- Where there’s smoke…
Finally, a news report published in this newspaper confirmed what was suspected all the while when now PM and former minister for petroleum, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, played hide and seek with parliament as well as the people over the LNG deal with Qatar. In what must be the first such incident in a running, functioning democracy, the minister plainly refused to reveal the final price agreed with the Qataris, even though it was the people not the ministers who would pay the end price.
Now, it turns out, a joint audit special study has found ‘massive irregularities’ in the LNG deal. Gas powerhouse Doha apparently made the deal with Pakistan at rates higher than the prevailing market trend at the time. Also, and far more seriously, the democratic pro-people government of PML-N just did not explore any other LNG outlets when exploring the deal. And the petroleum minister of the time, who should have ensured that proper procedure was followed, is now the sitting prime minister.
If a higher-than-market rate was agreed upon, and Doha’s competitors were not even touched, it can only mean that the government went into the contract for its own purposes. If it held the interests of the people supreme, as it so often claims, it would at least have tried to opt for bottom dollar. But the initial secrecy, despite raging editorials and opposition protests, and the subsequent findings of irregularity – clearly deliberate – indicates that this particular deal was meant to benefit a precious few. And, as always, the people will be left bearing the brunt of our so called democratic advances. A thorough and transparent investigation must immediately be launched into these audit findings. Also, the concept of conflict of interest should be deliberated upon in our apparently flourishing democracy. But don’t count on the PM to do it, especially as he heads meetings to turn around PIA while running a private airline of his own.
