ISLAMABAD, May 5: The agony of Pakistan’s worst flour and power shortages frayed tempers in the Senate on Monday when one ruling coalition member threatened his North West Frontier Province could stop electricity to the Punjab province in retaliation while another from the opposition said his Balochistan province could block natural gas.

The unusual outbursts across party lines came mainly over alleged restrictions on the movement of wheat and flour from the main-growing Punjab to other provinces as members aired complaints through points of order after Information Minister Ms Sherry Rehman wound up a comparatively cool-headed debate on the media with an assurance that the present government would gradually dismantle all objectionable press laws and act as a facilitator rather than a regulator.

Leader of the house Raza Rabbani of the Pakistan People’s Party, who displayed no anger at apparently highly embarrassing remarks from a coalition partner like the Awami National Party, suggested to Deputy Chairman Jan Mohammad Jamali then chairing the house to hold a debate on the issue of inter-provincial wheat movement later when Food and Agriculture Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali would be present.

A highly emotional Senator Mohammad Adeel, whose ANP is a partner in the PPP-led coalition in the centre and leads the ruling coalition in the NWFP, said the Pakistan Muslim League-N, which heads the Punjab coalition government, seemed to be interested more in “providing justice to judges rather than roti to Pashtuns” of his province.

“If they don’t give us wheat then we will not give them electricity … and their factories will be shut down,” the angry senator said after accusing the Punjab authorities of stopping sale of both wheat and flour to buyers from the deficient NWFP who, he said, could be shot at border checkpoints if they carried such purchases.

Senator Wali Mohammad Badini of the formerly ruling Pakistan Muslim League was bitter about both high cost of flour and long power outages in his home province of Balochistan which, he said, was getting a step-motherly treatment.

“If Frontierwalas can stop electricity, we too can stop gas,” he said.

Deputy Chairman Jamali interjected to tell the house that a nan sold for Rs12 in Quetta three days ago.

Another NWFP senator, Mohammad Azam Swati, whose Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam is also a coalition partner in the centre, spoke of frustration in his province over the prevailing food shortages and urged authorities concerned: “Please take pity on us.”

PML’s Amjad Abbas voiced his surprise over threats such as electric supplies to be cut by one province and gas by another and said the house standing committee on food and agriculture that he heads had recommended free inter-provincial movement of wheat though it wanted a strict control on smuggling wheat out of the country.

The previous government came under severe criticism for its crackdown against the electronic media during the year-long judicial crisis as several members from both sides of the house debated a motion from Jamaat-i-Islami parliamentary leader Prof Khurshid Ahmed about the performance of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra).

Ms Rehman said the new government would seek to take along all stakeholders while seeking to repeal all laws curbing media freedom and that a conference of theirs had been convened on May 15 in connection with a Freedom of Expression and Access to Information Bill to be brought to parliament.

A bill had already been introduced in the National Assembly last month seeking to repeal the most objectionable amendments President Pervez Musharraf had made in the original Pemra Ordinance after his controversial Nov 3, 2007, emergency.

While stressing that the government wanted to be a facilitator rather than a regulator, Ms Rehman repeated her call to the press to formulate its own code of ethics.