ISLAMABAD, May 7: It was a difficult day for the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in the Senate on Monday when it faced harsh criticism on a number of issues, particularly the ongoing electricity loadshedding in the country, not from the opposition parties, but from its own coalition partners.

After the usual boycott of the session by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), demanding resignation of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani over his conviction on contempt charges, the PPP’s coalition partners — MQM, PML-Q and ANP — surprisingly assumed the role of the opposition and assailed their senior partner for its failure to resolve the power shortage issue resulting in loadshedding for lengthy hours and for constantly increasing power tariff.

The coalition partners also expressed their anger over the absence of the ministers from the house, asking Chairman Nayyar H. Bokhari to take serious notice of it and ensure the ministers’ presence in the house. All the members were critical of the large size of the cabinet and questioned the utility of some of the newly-created ministries after devolution of a number of subjects to the provinces under the 18th Constitution Amendment.

The ministers’ absence came to light when the chairman had to defer a number of motions due to the absence of federal Minister for Housing Faisal Saleh Hayat and Water and Power Minister Syed Naveed Qamar.

The newly-appointed federal Minister for National Regulation and Services, Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, who was present in the house, found herself in troubled waters when during a discussion on the issue of the establishment of the proposed Drug Regulatory Authority (DRA) she was accused by the coalition partners of toeing the line of the bureaucracy in denying the provincial autonomy to the provinces.

OPPOSITION’S WALKOUT: At the outset, PML-N Senator Raja Zafarul Haq through a point of order drew the attention of the house towards a recent statement of Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar in which he had reportedly stated that Pakistan could face sanctions, if Nato supplies were not restored.

The PML-N senator alleged that either the defence minister was not aware of the consequences of the decision to suspend Nato supplies or intentionally kept the parliament into dark when it was discussing the new terms of engagement with the US in its joint session last month.

Mr Haq also referred to another reported interview of the defence minister in which he had claimed that the Pakistan government and the army had played a major role in last year’s “get-Osama bin Laden operation” of the US forces in Abbottabad. The PML-N member said the minister had issued this statement at a time when the Abbottabad Inquiry Commission was about to complete its task. He said the PML-N would boycott the proceedings over such irresponsible and controversial statements of the minister.

After the PML-N members walked out, Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) endorsed Mr Haq’s views and staged a token walkout, saying the defence minister had been creating confusion.

LOADSHEDDING: During a discussion on a motion moved by Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Senator Col (retd) Tahir Mashhadi on the “situation arising out of loadshedding of electricity in the country”, almost all the coalition partners alleged that the nation had been suffering due to “inefficiency and mismanagement” of the government and the concerned authorities.

Mr Mashhadi regretted that there had been 300 per cent increase in the electricity price since the government took over four years back. He said that on one hand, the people were experiencing loadshedding of up to 18 hours and on the other they had been forced to pay heavily for the electricity under the head of fuel adjustment charges.

The MQM senator was of the view that electricity could be made available in the country but not all the power houses were being run to their full capacity. He said the people of Pakistan did not expect such “cruel policies” from the party of Benazir Bhutto and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. He alleged that huge corruption had been committed in the name of Rental Power Projects.

Lashing out at the government for its poor handling of the energy crisis, Kamil Ali Agha of the PML-Q declared that his party was a coalition partner and ready to stand by the PPP through thick and thin, but made it clear that the PML-Q could not be part of the “inefficiency and mismanagement”.

“What a government this is which does not think about the people’s problems,” he said, criticising the prime minister for not taking steps to implement the decisions taken at a recently-held energy conference in Lahore which, according to him, had been convened only to appease Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

The PML-Q senator asked the house to declare fuel adjustment charges being collected from the people through their electricity bills as “illegal and cruel”. He said his party’s chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain had presented a formula to the government suggesting that the additional amount kept for the provinces in the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award should be diverted towards power sector and this step could immediately end loadshedding.

He called for developing consensus in the house over the issue of controversial Kalabagh Dam. There were some exchange of harsh words between Mr Agha and Haji Adeel of the ANP over the issue of the dam.

Zahid Khan of the ANP warned of angry public protests, if the government did not take immediate steps to end loadshedding. He wondered how they would go to masses to seek votes from them and warned that the people would hold the politicians from their collars in the next few days.

Abdul Haseeb Khan of the MQM claimed that Karachi had the capacity of producing 2,800MW of electricity which was 200MW more than the requirement. He said recently when the people came out in streets, the prime minister announced payment to the companies and there was no loadshedding in the country and this showed that the government could resolve the issue, if it wanted to.

ANP’s OFFER: ANP’s Haji Adeel offered Punjab and the private companies to make investments and generate electricity by building small dams in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) only by paying water charges and royalty. He claimed that the province had the capacity of generating 44,000MW electricity but had no money and technology.

He suggested that instead of looking towards India, Iran and other countries, Punjab should use money and technology to build dams in the KP and assured that the provincial government would provide complete security and facilitate the parties without demanding any role in the board of directors.

Earlier, during a debate on a motion moved by MQM’s Abdul Haseeb Khan on formation of the Drug Regulatory Authority (DRA) in the light of the decision of the 18th Constitution Amendment, the members criticised the government for not giving consideration to the proposals given by a special committee of the Senate.

Senator Khan said the Senate would not accept the DRA that was being set up under the law that had been prepared by the bureaucrats. He asked the minister for national regulation and services to “throw out” the draft that had been given to her by Cabinet Secretary Nargis Sethi. He also questioned the role of the minister in the setting up of the DRA, saying that it would be an independent and autonomous body.

The ANP, MQM and BNP-A senators alleged that bureaucracy was not ready to accept the provincial autonomy as given in the 18th Constitution Amendment and wanted to keep its control over the subjects that had been handed over to the provinces.

However, the senators did not drag the issue when Dr Awan assured them that she would give importance to the draft that had been prepared by the Senate committee.

The Senate will again meet on Tuesday evening at 5pm.