Purging Constitution of distortions: Sherry urges political parties not to miss 'golden opportunity'

Former Federal Minister for Information Sherry Rehman urged all the political parties not to miss the "golden opportunity" to pass the Constitutional Reform Package from the Parliament for purging the Constitution of the distortions, otherwise "history will never forgive them".
Speaking on a point of order during Tuesday's session of the National Assembly, Sherry Rehman said the nation is anxiously waiting for good news from the elected representatives regarding to end the distortions in the Constitution, adding that the Parliament would be considered equally responsible for this "offense" if the bill is flapped at this stage.
She said the nine-month long hard work of the constitutional committee should not go down the drain due to "inflated egos" on certain petty issues. She also condemned the remarks of President, Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) against the parliamentarians, saying that elected representatives have dignity and prestige and such language should not be used against them.
Sardar Talib Hussain Nakai underscored that people are suffering from inflation, load shedding and unemployment whereas politicians have wasted two years in politicising non-issues in and outside the Parliament. He also termed the Constitutional Committee as mere wastage of time and resources, suggesting that a similar body must be formed to address the problems being confronted by the poor people like- unemployment, inflation and load shedding. He warned that the masses would soon come to the streets to resist the government pathetic attitude.
PPP leader Nawab Yousuf Talpur said that warning of a Federal Minister about creating another Bangladesh if the name of NWFP was not changed is an alarming sign. He said that federal government must tackle the provincial matters related to language, water, taxes etc to avoid backlash. PPP lawmaker Sher Mohammad Baloch also expressed the same views, saying that the poor masses have nothing to do with the constitutional reforms as they are vying for food, shelter and clothes.
Azra Fazal Pecheho of PPP suggested that Balochistan Package must be implemented in letter and spirit. She also opposed giving the land to foreign countries on lease, saying that government must develop a long-term food security policy and sow its own land to meet the food shortages.
Minister for Water and Power Pervez Ashraf said that there are two types of Pecpo receivables. One from the public sector and another is from the private sector and the federal government has decided to adjust funds of government departments which are defaulters of the Pepco. Besides, he said, PEPCO has also decided to disconnect the connections of private institutions which are not paying the bills.
The Minister said that the government is implementing an effective strategy to ensure early recovery both from the public and private sectors. To a question, he said, that the country was facing four hundred billion rupees circular debt that accumulated from 2003 to 2007. He said that the present government took a number of steps and managed to off-load the circular debt and now all power generating units are operational.
He said per unit electricity cost is about Rs 10.2 while electricity is being provided at Rs 5.6 per unit to the consumers thus the government is providing Rs 55 billion subsidy. Responding to a calling attention notice, State Minister for Education Ghulam Fareed Khatiya said that the members of parliamentary committee on education must form an independent body to regulate the fee structure of private schools as these institutions are charging very high fees.
The Minister added that although it is a provincial subject, the federal government has constituted Private Educational institutions Regulatory Authority (PERA), which is limited to Islamabad. However, he said, this authority which was formulated in 2006 has no power to check fee structure of private schools. He said these schools pay a meager amount to their staff members as salary despite charging heavy fee from the students.
He said that the PERA purview is limited to Islamabad and proposed that a bill regarding Regularisation of Private Schools is under consideration with the National Assembly Standing Committee, which should include the issue to monitor of high fee of the private schools. The Minister said there is need to make effective legislation to check mushroom growth of private educational institutions and regulate their fee and salary structure.