EDITORIAL: The inquiry commission tasked by the cabinet to determine the reasons behind the oil "crises" in June 2020 under the Pakistan Commission of Inquiry Act 2017 has identified an exhaustive list of individuals/institutions responsible for severe petrol shortages after the cabinet announced a reduction in fuel prices: (i) Secretary Petroleum Division remained unengaged prior and during the crisis and failed to provide any justification for reading the word import rationalization approved by the cabinet as import ban/cancellation; (ii) Imran Abro, a contract employee of Inter-State Gas Systems (Pvt.) Ltd., was "reportedly a kingpin in the Petroleum Division and calls the shots on behalf of his superiors." It is unclear why the word reportedly was used in connection with Abro; Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) claimed to be a participant rather than a decision-maker in decisions taken by the Product Review Meetings (PRMs) held on a monthly basis and led by the Ministry of Energy (Petroleum Division) nonetheless signs off on the minutes of the meeting instead of DG Oil; (iii) Director General Oil, a veterinarian by qualification, for passing flagrantly illegal orders with respect to allocation of import/local quotas however in his own defense he claimed that powers of DG Oil were shifted to Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) as per Petroleum Rules 2016 in which case it is unclear why his position remains; and (iv) three members of Ogra with an entire range of failures catalogued including slow dishing out licenses with 25 issued in 14 years while 32 are pending, failure to ensure enhancement of storage facilities, zero inspections of adherence to minimum stock requirements of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), no punitive action on illegal joint ventures between OMCs or suspension of license of even one delinquent OMC with the observation that the oil industry would have been better off without Ogra.
The inquiry report does not hold any member of the executive responsible for the "crises" in spite of the fact that the PRM is led by the Petroleum Division and Imran Abro has held the position during the tenure of the incumbent government as well as during the PML-N tenure - both when Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was the Minister for Petroleum and later the Prime Minister. This would no doubt strengthen the public perception that key decisions impacting negatively on the public's pocket book continue to be taken by the same people who were in positions of influence/power during the previous administration - a perception that is surely shared by Prime Minister Imran Khan who has repeatedly stated that critical sectors (wheat, sugar, cement, petroleum) are controlled by an entrenched mafia which colludes to contain supply to jack up prices to enable windfall profits to illegal cartels - a mafia that is not easy to uproot. That the mafia consists of both those operating in the private sector as well as its enablers in the public sector has been proved in the third inquiry report during Prime Minister's Khan's two and quarter year tenure.
The report adds that "to accurately assess the illegality of each person is a matter of further investigation/probe" and while the cabinet would no doubt support further investigation yet one would hope that this does not further delay taking action against those identified in the report in the interim period by transferring or giving them an OSD status.
The inquiry report is silent on identifying members of the cabinet heading the Petroleum Division (Ghulam Sarwar served as federal minister for petroleum from 20 August 2018 to 18 April 2019 with Umer Ayub holding the portfolio since then) and Nadeem Babar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Petroleum, appointed on 21 April 2019 soon after the transfer of Ghulam Sarwar. The Prime Minister has often stated the 'buck stops with him', a sentiment that must be appreciated as the man at the helm of affairs is held accountable. However, he appointed a specialist, Babar, and a generalist, Ayub, to head the petroleum division and one would hope that they show the integrity to share the blame. It is needless to say that courageous leaders take a little more than their share of blame.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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