Babus’ assets will be known to all

The ‘Babus’ finally came under scrutiny on Wednesday, with the armed forces and judiciary also not being exempted, as the federal cabinet, in a landmark decision, rejected the observations of top bureaucrats and decided that all civil servants, including the armed forces and judiciary, must declare their assets to make them public like those of politicians.
“The federal cabinet has approved a proposal of the private member’s bill to make public assets of all employees every year, and whoever draws salaries from the national exchequer would have to declare assets. This would include officers of judiciary and military,” Information Minister Dr Firdous Ashiq told reporters in a briefing on the decisions of the federal cabinet, which held a six-hour session to develop a strategy to deal with power and gas shortage.
Asked whether the government had taken the decision in view of its stand-off with the judiciary and military establishment, the information minister said the cabinet had endorsed a private member’s bill and it was not its own initiative. “The cabinet did not take this decision in a confrontational mode. No specific individual or institution was targeted. Whosoever draws salary from the national exchequer, they would have to make their assets public. We have decided that this clause should not be restricted to politicians only and rather all state institutions should be included in this system to ensure transparency,” she said. According to a summary of the Cabinet Division, the Establishment and Law Divisions had rejected the private member’s bill by Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) MNA Dr Donya Aziz, advising the federal cabinet to oppose it. The private member’s bill, moved in February last year, had proposed amendments in the Civil Servants Act of 1973 “to allow for the people of Pakistan, through their elected representatives in the National Assembly, to exert oversight in matters related to postings and promotion of civil servants”.
The minister said the cabinet members were of the view that just like parliamentarians who declared their assets as routine practice, public sector employees should also declare their assets, which should also be publicised. The minister said every civil servant submitted assets every year but now their assets would be publicised in view of the cabinet’s decision. She also said the cabinet rejected another clause of the bill that aimed to clip powers of the prime minister in civil servants’ promotions. When asked whether the cabinet had taken any decision regarding the court notices sent to ministers and the government in the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) case, the minister said this issue was not part of the agenda. However, she added that the government’s legal team was discussing a strategy to deal with the issue.
Responding to another question about whether she had received a contempt notice from the apex court, the information minister said she had not received any notice yet.
“Whatever action is taken by the government would be within the ambit of law and the constitution. When they feel it is appropriate, they will share their strategy with the media. We want to strengthen the state institutions. We have rendered sacrifices for the supremacy of the judiciary,” she said.
The information minister also held the opposition parties responsible for public unrest on gas and power load shedding, claiming that the opposition parties were provoking innocent people to act against the government.
“The opposition is politicising the energy crisis and a conspiracy is being hatched to provoke the people. Moreover, Punjab Police does not cooperate with SNGPL officials and the officials are refused security provision when they take action against gas thieves,” claimed the minister.
The information minister said the federal cabinet directed the Petroleum Ministry to ensure smooth supply of gas to domestic consumers. The cabinet also directed the ministry to suspend gas supply to industrial, fertiliser and cement sectors along with independent power producers (IPPs) in January, she added.
Chairing the meeting, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani ordered that in January, full gas pressure should be ensured for domestic consumers and the agreement reached by the ministry with the CNG sector should be implemented in letter and spirit, under which no gas would be provided to industrial sector three months every year, said Firdous.
She said during a comprehensive briefing to the cabinet by the petroleum secretary, the prime minister was requested to inaugurate the Kunnar Pasaki gas field near Hyderabad in the next few days, which would help add 100mmcfd gas to the system.
Firdous said Sindh produced 69 percent of the country’s natural gas while its consumption was 41 percent; Balochistan produced 17 percent while it consumed only 7 percent; Khyber Pakhtunkhwa produced 9 percent and consumed 7 percent, while Punjab produced 5 percent and consumed 45 percent.Firdous said the government had reduced the inflation ratio to a single digit of 9.7 percent from 15.5 percent. The minister said that Sensitive Price Index (SPI), Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Wholesale Price Index (WPI) had all registered decreases as compared to the same period last year.
The information minister said the cabinet also decided to add additional financial support to increase power generation by at least 1,200 megawatts and it was decided to give Rs 15 billion in additional subsidy to the power generation sector to reduce load shedding. This would be in addition to Rs 10 billion already allocated to this sector, taking the total tally to Rs 25 billion, she added.