ISLAMABAD, Jan 6: In an unprecedented move, the government announced on Thursday withdrawal of the recent increase in prices of petroleum products following a sustained protest by almost all political parties and general public across the country.

“All the parties, including opposition and coalition partners, have reached a consensus that oil prices should be brought back to the position of Dec 31,” Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said in the National Assembly after presiding over a meeting of the parliamentary committee comprising representatives of all parties at his Parliament House chamber earlier in the evening that also caused a 90-minute delay in the start of the house session.

The prime minister, who later received praise from all sides for what some legislators termed a ‘courageous’ decision, admitted that there had been great pressure on the government to withdraw the price hike because of resentment shown by political parties, civil society organisations and people across the country.

Opposition Leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan praised the prime minister for his decision, but at the same time warned him of confrontation if some elements in the PPP continued to give a ‘political colour’ to the murder of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer.

Maulana Attaur Rehman of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-F stunned the house and the gallery when he implicitly condoned the killing.

“If the statement of the guard (assassin) is correct, then the fault lies with the government and the murdered (governor),” the JUI-F leader said.

He asked President Asif Ali Zardari to dissolve the committee he had constituted to suggest changes in the blasphemy law. He also urged PPP MNA Sherry Rehman to withdraw her bill seeking amendments to the law.

OIL PRICES: Announcing the decision to withdraw the increase in oil prices, the prime minister praised the role of all political parties for showing their concern on an issue directly linked to people.

He said it was a tough decision keeping in view the economic situation as actually the government had brought back the prices to the level of Oct 31 last year — the date of the last hike before the Dec 31 decision.

He said that Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh had briefed the parliamentary committee, set up on a proposal by ANP chief Asfandyar Wali, on the economic situation and apprised the participants of the reasons for increasing oil prices.

The prime minister said the committee would now devise a mechanism so that fluctuations in the international oil market could not directlyaffect the common man. He asked the parties to nominate within a week their members for the committee. Later, Haider Abbas Rizvi of the MQM, which quit the federal government over its decision to raise oil prices, said the members had decided that the role of the committee would not be limited to issues relating to petroleum prices, but it would also help the government prepare an “economic roadmap” to steer the country out of the financial crisis.

The MQM leader said that his party had presented a nine-point formula to the finance minister to raise revenue by plugging loopholes in the tax collection system. He said it was surprising that the government claimed to have $3 billion trade with China whereas the latter said it was $9 billion. “We need to check this $6 billion under-invoicing,” he said.

Chaudhry Nisar said that today the government had bowed down to the parliament’s will and the masses’ demand. “It is not a victory of any party or defeat of the government,” he said, adding it would send a positive message to people that their parliament was concerned about their problems.

POLITICAL MURDER: In a strong reaction to a statement by Law Minister Babar Awan in Lahore that Salman Taseer’s murder was political, Chaudhry Nisar asked the prime minister to stop his people from indulging in such a “dangerous game” as the PML-N could reciprocate such allegations in the same tone.

“If someone wants to become governor and appease the party leadership, he should play on some other pitch,” he warned without naming the minister.

The PML-N stalwart said his party could also raise questions about security in Islamabad when the governor was visiting places there. He said the governor’s security was a responsibility of the Islamabad administration, and not the Punjab government.

Chaudhry Nisar said that people levelling such allegations even before the completion of inquiry reports were actually “playing with fire”.

Moreover, he said, the ruling party members should be careful in making such remarks at a time when the nation was “divided in the middle” because of a controversy over the blasphemy law.

JUI-F’S DEMANDS: Speaking on a point of order, former federal minister Maulana Attaur Rehman of the JUI-F said the Punjab governor’s murder was a result of the PPP’s move to change the blasphemy law. “If you will raise such sensitive matters, then similar incidents will continue to take place in the country,” he warned.

He suggested to President Zardari to dissolve the committee constituted to suggest changes in the blasphemy law if the government wanted to douse tempers. Otherwise, he warned, the government would be held responsible for pushing the youths towards terrorism.

The JUI-F leader, however, said that religious parties would not support anyone who took law into his own hands, but at the same time they wanted the government to be careful on such sensitive matters. Referring to the Punjab governor’s visit to the prison to see a Christian woman convicted under the blasphemy law, Riaz Hussain Pirzada of the PML-Q praised Mr Taseer for reaching out to a distressed woman in an effort to provide her justice.

Mr Pirzada was of the view that no Muslim could think of committing blasphemy, but there was a need to change the law to check its misuse. He said no one should be allowed to become a judge on such issues and parliament should play a role in providing protection to all citizens irrespective of religion. The National Assembly was adjourned to meet again on Friday morning without taking up any item on the 11-point agenda for Thursday’s session.