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Kaira accuses PML-N of politicising power crisis
Information minister says PML-N should know that Punjab is not Pakistan, but a part of Pakistan.
Information minister says PML-N should know that Punjab is not Pakistan, but a part of Pakistan. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
MULTAN: Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira, while speaking to the media on Monday, said that the government will not let Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) play politics on power crisis.
“[Punjab Chief Minister] Shahbaz Sharif is blaming the federation without revealing the facts to the people,” he said, adding that Punjab gets 66% of electricity and 45% of Sui gas from the total energy output but the provincial government wants to take away the quota assigned to other provinces too.
Kaira added that PML-N workers were behind the attacks on offices of power companies. “PML-N should not destroy Pakistan in this manner,” he said.
Responding to the Punjab CM’s accusation against the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) for exporting 700MW electricity, Kaira said the mentioned amount of energy was not given to any other country but to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).
“With his statement, Shahbaz Sharif has proven that he does not consider K-P as a part of Pakistan. He only wants power supply for Punjab,” Kaira said, adding that the PML-N should know that Punjab is not Pakistan but it is a part of Pakistan.
Bashing Punjab government officials for leading energy protests and carrying weapons, Kaira said that the common people cannot be blamed for the loss of billions of rupees they cause due to such protests as the leaders and parliamentarians of this country are themselves violently protesting.
He further accused PML-N of playing politics solely for power and without caring about the loss incurred by the people and the government of Pakistan.
“PML-N has been fooling the people of Punjab with their political rhetoric against the PPP. It has not added a single megawatt of electricity to the national power output,” Kaira said.
No unscheduled loadshedding
The Information Minister, on behalf of the government, also assured the people of Pakistan that no unscheduled, prolonged loadshedding will take place as the hurdles in electricity production have been cleared out.
Kaira said that it was a natural disaster which damaged a 6km-long oil supply line to power plants which in turn caused an “acute shortage” of electricity. “It was in a far-flung area. Even taking the labour and the required material took a lot of time,” said Kaira while appreciating Wapda for the maintenance work.
“I assure you all power plants running on oil are now being fully supplied with oil. The daily supply of oil to these plants has also been increased to 25,000 metric tons from 12,000 metric tons.”
The information minister added that the government knows about the people’s problems and is always trying to help them. “We are using all our resources to bring the country out of the energy crisis but our solution would be a permanent one. There will be no temporary solutions like those given by previous governments,” he said.
Reader Comments (24)
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Four years and your govt couldnt reduce circular debt one bit…and you blame others of politicing it.Recommend
What a statement sir. Just confirms you could only belong to PPP. Bloody revolution is the only solution it seems.
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Kaira saab and P P P ministers Act like Queen Mary who Said ” if they cannot afford Bread they should eat Cakes”
you people dont care for awam because if you could have cared you would have known how we are suffering .
Shame Shame Shame for this insensitivity
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And why not? isnt this part of politics, and don’t worry you will have your turn as well! I thought our politicians had a better IQ level then the public…seems they are now falling behind…catch up Mr. PPP…..
Pakistan Zindabad
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Punjab’s appetite for the resources of other provinces is never ending. It relies on 70% taxes collected from Sindh, 98% electricity and gas produced in other provinces, without burping once. It is time that the province becomes more productive, less demanding to contribute more towards Pakistan, rather than remaining a total liability.Recommend
Some Time you are so smart but so cheap that lying is not appropriate,word for your explanation.
Don’t punish Punjab first 600MGW to Karachi, now the KP 700, stealing from Punjab are you treating Punjab part of pakistan, you are playing dirty politics, if shahbaz is not is not protecting Punjab you people will eating Punjab. We are ashamed that you are punjabi.
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I agree Punjab is not Pakistan and similarly Democracy is not Zardari. If you insist then people will start hating Democracy. Choice is yours.
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Such a nice debate, one is supporting agitations over a problem other is criticising the first one for the support, and no one is taking care of the problem.
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ppp government should know that punjab is not out of pakistan its part of pakistan so treat it like that and stop giving dumb statements
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Mr, Kaira, congratulation on foolished and very cheap statement, it seems that a flam of jealousy. what is credit on your govt, Law & order situation, VERY BAD IN ALL OVER COUNTRY. given gift of Energy crises to all country. Judiciary crises on peak, For Missing person govt is responsible but you are serving to boss through these types of statement.Recommend
I’m no PMLN supporter, but Mr. Kaira, this IS a political issue!
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Shar brothers using ‘Punjab Card’ very badly .. it is 100% correct that ” Punjab is not Pakistan, its part of the Pakistan” shar brothers should understand it before its too late ..
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@Jibran Obviously Punjab is the most developed province with most industry, agriculture and population hence it will have appetite for resources. Instead of bringing down Punjab to their own level rest of Provincial governments should establish peace, security and stability for development of industry so to claim an equal share at par with Punjab.
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@Jibran:
how soon people forget that it was Punjab only who gave away part of her water share to other province ………. btw get out of this mindset …. stop being sindhi, punjabi, baloch & pathan… be Pakistani
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Ok probably we can do stats comparison here, I am living in lahore (Gulberg) and since sehri i faced loadshedding between 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11, 12-1, 2-5 and 6-7 (total 9 hours out of 15 hours). Our brothers in karachi and islamabad facing the same? Lets share stats of cities here and everyone will be enlightened :)
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This is further increasing our anger and frustration. We are having toughest ramzan of our lives. Mr. Kaira, We have nothing to do with any political party, just fulfill our basic needs.
@Jibran, Please come out of ethnic debates or educate yourself about resource stats.
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@Yasir Mehmood:
@Jibran Obviously Punjab is the most developed province with most industry, agriculture and population hence it will have appetite for resources.
The most developed province contributes peanuts in taxes. For 60 years, it’s “development” has been carried out at the cost of first the Bengalis, and then the other provinces. The argument of stability is meaningless as the Karachi is still the business capital of Pakistan, and contributes the most towards national exchequer. The argument of “Punjab” was brought in by CM, who himself is to be blamed for agreeing things, which he is now trying to incite people against. Fact of the matter is that, if the people in Punjab turn off their A/Cs, conserve energy, and the Punjab government pays its electricity dues, the problem can be greatly reduced. But, if it wants more than 66% of the electricity, it is simply not possible.Recommend
Punjab’s share in agriculture produce is 70%. Most textile industry is based in Punjab contributing 38% to the national economy and 38% labour in the manufacturing sector. Do you want to destroy all this? Kaira forgot that Punjab people elected him. Please listen to Afzal Chan who belong to your party and threatened to resign because of load shedding.
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Typical PPP politics based on emotional exploitation. Instead of uniting the people PPP tries to divide them.
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If thats the case… around 70% taxes generated from punjab.
lets talk about who steals electricity, gas, and other resources
?kaira and his father zardari wake up to be burnt by the public.
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@Mozart:
You are so wrong here. Khadim-e-Aaala is doing emotional exploitation, instead of uniting, PML-N is trying to create a rift. This will not take it anywhere, other than alienating Pakistani voters outside the northern and central Punjab (GT-road) regions.
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@Mozart:
And why not u say so against Sharifs who unduely raising the Punjab card and spreading provincialism. Power for then is more important than national integrity.
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@Imran and @Jan Muhammad
Well I am not a PML-N supporter but I think their stance is more logical. The fact is that Punjab is facing more power outages than any other province. The statements of Kaira would have made more sense if all provinces faced equal amount of power outages. The percentages he is quoting will obviously be skewed because of the larger population and more industries in Punjab.
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Kaira and whole PPP is doing politics of hate, provincialism and lingual differences. Shame on him.
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