Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has deferred Council of Common Interests (CCI) meeting till August 28, 2017, according to sources in the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Co-ordination. Sources said that previously the meeting was scheduled for August 23, however, now it has been rescheduled for August 28 to take briefing from Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on preliminary results of population census completed in May 2017. An official of PBS said that approval of the preliminary results would be placed before the CCI for approval before making them public.
Additionally, an official of IPC whose role is of liaison officer between federation and provinces on matters involving CCI said that meeting is expected to deliberate on oil and gas issues, especially of new domestic connections ahead of next general election. The official further stated that LNG import was on the agenda of last CCI meeting of May 2 2017 but the meeting decided that the summary should be circulated to all provinces for soliciting comments and then it should be presented to it in the next meeting.
This would be the first CCI meeting to be chaired by PM Abbasi after its reconstitution with raising representation of the Punjab provinces as opposed to equal representation in the past.
Former Finance Minister Saleem Mandviwalla said that higher share to Punjab in the CCI appears an attempt to get contentious issues of gas connection and LNG import approved through a majority vote.