ISLAMABAD: Rana Mahmoodul Hassan, who belongs to Pakistan Peoples Party, advocated in the Senate Wednesday a separate South Punjab province, saying when a province grows large, its bifurcation becomes necessary.
Taking part in the ongoing debate in the House on the proposed budget, he stated, “We will not stay with ‘Takht-e-Lahore’. We want our province. We want to be separated from Punjab”.
He pointed out that seven million children are born in Pakistan annually, more than all of Europe but what are we doing for their employment. Rana Hassan demanded an industrial zone, high court and separate NFC share for south Punjab, agricultural and IT universities.
“Bilawal told us to fight for creation of our province. Why is not our province Seraikistan being made,” he wondered.
Senator Abdul Qadir, who hails from Balochistan and is an independent member of the House, alleged that the independent power producers (IPPs) were behind reversal of the government’s solar policy, pointing out the government had to pay Rs1,800 billion in capacity charges to them.
He called IPPs a mafia that bulldozes every government and challenged the government to conduct a forensic audit of IPP agreements. He regretted that because of electricity, both the poor and rich are destroyed while these IPPs had even got the government’s approved solar policy reversed.
Heaping praise on the incumbent government, PMLN Senator Abid Sher Ali said Shehbaz Sharif took charge as prime minister when Pakistan faced the risk of being put on the FATF grey list and becoming like Sri Lanka. However, he continued the prime minister managed to rescue the ‘sinking boat’ and played his role for stability and peace in Pakistan.
He slammed the PTI and the Imran Khan regime and noted that they changed four finance ministers in 2.5 years and appointed Nadeem Babar as energy advisor, who himself was an IPP owner. He called for elimination of cross-subsidy and that electricity theft in provinces should not be shifted onto good Discos or Faisalabad industry.
Senator Saifullah Abro of PTI from Sindh expressed alarm over the state of economy and governance and recalled that during Pervez Musharraf’s rule, the dollar stayed at Rs59, but under the PTI government’s “Naya Pakistan” his area’s hospital could not get Rs1 billion MRI and CT scan machines despite revolutionary ministers like Asad Umar and Dr Sania Nishtar.
The firebrand lawmaker alleged that “in Sindh, the BISP money is for the government”. He wanted to know why the petroleum minister was unable to explain Rs55 petrol price hike. He alleged corruption in the NHA.
Agha Shahzeb Durrani, another ruling PMLN alleged that the PTI had started work on Pakistan’s denuclearisation, and had posted corrupt FBR officers to key posts, whereas the incumbent government had managed to remove them.
The lawmaker from Balochistan lauded the government for recently managing the petrol crisis well. Taking the floor, PTI Senator Fawzia Arshad feared the budget would keep the country on the brink of destruction until it moved away from the interest-based system. Poonjo Bheel of PPP called for special focus on the promotion of industrial sector, which will generate job opportunities for the youth and help ease economic situation in the country.
The Senate will now meet again on Thursday afternoon to resume the budget debate.
