In a statement issued here on Tuesday, the PML-N general secretary said, “President Dr Arif Alvi has promulgated the ordinance by bypassing the CPEC committee and the parliament and we will strongly oppose the move in the Parliament.” Our party has completely rejected the move, he added.
Iqbal, hailed as a CPEC hero by Chinese officials, shared a post on Twitter to criticise the controversial move.
Two separate ordinances in connection with setting up of the CPEC Authority and granting tax concessions to the Gwadar port and its free zone were signed on the eve of Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s visit to China where he is expected to hold discussions on economic and political matters of mutual interests with the Chinese leadership.
It merits mention here that Pakistan’s military had come up with the idea of the CPEC Authority in 2016. However, the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif decided did not entertain this idea. A joint parliamentary committee on CPEC, in its meeting last month, also rejected the setting up of the authority through a presidential ordinance.
Meanwhile, the National Development Council, which is a joint forum of the civilian and military leadership, had given approval for the move to extend tax concessions to Gwadar port in line with the Gwadar Port Concession Agreement.
Following the ordinance, the government has transferred vast financial and administrative powers to the CPEC Authority, including providing its executives immunity against legal proceedings. The executives can also exercise their powers to make the budget for the body on their own.
While criticising the move, Iqbal said that the National Assembly’s (NA) CPEC committee had unanimously opposed the formation of the body.
“Creation of the authority is a clear message to undermine trust in civilian institutions. This investment of $28.5 billion did not come into the country through any such ‘authority’. It was brought over by a civilian political government through democratic and constitutional institutions. It does not take such bodies to complete and operate the CPEC. It takes money and vision, and the current regime is devoid of both,” he maintained.
The PML-N leader said that he had personally sent a direct message to the president to make him aware that the creation of the body was illegal. But he ignored my advice and the advice of the parliament while taking this important decision.
According to Iqbal, the formation of the CPEC Authority would give rise to new issues and would complicate coordination among the ministries and departments concerned.
This move would most likely create bureaucratic hurdles and limitations that would stall the CPEC projects, he added.
He also said that the parliamentary committee on CPEC had recommended that the matter of formation of this authority should be presented in the parliament for debate. The committee had also advised not to go ahead with the creation of any such body other than as an act of the parliament through legislation, he added.