ZULFIQAR AHMAD

ISLAMABAD: Senator Farhatullah Babar on Wednesday said that on the advice of the World Bank, a mysterious unexplained move is afoot to deprive the provinces of their rights to develop upstream petroleum sector by awarding petroleum concessions and vest the federal petroleum ministry with this right in violation of the Article 172 (3) and other articles in the Constitution introduced under the 18th Amendment.

He said that a bill titled “Pakistan Petroleum Exploration and Production Regulatory Authority Act, 2107” has already been drawn up to set up an authority to grant and monitor all petroleum concessions and other upstream activities throughout the country. He also read out excerpts from the bill.

The upstream petroleum sector, he said, includes exploration and production of oil and gas and holds the key to sufficiency in this sector, decrease imports and pave way for massive economic development, adding the upstream sector is also the most lucrative because of massive contracts for exploration blocks.

Worse still, he continued, the bill provides that until the authority is set up the federal government by a simple notification entrusts the upstream development work anywhere in the country to the Petroleum Ministry.

“Thus the proposed bill is just a one liner that takes away the rights of provinces and places them in the lap of Petroleum Ministry,” he said. To this, Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani asked Senator Babar to give a copy of the proposed bill to the Senate Secretariat, which he did.

Majority of the senators, especially those belonging to smaller provinces, vent their anger on government for the proposed piece of legislation on the advice of World Bank, and said how there could be no deprivation and voice of dissent in the provinces if this remains the situation.

PkMAP Senators Usman Khan Kakar and Sardar Musakhel, whose party is in alliance with the government, also vowed to resist such move and dubbed it as daylight robbery on the rights of the provinces.

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi came under fire for this initiative by some senators, as Senator Kakar held him solely responsible for this move when he was minister for petroleum before replacing Nawaz Sharif as prime minister in wake of Panama Leaks case verdict.

An absorbing discussion was held on the admitted motion, moved by PPP’s Senators Mukhtar Dhamra and Sassui Palijo, about the government’s recent move to delink petroleum and gas authority from provincial oversight, being not only a direction violation of the Constitution, but would also create trust deficit between the Centre and the provinces.

At the end, after listening to State Minister for Petroleum Jam Kamal, the chairman Senate asked the ministry to submit the details to his office as to how the World Bank’s is involved in the matter and to what level, adding the reference prepared by the House Devolution Committee should also be presented in his chamber along with any additional information plus the draft bill on upstream petroleum concessions.

Rabbani announced to spell out his ruling on the matter during the ongoing session after going through these documents. He repeatedly asked about one Rashid Sultan, as to what business he had with regards to the whole exercise.

Winding up the debate, State Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Jam Kamal acknowledged that a draft of the legislation has indeed been drawn up and feedback of the provinces has been sought as well. However, he contended that nothing has been finalized and all the provinces would be taken onboard and the bill be given final shape after seeking nod from Council of Common Interests (CCI).

Babar also pointed out that the federal government has neither awarded concession to exploration companies nor allowed provinces to award such concession during the last five years ever since the Petroleum Policy 2012 has been in operation and asked why it is so.

He wondered, “Is it because that some powerful lobbies and vested interests are deliberately withholding development of petroleum sector to allow for imports of LNG and other petroleum products?” He demanded that the matter should be thoroughly investigated.

Babar emphasized media reports that the World Bank is behind the move and demanded that the matter should be investigated. The World Bank, he said, is not supposed to decide on how to apportion economic resources between the provinces and the federation.

Babar contended that the Petroleum Policy 2012 also states that the policy will be revisited after five years and asked why it has not been done so far. He also quoted from relevant article of the Constitution and read out Article 172 (3), which states: “Subject to the existing commitments and obligations, mineral oil and natural gas within the province or the territorial waters adjacent thereto shall vest jointly and equally in that province and the federal government.”

Rabbani strongly objected to the World Bank’s involvement in the proposed legislation and asked: “Are not we bartering away our sovereignty to financial imperialism? I take very strong exception to this. How can they tell us what to do regarding our own oil and gas resources? Why are they assisting us in framing of a law?”

He asked for sending a notice to Rashid Sultan and insisted “how they could take us for a ride.”

Senators Taj Haider, Jehanzeb Jamaldini, Shahi Syed, Kenneth Williams, Azam Musakhail and others said that they would not compromise on their provinces’ constitutional rights and referred to Saindak project, which is being exploited by China without giving due share to Balochistan.

They called for having a provincial oversight regarding oil and gas resources so that the Constitution be implemented and the provinces got their due share, which was 50 per cent.

Speaking on a matter of public importance, Senator Babar said that he felt certain invisible forces are having influence on the Parliament and referred to the FATA reforms bill, which hit snags after due deliberations, then mysteriously the delimitation bill faced same fate with senators were never found in required numbers in the House for its passage and the bill on across-the-board accountability also hit snags.

He pointed out all of a sudden, after having agreed to frame a bill on accountability of all, all parties on a single day backed out as if their strings were being pulled from behind a curtain.

He also saw mystery in the recent sit-in at Faizabad and how men in inform were seen distributing honorarium among the participants of the sit-in. He added there seems a thread passing through all these matters.