NA resolution seeks withdrawal of increase in oil prices
03 February, 2012
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly, on Thursday, unanimously adopted a joint resolution seeking withdrawal of recent increase in petroleum prices. The issue figured strongly in the proceedings of the House.
Opposition party PML-N, which has been lobbying for the resolution, succeeded in getting a consensus resolution from the House on the hike in petroleum products' prices with the support of all parliamentary groups. Moved by PML-N's Ahsan Iqbal, the resolution proposed formation of a committee tasked with submitting its recommendations within a week. It came after Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had proposed to constitute a parliamentary committee to discuss the issue with the finance minister.
No voice of opposition was heard against the resolution even from the ruling PPP. The resolution calls for immediate withdrawal of the recent increase in petroleum prices, and states that hike in the domestic oil prices would have an inflationary impact on the common man. It also suggested that a House committee should make the necessary recommendations to bring down the prices in a week's time. Earlier, opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that if the government is concerned about the miseries of the people then it should support the resolution.
"We should first legislate on the matters concerning the public and then go for the 20th Constitutional Amendment to give legal cover to by-elections during the time of incomplete Election Commission of Pakistan," he said, while terming the justification given by the government for the increase in petroleum prices – enhanced prices in the international market – absurd.
Nisar said that people have been subjected to fraud by the economic managers of the country for the last 10 years by raise in the prices of oil products. "During the last 10 years, the oil prices saw upward revision 200 times whereas only on a few occasions, the prices were brought down," Nisar said, adding that the figures presented by the government in this regard were totally fraud. He dubbed the Petroleum Development Levy (PDL) as 'Jugga Tax'.
On a call-attention notice, lawmakers from the MQM benches criticised the price hike and lashed out at Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hussain for announcing the raise before due date, thus giving undue advantage to dealers of petroleum products. Dr Hussain contended that the Petroleum Ministry had nothing to do with the hike in prices as the matter purely pertains to Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), which has the autonomy to fix prices.
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