Sindh wants its constitutional right on natural gas: CM Murad

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, giving a policy statement on the floor of the provincial assembly, has categorically said that his government would never purchase imported gas (LNG) and demanded that the constitutional right of people of Sindh on natural gas being produced from the province be accepted. Quoting the media talk of Federal Energy Minister Omar Ayoub Khan and Special Assistant to the PM on Petroleum Nadeem Baber in which they claimed that the Sindh government had agreed on weightage average cost of gas (WACOG) which the chief minister said was totally a baseless statement. “I had taken up the matter in the CCI meeting and had requested the participants to accept the constitutional right of people of Sindh on the gas being produced from the province,” he said and added that the prime minister had accepted his plea under Article 158 of the Constitution. He said that the CCI meeting was held on December 23, 2019 and after two days, on December 25, he wrote a letter to the prime minister and apprised him of the issue of implementation of Article 158 of the Constitution. The prime minister, in his reply, said that he [CM] was pre-empting the minutes of the CCI meeting. The Prime minister advised him to wait for the minutes and see them, if he [CM] would have any objection on them, he [prime minister] would remove them accordingly. He added that the minutes of the CCI meeting should have been issued within a week but still were being awaited. The chief minister said that the Sindh province was producing 25000 to 26000 mmcfd gas but in return, it was hardly receiving 800 to 900 mmcfd. Mr Shah said that Local gas price was Rs820/unit while the price of NLG was Rs1690. “On the one hand, they [fed govt] are not giving us our gas and on the other forcing us to purchase costly gas,” he said and questioned “Why we will opt for the imported gas when we are producing 70 percent of the national production,” and added “our stance is very clear that give our people their constitutional right on the natural gas.” Referring to the media talk of federal minister and special assistant to PM, the chief minister said that they claimed that the Sindh had agreed to purchase the LNG which was totally unfounded statement. Murad Ali Shah said that he has written another letter to the PM with the request to stop his ministers from issuing baseless statements on such an important issue. The chief minister condemned the federal minister and special assistant’s media talk on gas issue and said “we will never accept LNG on average price but want our natural gas being produced from Sindh,” he concluded. Meanwhile Sindh Assembly on Wednesday witnessed ruckus as members from treasury and opposition came face to face over the introduction of a government bill aimed at the appointment of the provincial ombudsman, ARY NEWS reported. According to reports, the house witnessed a heated argument between Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) lawmakers and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Parliamentary leader in the assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh as soon as the bill was laid in the house for approval. Initially, Sheikh and PPPP lawmaker and special assistant to the CM Sindh Taimur Talpur exchanged harsh words over the bill introduced in the house, which was later joined by another PPP lawmaker Imdad Pitatfi. The lawmakers hurled threats and abuses at each other during the proceedings. Later lawmakers from both sides of the aisle played their role in settling down the matter. The Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah also asked the party lawmakers to show patience during the proceedings. The opposition lawmakers staged a walkout from the proceedings as the treasury passed the ombudsman appointment bill with a majority vote. In October 2019, recently elected opposition member Moazzam Ali Abbasi could not take oath of the office on Friday as Speaker Sindh Assembly adjourned the session due to lack quorum. Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) candidate Moazzam Abbasi had defeated Pakistan People’s Party’s Jameel Ahmed Soomro in October 17 by-election in Larkana. Opposition benches criticized the decision of Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani for adjourning Sindh Assembly session of the legislature. The members of the opposition in assembly blasted the speaker’s decision. “A member of the house could not take an oath if he has defeated the People’s Party,” Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s Haleem Adil Shaikh questioned. “The PPP has adopted an undemocratic attitude,” the PTI member said. The opposition members staged a sit-in outside the Sindh Assembly premises to protest over the government’s alleged “callous attitude” by disallowing Moazzam Ali Abbasi to take oath as a member of the house today.