ISLAMABAD: The ruling PML-N on Saturday faced the wrath of lawmakers, including its allies, over the continued absence of the ministers belonging to the party from the National Assembly during the budget session.

Speaking on points of order, a number of members, mostly from the PPP, drew the attention of the house towards the power outages across the country and shortage of gas in Sindh and Balochistan and took a strong exception to the absence of the ministers, including Power Minister Khur­ram Dastgir Khan and Petroleum Minister Musaddik Malik, from almost the entire budget session.

Similarly, while raising matters related to PIA, some members also protested over the absence of Avi­a­tion Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, who also holds the portfolio of railways, from the budget session, ignoring the fact that even Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif did not attend any sitting during the nearly two-week general discussion on the federal budget for the next financial year.

Opposition MNA Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali of the JI also lashed out at opposition leader and PTI dissident Raja Riaz Ahmed over his absence from the assembly on the day of voting on the demands of grants and cut motions.

Speaker refers issue of gas shortage in Sindh, Balochistan to relevant committee; 133 demands for grants worth over Rs7,000bn approved; all cut motions rejected

The issue of the ministers’ absence was most forcefully raised by PPP MNA from Hyderabad Syed Hussain Tariq. He said had he not been constitutionally bound to vote for the finance bill, known as the budget, in line with a party decision, he would have never voted for “such an executive”. Rather, Mr Tariq added, he would have requested all party colleagues to stage a walkout to make the ministers realise the importance of the parliament.

“The ministers belonging to the PPP are always present here but neither the petroleum minister nor the national food security minister is present in the house,” he said, regretting that the ministers were not taking the budget session seriously.

“If the parliament has no value [for them], then what is the use of asking us to [be] present here. This is a joke with the parliament. This is the joke with you [the speaker] and it is an insult to all of us,” said the visibly angry PPP member.

The lawmaker from Hyderabad pointed out that the people of Sindh, like the people of Balochistan, were also facing gas shortage issue.

The issue of gas shortage in Balochistan had earlier been raised by BAP MNA Khalid Magsi. Besides, Minister for Narcotics Control Shahzain Bugti also expressed his concerns over gas load-shedding in Balochistan.

Another PPP MNA Aamir Magsi said electricity, gas and water were basic human needs and they should not be neglected. But there was no minister to listen to their grievances, he said, adding: “This is the election year and we need to look into it.”

Taking the floor, another senior PPP lawmaker Munawer Ali Talpur said the issues such as gas and electricity shortage and matters related to railways and national flag carrier were basic issues related to the people of this country, but he had not seen the relevant ministers present in the house during the entire two-week budget session.

MQM-P lawmaker Mohammad Abubakar also raised the issue of lengthy power outages in Karachi and lashed out at K-Electric over its failure to provide the facility to the consumers despite sending them heavy bills.

He also protested over the refusal of the PIA high-ups to allow a meeting of the parliamentary committee on the affected employees at PIA’s head office in Karachi on the orders of the aviation minister and termed it an “insult” to the parliament.

Poverty Alleviation Minister Sha­zia Marri emphasised that the Constitution and a number of Supreme Court verdicts explicitly stated that the first right to natural resources belonged to the local population. She said that districts in Sindh should be given priority in receiving gas, as the province or region with a gas well had the first right on the natural resources under the Constitution.

“In the national spirit and interest, we would like to share the resources we have but not at the cost of depriving our own people,” said Ms Marri, while acknowledging that the minister concerned should be present in the house to at least respond to the issue.

Later, NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf referred all the highlighted issues related to gas shortage to the relevant committee for further deliberations.

Meanwhile, the National Asse­m­bly approved all 133 demands for grants worth over Rs7,000bn after rejecting all the cut motions moved by the opposition members.

Finance Minister Ishaq Dar presented all these demands for grants, which were approved after a voice vote without any difficulty due to the absence of a meaningful opposition in the National Assembly.

The NA is expected to approve the finance bill today (Sunday).

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2023