The National Assembly session was adjourned abruptly on Tuesday when the opposition unleashed its scathing criticism over troubled Pakistan Steel Mills sell-off deal and sought ruling by the chair to disqualify ministers who are part of the cabinet committee on privatisation (CCoP).
The proceedings that started more than an hour and half behind its schedule remained dull and were attended by very few members from both sides of the aisle.
The opposition stuck to its demand that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz must resign after the detailed judgement of the Supreme Court and demanded formation of a high-level commission to expose the 'real plunderers'.
It was Arif Habib for whom the government remained under fire during the entire proceedings and opposition lawmakers took the Shaukat Aziz-led government to task over what they blamed extending the gentleman an 'undue favour'.
Pakistan People's Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) MNA Nahid Khan was the first speaker, who blamed the government for selling out Pakistan Steel Mills at a throwaway price and said the entire privatisation process was against the Constitution.
She said Arib Habib, a known stock market broker, was behind the stock market scam but the government instead of taking any action allowed him to take part in the bidding of PSM.
Naheed said the country has suffered a loss of Rs 22 billion only because of government's flawed policy and, therefore, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz should quit.
The Prime Minister, she maintained, while chairing the meeting of Council of Common Interests (CCI) has approved privatisation of 38 more entities despite opposition by NWFP chief minister Akram Khan Durrani.
This is a bunch of plunderers, Naheed Khan said, while pointing her finger at treasury benches and went on saying the CCI was being used merely as an eyewash.
She also ridiculed the government that the privatisation money was being utilised for debt retirement and poverty reduction, saying the PSM sell-off was the biggest scandal in the country's history.
Another PPPP lawmaker Shah Mahmood Qureshi also lashed out the government and said the PSM is a profit-making institution and was contributing Rs 12.61 billion annually.
"Why did the Prime Minister allow this to happen," he questioned and added, "this government has miserably failed under the yardstick of transparency and accountability."
He said the privatisation of Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation (KESC) was also a big blunder and people of Karachi were paying the price of it by living without electricity in scorching heat. He also questioned the government why Arif Habib was allowed to take part in the bidding when he was already defending cases in courts.
"He (the Prime Minister) should own the responsibility and the combined opposition demands that he along with his privatisation commission should resign forthwith," he demanded.
He said a commission should be constituted to expose plunderers, besides filing a reference against Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
Sahibzada Abul Khair of Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal also came hard on the gentleman, Arif Habib and asked the Supreme Court to look into privatisation of all units, including Pak Arab Fertilisers in which he was qualified as a bidder.
Nayyer Hussain Bukhari of PPPP was of the view it has been held by the Supreme Court that privatisation of Pakistan Steel Mills was not a fair deal and concessions were given to bidders, who had not qualified.
He said all those sitting members of the lower house who were part of the cabinet committee on privatisation should be disqualified. He asked the chair to refer the matter to the chief election commissioner for an appropriate action in this regard.
Meanwhile, some treasury members also took part in the debate and defended the government over PSM sell-off.
Federal minister for information technology Awais Leghari, population minister Chaudhry Shahbaz, Ashiq Ali Gopang and others spoke and said the privatisation process was transparent. They said governments in the past attacked the Supreme Court.
However, deputy speaker Sardar Yaqub adjourned the session abruptly when opposition lawmakers sought his ruling that sitting ministers being part of the CCoP be disqualified and issue should be referred to the chief election commissioner. The house will now meet on Wednesday at 1000 hours.
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