The petrol blues: fixing responsibility

The petrol crisis has badly exposed the vulnerabilities of country's fuel security. While finance minister Ishaq Dar had absolved himself of any guilt in relation to the crisis, Independent Power Producers and Pakistan State Oil had held the government and its functionaries responsible for a highly worrisome situation in the country. Finally, the axe fell on a rudderless Nepra as a task team constituted by the prime minister to investigate the crisis found it responsible for the overall mess. Little did, however, the inquiry team perhaps know that it was not only Nepra or the PSO management responsible for fuel woes but a number of ministries and their allied departments that contributed to creating a serious fuel shortage in the country. Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Water and Power are the principal suspects in the overall affairs. It is highly unfortunate that the PM has initiated no action against the two powerful ministers - Ishaq Dar and Khawaja Asif.