Opposition in the Senate on Monday staged token walkout from the House against the recent increase in petroleum products' prices, as some senators from the treasury benches also demanded of the government to withdraw the decision immediately.
The members belonging to both opposition and treasury benches flayed the increase in POL prices, as soon as the Upper House started its 65th session with Chairman Farooq H. Naek in the chair. Speaking on a point of order, Senator Professor Khurshid ofd Jamaat-e-Islami described the increase in POL prices a highly condemnable and announced to stage walk out to register protest.
Endorsing the decision, leader of the opposition Wasim Sajjad said that the constant increase in the prices of daily commodities made life miserable for the poor, adding that the increase in POL prices was tantamount to put further burden on their feeble shoulders. He then led the token walkout of the opposition members, saying that the decision was not acceptable.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F)'s senator Ismail Buledi also joined the opposition members in staging token walkout, declaring that the coalition partners should write to the Prime Minister that they would not let the smooth proceedings of the House unless the decision was taken back.
Strongly criticising the decision, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Senator Babar Khan Ghauri, who is also Minister for Ports and Shipping, termed the decision as deplorable, saying that no coalition partner was taken into confidence in this regard. "Such unpopular decisions are also defaming us-as a coalition partner," he said, adding that the hike in the POL prices should immediately be withdrawn.
Awami National Party Senator Alyas Bilour also came with the similar version, saying that his party was also not taken into confidence prior to the increase in the petroleum prices. He blamed bureaucracy, which misleading the government, saying that such decision discredited the government. Another ANPSenator Haji Adeel said that the opposition should guide the government and also sought the chair to discuss the issue of increase in POL prices.
While responding to the concerns of the members, leader of the House, Nayyar Hussain Bokhari said that the decision had been taken by the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), which is an independent body. He also invited the opposition for debating the matter inside the House.
PPP's Senator Safdar Abbasi, while strongly criticising the increase in the POL prices, cautioned the government that such kinds of decisions would create more difficulties for the government. The PPP's dissident Senator said that he had many times pointed out such unpopular decisions both in the party's meetings and floor of the House. He further said that there was nobody to take care of the country's economy.
"You have borrowed Rs 250 billion from State Bank of Pakistan and nobody is there to tell us any progress on the agreement of $11.8 billion with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)," he added. PML-N Senator Syed Zafar Ali Shah was of the view that some 'hidden forces' were either challenging the authority of the government or supremacy of the parliament due to such decisions.