Opinion Power struggle
A register of reports and views from the Pakistan press
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Power struggle
A severe shortage of electricity is driving Pakistans people and industry up the wall. After last fortnights riots over hours-long outages,and sit-ins outside parliament,the minister for water and power development had to give an assurance in the National Assembly that the government is mulling an overhaul of the power sector in 15-20 days,Daily Times reported on October 11. In his speech,he also announced the dissolution of the Pakistan Electricity Production Company (PEPCO) within 15-20 days. President Asif Zardari complained the opposition was using the electricity crisis to gain political advantage: While emphasising the need to solve the energy crisis on a permanent basis,[he said the situation must be improved and should not be allowed to degenerate into an issue of power politics.
Mid-week,the federal government came up with a solution. The Express Tribune reported on October 12: The federal cabinet has approved two days holiday a week for those industries completely dependent on electricity and gas… The decision was taken by the federal cabinet in response to the ongoing crippling countrywide power crisis. The Express Tribune also reported on October 13 that the PML-N-run province,Punjab,rejected this decision. Sharif seems unlikely at present to go ahead with the plan,as he claims he was not consulted by the cabinet when the initial plan was formed… It has also been reported that the government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is unsure about the cabinets decision… Many voices from the Karachi business community have also criticised the decision. According to the 18th Amendment to the constitution,provinces are not bound to follow every cabinet decision. A notification directing the implementation of this decision was issued on
October 14.
The electricity crisis provided perfect timing to the government to trumpet the completion of an expansion project of the Mangla dam,the 16th largest in the world,reported Dawn on October 13. Located on the Jhelum in PoK,the height of the dam has been raised to store more water and in turn,generate more electricity. Dawn quoted the PM: Gilani termed the Mangla dam raising project vital for economic development and said it would go a long way in the progress of the country.
Mind your language
The Express Tribune reported from Washington on October 14: Addressing the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday,US Secretary for Defence Leon Panetta said that terrorists in Pakistan,Yemen and Somalia pose a threat to the United States. At a hearing on the future of national defence and the US military 10 years after 9/11,the focus of the discussion centred largely on defence budget cuts. Pakistan,meanwhile,chose to make an issue of such recent statements during the visit to Islamabad of Af-Pak envoy Marc Grossman. Dawn carried a story that stated: During a meeting with Mr Grossman,President Asif Ali Zardari told him bluntly that restraint should be exercised in public pronouncements for the sake of developing a cooperative roadmap to overcome trust deficit. He stressed that relations between the two countries should not be transactional,but based on long-term partnership,mutual respect and shared interests. Any public messaging
tending to undermine this bedrock of relationship shrank political space for a democratic government…
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