Combined opposition on Wednesday assailed the government for not reducing prices of the petroleum products, keeping in view their downward trend in the world market.
Leaders of various opposition parties gathered outside the Parliament House to agitate on denying any relief to the hard-pressed consumers, whereas POL prices in world market had come down from $70 to $55-56 per barrel in recent weeks.
They demanded early handing over of POL prices fixation to the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra). The opposition leaders condemned the government for denying relief to the people, already facing hardship due to soaring prices of daily use items.
The opposition lawmakers included Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Professor Ghafoor Ahmed, Liaquat Baloch, Rauf Mengal, Khurshid Shah, Khawaja Asif and Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri.
In their speeches, they alleged that without any meeting of the Oil Companies Advisory Committee, prices have been increased ever since the deregulation of the POL policy. They called for a debate on the issue in both Houses of the Parliament. Opposition leaders also came down heavily on the government for trying to weaken the Federation by making unilateral announcements on the controversial Kalabagh dam.
The lawmakers said they would press the government for a parliamentary debate on the Kalabagh dam and its possible repercussions, if the government decided to construct it without evolving consensus. They cautioned against opting for the project without taking the smaller provinces into confidence and allaying their concerns thereon. The opposition leaders condemned what they called the Centre's policies to corner the nationalists in Balochistan.
Voices were also raised against holding of the National Assembly session three days a week instead of full five days' proceedings. "The government is making mockery of the Parliament and the elected representatives by sticking to the bad practice, being witnessed since 2002," they pointed out.
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