HYDERABAD: Former prime min­ister and PML-N’s senior vice president Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is currently stalled and dismissed PTI government’s claim that the project was a debt burden.

Speaking to journalists at the residence of PML-N leader Anwar Soomro on Sunday before leaving for Sanghar, Mr Abbasi said CPEC projects were planned, executed and completed during PML-N government’s term three years after PTI’s dharna of 2014. In comparison, no project was completed and funding to the ongoing ones stopped during the current government’s tenure.

Mr Abbasi — accompanied by other party leaders, including Miftah Ismail, Mr Soomro and MNA Kesoo Mal Kheeal Das — touched upon several subjects during his talk, including the local government, gas shortage, and opposition’s efforts to oust the current government.

He stressed the need for a powerful local government that is not subservient to parliamentarians and the provincial government and called for handing over gas distribution to provinces.

Believes gas distribution should be given to provinces

He said if the pace of projects seen under the PML-N’s government was maintained, it would contribute immensely to the country’s development. He dispelled the impression given by the ruling party that CPEC was a debt burden and said only three coal projects under it could help the country pay back loans and still save money.

Provinces and gas distribution

He said it was unfortunate that despite being a gas-producing province, Sindh was faced with gas load-shedding and that this was mainly because of government’s incompetence.

“The Constitution says gas belongs to the province where it is produced. Therefore, its distribution should be given to provinces otherwise problems in gas distribution will increase manifold. People will be deprived of it as a result,” he said.

He said gas-related affairs should be resolved considering the prevailing circumstances.

He said the biggest project to unite the country was the motorway. He regretted that the Sukkur-Hyderabad motorway could not be launched and stated that this project would also be completed by the PML-N government.

Mr Abbasi said the Karachi-Hyderabad motorway should have additional lanes or a new motorway should be built between the two cities.

He also stated that the previous government increased provinces’ share under the National Finance Commission Award from 2013 to 2018.

He said the PML-N’s government doubled the share of provinces and Sindh had never enjoyed a bigger share before and after that period.

Local government

Mr Abbasi said cities needed a powerful local government system that is truly representative of the masses. “A local government system subservient to parliamentarians and provincial governments can’t deliver. We have done experiments in the past,” he said.

Local bodies’ powers needed to be defined, with Article 140-A of the Constitution being a guiding principle for legislation in this regard. For instance, the provincial governments could neither dissolve local governments nor could they take away their independence and financial authority.

“Local governments can’t function unless their powers are not separated from the provincial governments’,” he said, adding that the ruling PTI government was designing three different local government systems for Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad.

Opposition’s efforts

On the opposition’s efforts to remove the incumbent administration, Mr Abbasi said the opposition should utilise parliamentary traditions and oust the PTI government to ensure transparent elections. “The quicker the government is sent packing, the better,” he said.

He said the PTI government could not even talk to the International Monetary Fund. Under the new money bill, a Rs700 billion burden and Rs160bn income taxes would be borne by the salaried class, whereas the State Bank of Pakistan would be restructured that would paralyse the government and result in a higher power tariff.

He said if the ‘crutches’ of the government were removed, a no-confidence motion would be successful in hours. He said 22 PTI MNAs were in touch with the PML-N and they conceded that they could not face their electorates with a PTI ticket.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2022