Concurrent list being revised: Wasim Sajjad committee to meet next week: Saifullah
By Ahmed Hassan
ISLAMABAD, Nov 2: Federal Minister for Inter-provincial Coordination Salim Saifullah Khan has said that the parliamentary sub-committee headed by Wasim Sajjad will meet next week to draft a formula to redraw the precincts of provincial autonomy.
Talking to Dawn, Mr Saifullah said the grand Balochistan tribal jirga convened by President Musharraf was aimed at associating the people of Balochistan in the efforts to develop the province and help it achieve political stability.
Answering a question, the minister said he was unaware of the list of invitees to the jirga and added that November 8 was not the final date for the jirga.
When asked why the jirga was being held in the federal capital instead of Quetta, he said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz had visited Quetta last month and held meetings with various groups of Baloch and Pakhtoon Sardars (tribal chiefs).
He claimed that the Balochistan situation was returning to normal, saying the government was taking Baloch and Pakhtun masses into confidence on all decisions taken in their favour.
He said the government was serious about renewing contacts with the opposition parties which had boycotted the parliamentary committee meetings before it could finalise its recommendations about enhanced provincial autonomy.
He said first priority of the government would be to revise concurrent list by assigning various departments to the provinces. The government, he added, was also ready to consider their demand for handing over a major chunk of taxes to them.
Answering another question, the minister said the next inter-provincial coordination conference would be held in Lahore in the last week of November for which his ministry had sought points of discussion from the provinces.
**ANOTHER COMMITTEE: **Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League secretary-general Senator Mushahid Hussain said at a function that (another) parliamentary sub-committee, headed by him, had submitted its recommendations to the government.
He said the recommendations of the Wasim Sajjad committee would be presented in parliament for legislation before the coming general elections.
Both the committees were constituted last year in the wake of unrest in Dera Bugti and intensifying demand for greater provincial autonomy in Balochistan.
Opposition parties of Balochistan, including the Akhtar-Mengal-led Balochistan National Party, had boycotted the committee proceedings as a show of no-trust in the government.
**APP adds: **Mr Hussain said that the Wasim Sajjad committee would meet on November 11 and its participants would include PML president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.
Talking to media after a book launching ceremony at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad on Thursday, Mr Hussain said that the government wanted to resolve the issue of provincial autonomy before the elections. Therefore it had intensified efforts in this regard.
“The credit goes to President Pervez Musharraf and the government for taking up the issue which has been kept in cold store for nearly 33 years,” the senator said.
“The government wants to give provinces complete autonomy,” he said and expressed the hope that the issue would be resolved in consultations with the stakeholders. He said that the recommendations of a committee on development of Balochistan had been submitted to the minister for inter-provincial coordination.
“Under the light of these suggestions, the government has undertaken a number of development projects in the province which will usher in an era of development,” the PML leader said.
