Gas, power management part of PPP-PML(N) dialogue: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani said on Thursday said gas and electricity management was part of the parleys being held between the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

The government is cognizant of the issues, but there are certain obligations under the Constitution and from the judiciary. The provinces have rights on their own resources under the Constitution and their resources cannot be shared with others until their own demand is met, the Prime Minister said while responding to a point of order of PML-N's Abid Sher Ali in the National Assembly.

"The small provinces have the right on gas reserves and the courts have issued stay order on provision of gas to other areas," he said.

The Prime Minister said Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and the provincial leadership had also conveyed their viewpoint on gas management.

"We offered them to place the matter before the CCI (Council of Common Interests) and if it is not resolved there, then the issue will be taken up in the joint sitting of Parliament."

However, he ponited out that the Punjab Chief Minister wanted to sort

out the matter through dialogue.

He said that the issue would automatically be resolved with the change of weather.

"How can we ignore Punjab? I wonder that the issue of gas was an old one. How he (Abid Sher Ali) has taken up the matter now; or he is unaware of the dialogue," he said.