ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Ahmed Shah used his time on the floor of the house on Tuesday to remind the ruling PML-N how, despite its lofty claims, the government had failed miserably in rescuing the country’s fledgling energy sector.

Mr Shah – despite not being known for his oratorical gifts – was able to hit the nail on the head when he said that the PML-N in opposition would have torn the government of the day to shreds for mistakes, particularly in the case of loadshedding.

It was his good fortune that Water and Power Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif was on hand in the lower house on Tuesday, lending Mr Shah much ammunition for a spirited speech in which he recalled incidents where the PML-N leader had led the charge against the PPP government over various issues.

Also read: PPP flays govt for power outages

“Khawaja sahib, if I’m not wrong, you are the one who went to the Supreme Court against [the PPP government] when we were trying to add more electricity to the national grid,” the opposition leader said, referring to Mr Asif’s petition against rental power projects (RPP).

The leader of opposition says PML-N pursuing same projects it opposed when in opposition

The PPP veteran from Sukkur also used the occasion to highlight the role of former chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, who Mr Shah claimed had acted in tandem with the PML-N to vilify the PPP government.

“As a chief justice of the country it was his job to provide justice to the people of Pakistan. But his actions showed he only wanted to undermine the PPP government, which he successfully did,” Mr Shah said and asked the federal ministers sitting to contradict him if they thought he was making things up.

The opposition leader also pointed out that the former CJ had – just on the basis of one news report – undercut the PPP government’s efforts to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) to meet the country’s soaring energy needs. “Nowadays, I read in newspapers that the government is desperately trying to acquire LNG at a cost much higher than we had decided,” he said.

Mr Shah was assisted throughout his tirade by Naveed Qamar, who had held the portfolios of energy and finance during the PPP’s time in power. He also sought explanations from the ministers on hand as to why “the government failed to end loadshedding when international oil prices had dropped to their lowest levels”.

Under the PPP, oil prices were at $120 per barrel and the cost of electricity was Rs8 per unit, but now, despite a record decrease in crude oil prices, the PML-N was charging domestic consumers Rs13 per unit, Mr Shah said. If the recent oil crisis and power breakdowns weren’t enough to cast aspersions on the ruling PML-N, the opposition leader also took the government to task for jacking up general sales tax (GST) on petroleum products to an unprecedented 27 per cent.

“Why are you hell bent on pushing us onto the roads? If you keep on violating the constitution and this august house, as you have done by increasing GST without consulting parliament, we will be left with no option but to join the ranks with those against whom we recently supported the government,” Mr Shah added, referring to the protesting PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek.

In his concluding remarks, Mr Shah urged government ministers to own their responsibility for the oil shortage instead of shifting the blame to bureaucrats.

The government had earlier suspended nearly half a dozen PSO and petroleum ministry officials for the crisis.

Opening the debate, Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had reiterated his stance that a sharp increase in demand for petrol led to the crisis, which, then ballooned due to misreporting by the media. There was also disagreement between the Pakistan State Oil and Pakistan National Shipping Corporation over oil shipments, he said but insisted that the finance ministry was not at fault.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2015

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