PESHAWAR, Aug 8: The Awami National Party did a somersault after major political parties refused to attend all parties conference (APC) it convened over loadshedding and payment of net hydel profit dues by Wapda. The proposed APC has now been converted into energy conference, which is being held at the Chief Minister’s House on Thursday (today).

The ANP has issued a brief press release from Bacha Khan Markaz, its central secretariat, here on Wednesday. Chief Minister Ameer Haider Khan Hoti will chair the conference.

The ANP, coalition partner of Pakistan People’s Party, had invited mainstream political parties in and outside the provincial assembly to attend the APC. However, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F), Jamaat-i-Islami, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf, Pakistan People’s Party-Sherpao and other regional parties turned down its invitation. The ANP was trying to get support of the opposition parties over finding solutions to the electricity crisis, but failed.

Only JUI (Sami group), Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and other small groups have accepted the invitation. Besides, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce, representatives of some NGOs and experts are also invited to the energy conference.

After the conference, the government is likely to convene provincial assembly session for discussing the acute electricity crisis in the province. Sources said that following the assembly session the government would constitute a jirga to hold meetings with the prime minister or president on the issue of outstanding dues.

Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain on Wednesday again appealed to all political parties to participate in energy conference being held on Thursday (today) in Chief Minister’s House, Peshawar, for devising a strategy to overcome power crisis.

He said that after the 18th amendment, the provinces had been empowered to start their own projects in energy sector. He said that it was not an issue of a particular party or person, but a national issue and therefore, each and every party should play its role in this respect. The information minister made this appeal while attending a presentation on cheap power generation from different sources, given by Canada-based Pakistani scientist and president OEI, Calgary, Canada, Dr Wasim Paracha in Peshawar.

Dr Paracha said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was rich with natural resources and thousands of mega watts (MW) cheapest power could be generated from them in a short term. He said that only from flaring gas of Nashpa (Karak) gas field 200 MW electricity could be generated within six months at a cost of Rs500 million.

Dr Paracha said that cheap electricity could be generated even from running water in canals and rivers, air, sun heat and solid wastes.

He said that his organisation had already worked in energy and power sectors and produced electricity from different sources in US, Canada, Libya, Yemen, Tanzania, South America and Mozambique.

Speaking on the occasion, the information minister said that the government, with active participation of all political parties, was devising a short-, medium- and long-term strategies to overcome power crisis.