Efforts being made to separate NWA from Pakistan, says Imran

ISLAMABAD: Referring to the military action against terrorists, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan told journalists Tuesday that it appeared that efforts were being made to separate North Waziristan from Pakistan. He said the internally-displaced persons were fleeing more to Afghanistan than to other parts of Pakistan.

“Why we want to push North Waziristan out of Pakistan? Foreign actors are also involved in this dangerous game.”Appealing to Army Chief General Raheel Sharif, he said: “For God sake think about Pakistan”. He claimed that women and children were dying in the ongoing operation and the East Pakistan-like thinking was developing among people.

The PTI chief asked where was the leadership of Pakistan and said the prime minister was busy undertaking foreign visits. He said the prime minister had undertaken record 14 foreign tours whereas foreign investment was the lowest ever during this period.

He again said Pakistan must come out of others’ war and insisted that war was no solution to Pakistan’s problems. He advocated resumption of talks with the Taliban. Imran pointed out that there had been significant decrease in terror acts after the start of peace process with the Taliban. He noted there had been a change in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa following talks with the Taliban.

Criticizing the government policies, he said the sense of deprivation among smaller provinces was increasing.Imran claimed to have received scores of messages that locals in Waziristan thought as if the agency was being separated. He recalled how he had witnessed a sense of deprivation among the people of East Pakistan when he was on tour as part of under-19 cricket team, where it was felt they were being treated as a colony of Pakistan. Imran said the same feeling was seething in Balochistan.

The PTI chief said it seemed as if only the Punjab was Pakistan for mega projects, as projects like metro bus were being launched there instead of funds allocation for hydel power projects.Imran claimed that circular rail project was for Karachi being Pakistan’s biggest city, but it was abandoned and now metro train project was to be started in Lahore, costing double amount.

“An impression is being given to the people of smaller provinces that Punjab was the only Pakistan,” he asserted.He repeated his demand for thumb verification of voters in four constituencies and claimed worst ever rigging was carried out during the last year’s general election. Imran noted that a party which could not hold public meetings in Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore had bagged so many votes after the polls.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak said the prime minister should follow the Constitution in running Pakistan as a federation. He also complained that the Centre was ignoring his province. He said if the federation supported his province, they could produce power at the rate of Rs2-3 per unit. He reminded Nawaz Sharif that he was the prime minister of Pakistan and not of Punjab only.

Imran reiterated that they had proposed to the Centre to hand power generation and distribution over to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, saying they could not only cut down line losses, but also reduce power tariff. But, he continued, the federal government had declined to hand the electricity system over to them.

Khattak noted that his province that produced gas, hydel power and oil was being deprived of its rightful share of funds by the federal government. He said the federal government was yet to pay Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the agreed payment of Rs6 billion net hydel profit.

In addition, the decision on uncapping of net hydel profits, which was finalized by the technical committee of the federal government in March 2013 and duly notified, had yet to be implemented. “These arrears stand in excess of Rs138 billion owed to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government,” he said.

He said levy of excise duty on crude oil came under Article 161 of the Constitution. “This is the provincial revenue but the federal government has to notify it which they are refusing to do. As a result, the annual loss of revenue for his province is in excess of Rs15 billion,” Khattak said.

Khattak said provision of Windfall Levy under Clause 4.1 of the Petroleum Policy 2015 of which 50 per cent was to go to the province had not been levied. This had caused a loss of more than Rs25 billion per annum to the province.

Non-payment of royalty on LPG as decreed by the PHC was resulting in losses of hundreds of millions of rupees annually, he maintained.Meanwhile, the Geo News team was Tuesday afternoon barred from covering the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan’s news briefing at his Bani Gala residence here.

“Sorry, we have orders not to let you in,” asserted a security official when asked by a Geo journalist as to why they were not being allowed in to cover the event.The Geo team waited outside Imran’s residence along with the DSNG van but no one came out to let them enter the premises.

During the news briefing, when one of the media persons drew Imran’s attention towards the issue, he said the PTI was on boycott of Geo/Jang Group which will continue unless Jang Group owner apologised to him for their alleged campaign against him.

Meanwhile, a Jang Group spokesman said no campaign was launched against Imran Khan. If he had any proofs in this regard, he should send these to the Jang Group. He said the Jang Group people were in touch with the PTI team and they were never informed of any such alleged campaign.

The spokesman said as for as the coverage of recent days is concerned it was in self defence and consisted of replies to the allegations leveled by the PTI chief. He said these allegations have been proved wrong one by one. Imran Khan would not accept this but all will be clear in courts.The spokesman said Imran Khan can approach Pemra, Council of Complaints and courts in this regard.

Efforts afoot to rejuvenate MMA

ISLAMABAD: Joint efforts by notable religious figures have started a bid to rejuvenate the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) of yore.

Concerted efforts were reported to have been observed between the newly-elected Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer, Siraj-ul-Haq; Maulana Fazlur Rahman of the JUI-F; Allama Sajid Naqvi, Abu-al-Khair Zubair and others.

In the wake of such efforts, a meeting of the central executives is also expected to rejuvenate the MMA and Milli Yakjehti Council (MYC) – the National Solidarity Council.Prominent leader Liaquat Baloch also expressed his keen desire to assure such an instance in the better interests of the Muslim Ummah, while the MMA notables also want to avoid further division of mandate between them.

Sources said efforts had also been announced to end any reservations and concerns of the JUI-F, while there is a strong possibility of a meeting of all MMA-related notables in Islamabad soon.When contacted by Online, Liaquat Baloch said the new JI Ameer had received many congratulatory messages upon his appointment.

Replying to a question he said the MMA was an effective platform for the religious political parties but had some differences it faced.“So far the JI is a coalition partner with the PTI in the KPK, hence it would have to wait until the next elections for any decision,” he stated.

Replying to another question he said: “The MYC is already quite active, while efforts are underway to increase its scope of action.” He announced an international-level convention on April 15 in the better interests of the Ummah.

 

Efforts to make Hijazi SECP chief, disregarding law

ISLAMABAD: Govt is heading towards appointing Zafar-ul-Haq Hijazi as chairman SECP but rules bar him from holding this post as he has already served two terms as commissioner, it is reliably learnt.

For this purpose the government has re-advertised the vacancy in the national dailies on March 23, 2014.It has been learnt that the commission constituted for the appointment of heads of the state-run enterprises reportedly had interviewed seven short-listed candidates for the slot and sent their profiles with comments. However, instead of forwarding the process further, the government withdrew this responsibility from the commission through a notification issued on March 7.

Rana Asad Amin, advisor to the ministry of finance, when contacted, said, “The notification of appointment of the commissioner/chairman SECP through the commission has been withdrawn to ensure transparency in the appointment process. The government has already withdrawn such notifications of almost 30 state-run enterprises and companies. The government has decided to make the appointments according to the rules that are already prescribed in the Act of the SECP and the CCP”.

“In order to ensure transparency in the process of appointment of chairman SECP the government would re-advertise the position after which suitable and competent persons would be appointed as heads of these institutions,” he commented.

Well-placed official sources informed this correspondent that the process for hiring of chairman/commissioner SECP is being revised only to adjust Mr. Zafar Hijazi, who was not short-listed by the commission because he did not qualify for the position after completing two terms as commissioner SECP.

It is said that Zafar Hijazi is friend of an important personality and worked with him previously. Sources close to the government said Hijazi is a competent person and has vast relevant experience. He is also a man of integrity, they said.

Hijazi was appointed as commissioner SECP in 1999. He then served two consecutive terms as commissioner SECP and his second term ended in 2004. During the last days of his second term, Mr Hijazi also obtained a legal opinion from the Law Division regarding his appointment in the SECP as commissioner for a third term. The then Secretary Law gave a written opinion that the SECP Act 1997 is not clear regarding the appointment of commissioner/chairman for third consecutive term and Mr Hijazi could be appointed for the third term. The copy of this legal opinion is available with The News.

Despite completion of his tenure he did not leave his office and sent a summery to the office of the prime minister to secure the third term. He continued to serve for five months after the expiry of his term without pay. Thereafter the then Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz rejected his candidature due to the objection from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

It is pertinent to mention here that the SECP was formed under $500 million capital market development loan of the ADB. The ADB was of view that the appointment of a commissioner for the third term is against the essence of the law and would undermine the independence of the regulatory body. It will also pave way for the heads of other regulatory bodies to occupy the positions for an indefinite period. The rule of maximum two terms for commissioners/members is the same for CCP, PEMRA, NEPRA, OGRA etc.

Sources in the finance ministry said that the old controversial legal opinion of a former secretary law is being cited to appoint Mr Hijazi as the chairman of the SECP.

When contacted, Zafar Hijazi confirmed that he got an opinion from the Law Division regarding the possibility of getting appointed for the third term as chairman SECP. “The Law division gave the opinion that the law is not clear on the number of terms for the appointment of the SECP commissioner, and a person could be appointed commissioner and chairman SECP for more than two terms”, said Hijazi. However, he refused to comment when asked if he will accept the responsibility if appointed chairman SECP by the government.

The SECP Act 1997 is very much clear about the tenure of SECP chairman and commissioners which states, “The Federal Government shall appoint one of the Commissioners to be the Chairman of the Commission, and no Commissioner shall be appointed Chairman for more than two consecutive terms”.

It is pertinent to mention here that in more than nine months the PML-N government has failed to appoint CEOs of over 28 state-run enterprises. All these institutions and departments are being run by the acting CEOs including SECP, PSM, PSO, OGDCL, SNGPL, SSGC, Pepco and many others.

All out efforts to be continued for durable peace: Nawaz

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday said that a durable and permanent peace was top priority of the government for which all out efforts would be continued.

The Prime Minister stated this while talking to members of government's negotiating committee which called on him at the Prime Minister House.

The meeting was attended by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Affairs Irfan Siddiqui, Major (Retd) Mohammad Amir, Rustum Shah Mohmand and Rahim Ullah Yusufzai.

Earlier, a meeting of the Government negotiating committee was held. The committee reviewed Taliban's ceasefire announcement and sorrowful acts in Khyber Agency and Islamabad.

The committee termed that continuation of such kinds of incidents would damage the negotiating process for maintaining peace.

Members of the committee later called on the Prime Minister and presented him their proposals for an effective future strategy.

Government efforts for peace being undermined: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif says efforts are being made to undermine the government’s efforts for peace. The Prime Minister’s comments came as he chaired a high level meeting focusing on matters of national security and the Taliban’s announcement of a month-long ceasefire as well as today’s attack in Islamabad.

The meeting was attended by Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif, Director General Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt. Gen Zaheeurl Islam, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif.

Earlier the Prime Minister and COAS General Raheel Sharif held a one-on-one meeting.