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Abid, the junior Khawaja Asif, making his mark as a foul player
Abid Sher Ali is the last person that the PML-N should depute to handle a subject as sensitive as electricity particularly in a country where half of people curse Wapda for electricity outages at any given time.
Imagine the agony of farmers who cant water fields, the labour who cant earn a living or the public that lives without fans and light for hours. They expect the government to at least soothe their nerves and explain to them that it was doing its best under the circumstances. Abid specialises in doing the opposite by throwing fuel at the raging fire.
His attitude led to an ugly situation at the National Assembly when an opposition member shouted at him to stop his bakwaas (crap). The Speaker ensured that PTIs Saleemur Rehman apologised for his words but Abid, the media folk agreed, asked for it. He was getting on everybodys nerves by showing a nasty temperament. The Parliamentarians, pressed by their aggrieved voters, try to raise the issue to mitigate their pain. The soft-spoken treasury member from
Bahawalpur, Parveen Masood, complained about the electricity metre thefts that she believed was the handiwork of Wapda officials. Abid Sher Ali virtually roared at her for not following the rules by asking the question. It was funny seeing one of the most unruly members talking about rules. Even the Speaker admonished him to maintain a hola hath at the newcomer. The lady, virtually in tears, walked down to him to protest.
When it comes to hot-headedness, Abid is one up on Khawaja Asif who has chosen to deal with higher politics this time around. The Khawaja from Sialkot negotiates with energy tycoons and travels with the prime ministerial entourage. Abid Sher Ali, as a junior Minister for Water and Power, is left to clean the dirty laundry in the public dhobi ghaat. Well, he makes the linen messier by using tar instead of washing powder.
He was hitting all across proving that he had little idea of what he was dealing with. Mahmood Khan Achakzai asked if the government had any plan to store the scanty rains that Balochistan gets. Abid did not care even to understand the question and threw figures at Achakzai that had nothing to do with the query. The chaddar-clad Pashtun later asked us in the lobbies where do we Punjabis get people like him. Ask Nawaz Sharif, we told him.
This was not the only anomaly in his presentation. The Water and Power Ministry had mentioned Kalabagh Dam project as one of the project ready for construction. In the same document the government had cited Kalabagh Dam as the project that was not included in the list of implemention. Abid Sher Ali gave a feeble explanation but Achakzai was right that why keep the project in papers (annual PC-1 as they call it) if the government did not wish to construct it without a consensus. This only instigates our Sindhi brethren, said Achakzai.
But Abid was particularly harsh on the KP members. He rebuffed a PTI member when he politely asked if it was possible to give exemption to electricity users of the war affected people of Malakand Division.Its not a charity that we are doing, pat came the answer.
This was totally uncalled for as it is Khyber Pashtunkhwa that gives charity in terms of electricity to the rest of Pakistan. The KP is the only surplus province in electricity producing 3400 mw whereas its usage is 2200 mg. The rest it is giving to Pakistan virtually on charity. It produces hydel energy at roughly Rs1.5 per unit but gets billed by Wapda at Rs8 per unit. Yet it suffers one of the highest load-sheddings because of its poor transmission infrastructure. The federal government owes the KP billions of rupees in royalty to improve its transmission lines.
The PTI government is being decentor negligentnot to raise this issue with Islamabad. Things could become difficult for the likes of Abid Sher Ali if the PTI gave him a taste of what Shahbaz Sharif did in Lahore by organising power protests in Punjab against the PPP governmentnot too far back in history. Of all the people, Abid Sher Ali should know what this mean as he comes from Faisalabad, which leads the country in power agitation.
In any case, the government that reneged on its electoral promise of ending load-shedding in two years needs to be a little apologetic. The least it can do is to control its wild horses and be polite. More so because it is headed for more difficult days ahead.
Imagine when the load-shedding of natural gas will coincide with electricity shortages. The government has already done its best in short-term but has little cards for the mid-term energy crisis. The news about the closure of gas to industries and CNG stations for three months in winter is yet to seep into the public psyche. Not many have realised its impact for the industry, labour and the public at large.
The situation becomes scarier if one adds the mess in corporations. The Parliament was told that Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) makes a daily loss of Rs60 to Rs 70 million and made a loss of Rs86 billion between 2008 and 2012. Already, it was given four bailout packages costing Rs40 billion since 2009. And the government is yet to come out with its much-promised plan to revamp the corporations. We as Pakistanis are already ashamed over the sorry spectacle in PIA. One pilot in Leeds got arrested for drinking and three stewards for misconduct. The story about 100 other corporations is no different. What is going on, one may ask.
In the meantime, somebody should give Mr Abid Sher Ali some lesson on mannerism. This government cant afford to be obnoxious.Tail piece: Essa Nori of the BNP, once again, painted a dismal picture of Balochistan. We already knew about 626 mutilated bodies and 1300 cases of documented kidnappings in Balochistan. But the figure of 64 bodies that appeared during the present government is staggering. Somebody needs to think about this.
Abid, the junior Khawaja Asif, making his mark as a foul player - thenews.com.pk
Abid Sher Ali is the last person that the PML-N should depute to handle a subject as sensitive as electricity particularly in a country where half of people curse Wapda for electricity outages at any given time.
Imagine the agony of farmers who cant water fields, the labour who cant earn a living or the public that lives without fans and light for hours. They expect the government to at least soothe their nerves and explain to them that it was doing its best under the circumstances. Abid specialises in doing the opposite by throwing fuel at the raging fire.
His attitude led to an ugly situation at the National Assembly when an opposition member shouted at him to stop his bakwaas (crap). The Speaker ensured that PTIs Saleemur Rehman apologised for his words but Abid, the media folk agreed, asked for it. He was getting on everybodys nerves by showing a nasty temperament. The Parliamentarians, pressed by their aggrieved voters, try to raise the issue to mitigate their pain. The soft-spoken treasury member from
Bahawalpur, Parveen Masood, complained about the electricity metre thefts that she believed was the handiwork of Wapda officials. Abid Sher Ali virtually roared at her for not following the rules by asking the question. It was funny seeing one of the most unruly members talking about rules. Even the Speaker admonished him to maintain a hola hath at the newcomer. The lady, virtually in tears, walked down to him to protest.
When it comes to hot-headedness, Abid is one up on Khawaja Asif who has chosen to deal with higher politics this time around. The Khawaja from Sialkot negotiates with energy tycoons and travels with the prime ministerial entourage. Abid Sher Ali, as a junior Minister for Water and Power, is left to clean the dirty laundry in the public dhobi ghaat. Well, he makes the linen messier by using tar instead of washing powder.
He was hitting all across proving that he had little idea of what he was dealing with. Mahmood Khan Achakzai asked if the government had any plan to store the scanty rains that Balochistan gets. Abid did not care even to understand the question and threw figures at Achakzai that had nothing to do with the query. The chaddar-clad Pashtun later asked us in the lobbies where do we Punjabis get people like him. Ask Nawaz Sharif, we told him.
This was not the only anomaly in his presentation. The Water and Power Ministry had mentioned Kalabagh Dam project as one of the project ready for construction. In the same document the government had cited Kalabagh Dam as the project that was not included in the list of implemention. Abid Sher Ali gave a feeble explanation but Achakzai was right that why keep the project in papers (annual PC-1 as they call it) if the government did not wish to construct it without a consensus. This only instigates our Sindhi brethren, said Achakzai.
But Abid was particularly harsh on the KP members. He rebuffed a PTI member when he politely asked if it was possible to give exemption to electricity users of the war affected people of Malakand Division.Its not a charity that we are doing, pat came the answer.
This was totally uncalled for as it is Khyber Pashtunkhwa that gives charity in terms of electricity to the rest of Pakistan. The KP is the only surplus province in electricity producing 3400 mw whereas its usage is 2200 mg. The rest it is giving to Pakistan virtually on charity. It produces hydel energy at roughly Rs1.5 per unit but gets billed by Wapda at Rs8 per unit. Yet it suffers one of the highest load-sheddings because of its poor transmission infrastructure. The federal government owes the KP billions of rupees in royalty to improve its transmission lines.
The PTI government is being decentor negligentnot to raise this issue with Islamabad. Things could become difficult for the likes of Abid Sher Ali if the PTI gave him a taste of what Shahbaz Sharif did in Lahore by organising power protests in Punjab against the PPP governmentnot too far back in history. Of all the people, Abid Sher Ali should know what this mean as he comes from Faisalabad, which leads the country in power agitation.
In any case, the government that reneged on its electoral promise of ending load-shedding in two years needs to be a little apologetic. The least it can do is to control its wild horses and be polite. More so because it is headed for more difficult days ahead.
Imagine when the load-shedding of natural gas will coincide with electricity shortages. The government has already done its best in short-term but has little cards for the mid-term energy crisis. The news about the closure of gas to industries and CNG stations for three months in winter is yet to seep into the public psyche. Not many have realised its impact for the industry, labour and the public at large.
The situation becomes scarier if one adds the mess in corporations. The Parliament was told that Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) makes a daily loss of Rs60 to Rs 70 million and made a loss of Rs86 billion between 2008 and 2012. Already, it was given four bailout packages costing Rs40 billion since 2009. And the government is yet to come out with its much-promised plan to revamp the corporations. We as Pakistanis are already ashamed over the sorry spectacle in PIA. One pilot in Leeds got arrested for drinking and three stewards for misconduct. The story about 100 other corporations is no different. What is going on, one may ask.
In the meantime, somebody should give Mr Abid Sher Ali some lesson on mannerism. This government cant afford to be obnoxious.Tail piece: Essa Nori of the BNP, once again, painted a dismal picture of Balochistan. We already knew about 626 mutilated bodies and 1300 cases of documented kidnappings in Balochistan. But the figure of 64 bodies that appeared during the present government is staggering. Somebody needs to think about this.
Abid, the junior Khawaja Asif, making his mark as a foul player - thenews.com.pk
