Pakistan committed to gas plan: president

Economy

Last Updated on Friday, 10 February 2012 08:25 Friday, 10 February 2012 08:19

The two sides agreed to set up a joint working group and hoped that the proposed visit of a delegation of Iranian banks to meet Pakistani counterparts would give impetus to the cooperation in the banking sector besides facilitating bilateral trade

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari told an Iranian delegation on Tuesday that Pakistan was committed to an early implementation of Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project.

Iran’s Vice President Ali Seedlou, who led the Iranian delegation, said his country had already laid the pipeline on its side of the border and was ready for full implementation of the project.

On the occasion, President Zardari said that besides an expeditious implementation of the pipeline project, Pakistan wanted to carry forward the proposed projects of 1,000MW Taftan-Quetta transmission line and 100MW Gwadar power supply project.

He said his government was pursuing a trade liberalisation policy and proposed elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers between the two countries to further boost trade ties.

The president was quoted as saying: “The recent agreement between the two countries to work towards expanding the Pakistan-Iran Preferential Trade Agreement to include additional items form both sides and making it an agenda item for the next meeting of the trade committee was a welcome move to enhance trade links between the two countries.”

He said that enhancing bilateral cooperation, particularly in energy, security, communication and infrastructure, would help the two countries to overcome the challenges in the way of realisation of full existing potential of their equation and to realise the goal of raising the bilateral trade to $5 billion.

Minister for Commerce Amin Fahim, Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Dr Hafeez Sheikh, Interior Minister Rehman Malik, former law minister Babar Awan, Secretary General to the President Salman Faruqui, federal secretaries of foreign affairs, petroleum and economic affairs division and other senior officials attended the meeting.

The Iranian vice president was accompanied by senior foreign office officials. The Iranian ambassador to Pakistan Alireza Haghighian was also present.

The two sides agreed that they were poised to play an important role in the promotion of intra-regional and inter-regional connectivity which was the key to the socio-economic development of the people of the region.

“Our resource constraints can be overcome by joining hands and enhancing cooperation in all the areas particularly trade, energy, horticulture, livestock, communication, infrastructure development and engineering sector,” said President Zardari.

The two sides agreed to set up a joint working group and hoped that the proposed visit of a delegation of Iranian banks to meet Pakistani counterparts would give impetus to the cooperation in the banking sector besides facilitating bilateral trade.

Pakistan’s side offered multiple entry visas to the businessmen from Iran on a reciprocal basis.

SC forms larger bench to hear PM’s appeal

Governance

Friday, 10 February 2012 08:13

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday constituted an eight-member larger bench to hear the intra-court appeal requesting it to suspend its decision of framing contempt charges against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Feb 9 (tomorrow), DawnNews reported.

The bench would be headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

The apex court on Wednesday had said that the appeal could be heard on Thursday, to which the premier’s counsel, Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, agreed. Earlier today, the appeal was filed by Ahsan. It requested the court to postpone the prime minister’s indictment.

On Feb 2, the apex court had issued summons for the premier for Feb 13 for him to be indicted with contempt over his refusal to pursue corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

The announcement had significantly escalated pressure on the embattled prime minister, threatening to plunge his weak government deeper into crisis and force early elections within months.

The appeal further stated that the ruling was issued without the premier being given an opportunity to defend himself directly.

Ahsan said he based the appeal on precedents set by top courts in Australia, Britain, France, India and the United States.

“I have filed an appeal today. I have quoted more than 50 national and international cases and given specific reasons against the Supreme Court order,” Ahsan told reporters earlier today.

“My objection is that the court in its order on February 2 cited no specific reasons for initiating contempt of court proceedings against the prime minister,” he added.

If convicted of contempt, the prime minister could be jailed for up to six months and disqualified from public office.

Former Supreme Court judges said they were not convinced of the grounds for appeal, but said the matter would have to be decided quickly.

“They can simply prolong the case for two or three weeks but apparently they have no solid ground in their defence. They have not come up with a satisfactory plea so far,” said Rashid Rizvi, a former judge.

One former chief justice called on the government to resign.

“It will be good for the country if the government quits and holds elections. The current situation is crippling the economy and people are dying because of poverty and lawlessness,” Fakhruddin Ebrahim told AFP.

'Interference' on Balochistan unbearable, US told

Defence

Friday, 10 February 2012 00:19

Foreign Office has said that internal affairs of any state should not be interfered into.

Washington and the US Embassy have been informed about our reservations.

While giving weekly briefing in Islamabad, FO spokesman Abdul Basit said, “Balochistan is our internal matter; all the countries should respect the sovereignty of one another.”

He said that the Washington and the US embassy have been informed of our reservations about the US discussing the Balochistan issue.

He said that national policy on done attacks in clear and candid, adding that such attacks are a challenge for our sovereignty which is unacceptable for us at any cost.

Commenting on Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline Project, he said that it is very important for us. Construction work on the project is underway which would be completed till 2014, he said.

The Foreign Office also said that no meeting between Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and representatives of Afghan Taliban were held in Qatar as no such meeting was in schedule.

Spokesman said that a misconception was created that the Prime Minister had a plan to hold meetings with Taliban.

He said that Gilani visit to Doha was exclusively focused on bilateral relations with Qatar, though, regional situation and peace in Afghanistan also came under discussion in the meetings between the Prime Minister and Qatari officials.

About the initial talks between Taliban and the US, the spokesman said the American diplomatic sources had briefed Pakistani officials over their contacts and talks with them. However, he declined to comment on meeting between Taliban and the US Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Ambassador Marc Grossman in Qatar.

“Better this question be asked US State Department instead of me, they can confirm or reject such question,” he added.

Responding to a question about different approaches of China and Pakistan over support to the UN resolution against Syria, he said, “Some amendment in the resolution enabled us to support it. Every country, that either voted for or against the resolution had their own valid reason. Our friendship with China is time-tested and everlasting.” But Pakistan always stands for respecting independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty of all the countries including Syria, he further said.

On the ongoing row over the US drone attacks, he said that such actions are unacceptable but after completion of the parliamentary process, Pakistani officials would have clear policy in this connection.

Regarding the issue of Afghan refugees, the spokesman reiterated that Pakistan is engaged with the UN agencies for their return but with honor and dignity.

Over the US pressure around the world against trade with Iran, he said that as far as the IP gas project is concerned there is no change in the position of Pakistan.

Basit said that trilateral summit of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran in Islamabad next week will focus on counter-terrorism and drug trafficking.

He said that Pakistan was quite busy on diplomatic front this week. Prime Minister Gilani visited Qatar and held negotiation on energy and bilateral relations. The foreign minister visited Russian Federation for improving bilateral relations, “Pakistan is facing energy crises and it also hold talks on this issue with Moscow”. “Russia also has interest in Pak-Iran gas project.” The Lankan President is also visiting Pakistan and so on, he said.

Amid the rumors of Pakistani officials meeting during the prime minister visit with Taliban in Qatar, a reaction was noticed in Kabul.

Govt rules out reversal of oil price hike

Economy

Last Updated on Thursday, 09 February 2012 01:40 Thursday, 09 February 2012 01:27

Senators castigated the government for revising the prices of petroleum products for more than 20 times during three and a half years of its rule. They called for evolving a strategy to tackle the energy crisis and overcoming electricity and gas loadshedding

ISLAMABAD: The government ruled out on Tuesday reversal of recent increase in the prices of petroleum products, saying that it was indexed and linked to the international prices and there was no way the equation could be changed.

Winding up discussion on adjournment motions on the increase in the prices of petroleum products and gas in the Senate, Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar pointed out that removal of taxation would add around Rs200 billion to the budget deficit and printing of more currency notes would spark hyper inflation.

He said the price of crude oil in the international market was $65 per barrel a couple of years ago, but now it had been fluctuating around $110. The US dollar had gone up to Rs90 from Rs65 four years ago.

He said the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority calculated the prices on the basis of average of the past 30 months with appropriate taxation. He said a tax of Rs30 per litre on petrol and Rs20 per litre on diesel had been levied.

He said the country was facing a gas shortage because of mistakes made by the previous governments. An expensive resource had been blatantly misused, instead of utilising it objectively.

The minister said the gas was provided on a priority basis to the industry and power sector the world over. He warned that the proliferation of gas usage might lead to a dangerously disturbing situation in future.

Mr Qamar said about 200,000 applications for gas connections were pending and the number might reach two million in the next five years. “With the existing resources, it will not be possible to meet the needs of domestic consumers.”

Stressing the need for rethinking, the minister noted that the levy of surcharge had become inevitable because the low price was forcing people to use CNG. The price of CNG was still 55 per cent of petrol price, he added.

He said in case of depletion of indigenous gas resources, imported gas would not be affordable for the industry, power generating units or the domestic consumers, be it Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas-pipeline or the liquefied natural gas. “It’s time we start thinking about optimal use of gas.”

Mr Qamar said the usage of CNG for transport could not be afforded now and a hike in gas tariff was essential to strike a balance between supply and demand.

Earlier, Senators castigated the government for revising the prices of petroleum products for more than 20 times during three and a half years of its rule. They called for evolving a strategy to tackle the energy crisis and overcoming electricity and gas loadshedding.

They criticised the government for its failure to devise a policy to provide relief to the common man.