Is Nawaz Sharif Prime Minister of a province?
The lifting of a moratorium on new gas installations by Nawaz Sharif in selected areas of Punjab considered PML-N’s stronghold is bound to cause resentment in other provinces. This is all the more so at a time when the opposition and the ruling PML-N have already initiated the election campaign and a turf war is raging between the PPP and the PML-N.
The PM has reportedly relaxed the moratorium on gas connections for 55 constituencies of influential politicians and federal ministers mainly from Punjab since May last year. Supposedly, 35 similar cases are in the pipeline. Another report tells of an exorbitant number of gas expansion schemes, 77 out of 97, have been earmarked for Punjab throwing the countrywide moratorium on new gas connections to the winds.
The action by the PM is in violation of Article 158 of the Constitution which accords priority to the province where the well head is situated. As CM Sindh put itp: Punjab produces just about three per cent of gas but already consumes over 42pc of the total produced in the country. .
The PPP government did little for the common man for which it suffered a humiliating defeat in 2013. The party however took significant measures to weaken parochial tendencies and strengthen the federation, the 17th amendment being one outstanding example and the 7th NFC Award another.
The PML-N is doing the opposite. Recently the Punjab government issued informal orders to keep a more vigilant eye on Pashtuns and people of FATA as part of a province wide clean-up giving birth to accusations of ethnic profiling from almost all political parties from KP and Balochistan. A more recent episode of violence against Pashtun students at the hands of Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba (IJT) members during a culture show at Punjab University is yet to result in expulsions of the responsible students.
Nawaz Sharif needs to remove the current grievances of other provinces to create national harmony instead of favouring his constituency in Punjab at their expense.
