP. He said under the Article 161 (2) of the Constitution, there was no mention of a third party to the determination of the net hydel profit. It was a two-party - centre and province - matter and had no room for a contractor or a private party, he added.

Under the Article 157, he said, both the centre and the province had separate areas of working regarding the electricity. "We have paid for all the infrastructure laid by Wapda in the province and the centre cannot sell it out to any other party. Wapda should hand over Pesco to the province," he demanded.

The electricity, he said, had been a provincial subject. After the formation of Wapda as an authority in 1958, the then West Pakistan government had declared Lahore as its headquarters. If, the electricity was a federal subject, the government would have declared Karachi as its headquarter, he added.

After privatizing Wapda, he said, the government would have to repeal the Article 161(2), which ensured rights of the NWFP, to empower the private party. This would automatically, he said, deprive the province of its constitutional financial rights.

Sikandar Hayat Sherpao of the PPP-S opposed the resolution and termed it contrary to the ground realities. He said the NWFP had less than 28 per cent of its share in the power generation. The Pesco was faced with many problems, including huge line lose and its early privatization would benefit the province, he added.

The privatization was an integral part of the globalization, a process which had changed the socio-economic trends in the world, and Pakistan could not ward it off, he added.

Only nine lawmakers - Sikandar Sherpao, Alamzeb Khan Omarzai, Shad Mohammad Khan, Jamshed Khan, Saeed Khan, Rifat Akbar Swati, Dr Simeen Mehmood Jan, Nasreen Khattak and Wajihuzzaman - opposed the resolution.

Abdul Akbar Khan also tabled an adjournment motion regarding non-payment of Rs13 billion, provincial share, out of the Rs98 billion poverty alleviation funds released by the federal government during the last six months.