Constitution says natural resources belong where found, Imtiaz tells federal

KARACHI: Energy minister for Sindh Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh said Wednesday the federal needs to read the Constitution of Pakistan whose article 158 of which elaborates that it is binding on the state to provide gas where the utility is found, ARY News reported.

Referring to the gas crisis in the peak winters, he said the Constitution clearly expands on equality of rights underscoring that each and every citizen is equal in the eyes of the law, he said.

The provincial minister Shaikh lamented that the Prime Minister abandons the sessions in the middle instead of hearing out grievances and resolving them.

When it is the season of purchasing gas to meet requirements, the government buys furnace oil instead, he said and added that it was the same government that earlier claimed they will scrap Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority for its objectionable role in regulating the energy.

He claimed Sindh province produces as much as 2,500 mmcfd gas and its requirement is about 1,700 mmcfd.

But federal only provides to it 950- to 1,000 mmcfd, he regretted implying that it was violation of the constitutional right of Sindh people.

We demand that first our provincial requirements of energy are met before exporting Sindh-produced gas to other provinces.

The Sindh Chief Minister only wrote to the federal in light of the constitutional articles over the energy crisis as each household in Sindh faces the utility shortage, which Shaikh said the incumbent government is misconstruing now to politicize the matter.