Pakistan MPs Committee okays 30 recommend-ations for Balochistan 
Pakistan Times National News Desk

ISLAMABAD: The Parliamentary Committee on Balochistan has approved thirty recommendations presented by the Sub-Committee for Administrative Reforms led by Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed.

After presiding over a six-hour long session of the Committee, its Chairman Ch. Shujaat Hussain told the National Assembly on Monday evening that all political parties represented in the body have endorsed the recommendations.

He said the recommendations have been handed over to the Speaker National Assembly Chaudhry Amir Hussain. The former prime minister said that the Sub Committee led by The Leader of the House in the Senate, Wasim Sajjad dealing with the Constitutional matters would be meeting on today, Tuesday.

He was optimistic that it would also complete its work within the next few days. When finalized it will form part of the main report, which will also incorporate the report prepared for administrative reforms.

Ch. Shujaat Hussain congratulated the parliament on the historic development, as all parties represented in the Parliament were included in the Committee on Balochistan. To queries by members, he said the report of the Committee would be submitted before the Parliament upon finalization of the report of Wasim Sajjad Committee.

Originally the Committee was scheduled to submit its report to Prime Minister Shaukat on January-7, 05. Opposition members welcomed the development but demanded that the recommendations should be placed before the House for considerations. They however stressed that the recommendations of the Committee should be implemented in letter and spirit.

PPP Reax

A Spokesman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) later said they have boycotted the meeting of Parliamentary Committee for Balochistan held on Monday. Senior Vice Chairman of Pakistan Peoples Party Makhdoom Amin Faheem and the leader of opposition in the Senate, Senator Mian Raza Rabbani are members of the Committee who did not participate in the meeting in protest of continued arrest and harassment of the party workers.

The spokesman said that party workers were being harassed and arrested even at the time the meeting was taking place. The attitude against innocent citizens which was carried out in Balochitsan is continued in Punjab against the party workers. In this situation, the party decided to boycott the meeting.

Perspective

The Parliamentary Committee on Balochistan Monday recommended to the Balochistan Government and the Petroleum Ministry to calculate by June 30, the amount of gas royalty arrears payable to the province.

The committee further recommended that the payment of these arrears be ensured to the province by December 31, 2005.

The Committee discussed numerous issues about the provinces, particularly Balochistan during its five-hour marathon meeting. It will meet again today, Tuesday.

The Committee also recommended that any exploration company investing in any area of the province will have to spend five per cent of the total investment on education, health, drinking water and other development oriented projects for the welfare of the people.

Once the gas is found in the respective area, then the company will have to spend 15 per cent of their profit on the uplift of that area.

All the 33 recommendations of the Sub- Committee headed by him were endorsed by the main Committee. He said the Committee has also recommended to exclude 29 subjects from the concurrent list and hand over these to the provinces.

It has also been recommended to give employment to Balochs at federal level against the allocated quota of 5.7 per cent.

The Committee also discussed the demands of Balochistan province regarding Gwadar Port Authority. Mushahid said the Committee has also recommended to include the people’s representatives from Balochistan and the Parliamentarians in the Sui Southern, PPL and OGDC administration.

It has also been recommended that free of cost gas will be provided to the residents of the area from where the gas is explored, he added. Mushahid said, the report of the committee, headed by him, was endorsed by the members of the government and the opposition.

Leader of the House in the Senate, Waseem Sajjad presented the report of the Sub-Committee, headed by him and it was decided to formulate a drafting committee on the recommendation of this Committee.

Of Govt-Bugti Relations

Meanwhile, noted journalist Tariq Butt writes that the planned visit of top leaders of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) to Dera Bugti on May-6 is meant to express solidarity with Nawab Akbar Bugti against the government.

The ruling Pakistan Muslim League (PML) duo - Ch Shujaat Hussain and Syed Mushahid Hussain - have succeeded in softening Bugti to some extent but a lot remains to be done to the complete satisfaction of the defiant tribal chieftain. The government-Bugti relations continue to be far from normal and possibility always exists for their deterioration any time.

"I think that Monday's deliberations of the parliamentary committee headed by Ch Shujaat will help remove grievances of Balochistan people to a large extent," an official told The News. "The situation will further improve when the recommendations prepared by the just formed drafting committee will be implemented," he said.

Important measures include determination of gas royalty arrears by June 30 and their payment to Balochistan by December this year, employment opportunities for the Baloch youth in government departments etc. The federal and provincial governments will jointly determine the amount of arrears, Syed Mushahid Hussain says.

The ARD wants to capitalize on the continuing tension between the government and Bugti and other tribal leaders. However, the alliance was not of much political help to Bugti when he was faced with tough siege like situation in Dera Bugti and Sui after the bloody encounter between Bugti's tribesmen and Frontier Corps.

Of the ARD parties, the PML-N has had good political ties and the two had been allies for quite some time, but the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) under Benazir Bhutto mostly had had tense relations, which worsened when her government had come to the aid of the Bugti's opponents Kalpars.

Both the PPP and PML-N had stayed away from an all parties' conference convened by the Mutahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) some time back to project its stand against any military operation in Dera Bugti.

However, whatever the relations of the two parties with Bugti had been, the ARD team's upcoming visit is meant to demonstrate to him that they stand with him in this difficult hour.

The government is unexpected to be greatly nervous by the ARD leaders' move because of the overall diminishing pressure of the disarrayed opposition as a whole. However, the ARD team's visit will create a sense of urgency in the official quarters to do more without any delay to assuage defiant Baloch leaders.●