KARACHI, Oct 22: The proceedings of the recently-constituted National Finance Commission (NFC) may be further delayed after the change of guards at the finance ministry as the responsibility is said to have been taken over by the prime minister who has appointed Mr Shaukat Tareen as his advisor.
“We have sent a note to the prime minister who now heads the NFC,’’ an official in the NFC cell in Islamabad told Dawn on Wednesday in response to a question as to when the first NFC meeting is being convened.
Officials in the cell did not offer any answer whether a new notification for the NFC would have to be issued on changes in the composition of the commission. There is also no word available whether Mr Tareen would also be included in the NFC.
“Get in touch with Cabinet Division,’’ the NFC cell official promptly advised when asked whether Mr Naveed Qamar has now formally ceased to be the finance minister and is now looking after privatisation and ports and shipping.
There is also no formal word from Islamabad on Mr Naveed Qamar’s responsibilities in the federal cabinet.
“The role of an NFC member is more of a political negotiator rather than of an economic expert,’’ informed a local PPP leader who believes Shaukat Tareen is heavily pre-occupied with overall economic management and would avoid taking an additional responsibility in the NFC.
But quite a few Pakistan People’s Party leaders in Karachi are unaware of the changes in NFC composition.
The official in the NFC cell, however, said that the terms of reference of the recently-constituted NFC would remain unchanged until the NFC itself in its formal meeting proposes such amendments.
He was unaware if any province has raised any objections on the composition or on terms of reference.
A seven-member Sindh NFC committee, set up to assist two nominated official negotiators of the province on commission, have urged the provincial government to seek clarification from Islamabad on terms and tenure of the NFC.
The official notification issued for constituting NFC is apparently an amendment of the notification issued in 2005 which indicates its five years tenure ending in 2010.
The Sindh committee on NFC has serious objections on the inclusion of rationalisation of gas development surcharge in the terms of reference as it is said to be outside the NFC purview.
Officials and politicians in Karachi consider these “irritants’’ in the new NFC as “deliberate and calculated’’ to cause delay and confuse the resources distribution issue between the federation and the provinces and between the provinces.
The interim arrangement for resource distribution was given by President Musharraf in 2006 in which population has been set a single criterion, sales tax is completely federalised and 2.5 per cent sale tax proceeds are so disbursed, which hurts Sindh where octroi was historically main source of revenue for Karachi and other areas.
“Punjab’s interests are best served by maintaining status quo,” a retired official of Sindh government observed. His experience showed that the federal government and Punjab create more non-issues in the NFC to divert the proceedings.
“But in 2008, the political and social environment has changed,’’ observed a local political activist.
The political parties that enjoy support of majority of voters in federal and provincial levels want financial autonomy, control over natural resources and more responsibilities after abolition of concurrent list of 1973 Constitution.
“If smooth transition to a democratic federal structure with more control on resources and provincial autonomy is obstructed, new lines might be drawn among political forces and a new polarisation might emerge,’’ warned a political activist who stated that there were a lot of emotions on wheat flour scarcity attributed to the Punjab government’s unilateral decision of imposing ban on wheat movement.
The federal government failed to restore wheat supply to Balochistan, NWFP and Sindh and its interventions were just advices and not administrative instructions.