Joint opposition on Tuesday rejected the government's privatisation policy, alleging that Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) was being sold out after US General Zinni visited Pakistan. All opposition parties in the House staged a token walkout against the government policy and said it was aimed at undermining the national interest to benefit certain elite class.
Leader of Opposition Raza Rabbani and former finance minister Ishaq Dar also hit out at the privatisation of Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) and Habib Bank Limited.
Information Technology Minister Awais Leghari, while defending the privatisation of PTCL, said the bidders were showing tremendous interest in its privatisation, mainly because of significant investment by local and foreign entrepreneurs.
He said the government enjoyed full mandate of the masses to go for the privatisation, adding that previous governments had been trying for 15 years to privatise PTCL, but they could not. "The opposition is trying to mislead the nation just to gain political mileage," he charged.
Much to the astonishment of all and sundry, the House started proceedings with a whopping 90 minutes delay at 6:30 pm.
Earlier, on a point of order, Rabbani warned that the result of privatisation would not augur well for the country. He described the privatisation policy as anti-employees.
Rabbani saw donor agencies' dictation in disposal of profit-making state-owned institutions. He mentioned the privatisation of KESC, and said the buyer had not been able to pay second instalment.
The opposition leader believed that the privatisation of PTCL would undermine and expose the national security, as the armed forces and other key agencies were connected to it.
"The government is selling the state companies cheaply to hand-picked favourites," he charged.
Awais Leghari said that the PTCL privatisation had nothing to do with exposing national security, as the National Telecommunication Services, a totally separate entity, provided services to the armed forces and other sensitive agencies.
"After clearance from the sensitive institutions and looking into pros and cons, the government opted for privatisation in an environment of deregulation," he said.
PTCL privatisation, he said, would generate more profits, boosting value-addition. Awais said due to the government policy Rs 15 billion were being added to the national exchequer.
He rejected the opposition's allegation that the government was following anti-employees policy and said that the ruling PML had regularised services of 8,800 PTCL workers and gave incentives to 1,700 employees, belonging to Sindh and Balochistan.
He said negotiations were under way in a constructive manner with the PTCL union representatives for allaying their apprehensions on the sell-off.
However, ex-minister Ishaq Dar made highly 'revealing' comments, when he alleged that PTCL was being sold out after US General Zinni came to Pakistan, forcing the government to review its policy.
"Why the utility was not sold out when the stock exchange was witnessing unprecedented business and why GSM licences were given to its companies before the privatisation?" He questioned.
Dar feared that the privatisation of PTCL would not bring the results as desired, after plunge in the stock exchange and the issuance of GSM licences to two foreign firms.
Likewise, he flayed the privatisation of KESC and asked the government why the Parliament and the opposition were not taken into confidence on the state institutions' privatisation?
He asked the government to explain reasons behind non-payment by the successful bidder of KESC.
The former minister recalled that Habib Bnk Ltd (HBL) would have fetched $500-600 million, but it was sold out for mere $340 million, because it was decided a year earlier that the bank would be given to Aga Khan.
Earlier, the House offered Fateha for the departed souls of the victims of Bari Imam shrine blast, Karachi attack, killing of Jamaat-i-Islami leader in Karachi, Rangeela, Malik Fareedullah Khan, Fazal Mahmood and Sardar Inayatullah Gandapur.
As the members waited for Senate Chairman Mohammadmian Soomro to step in, the House echoed with laughter's and exchange of pleasantries.
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