PPP members, ministers clash in NA over KE affairs, JIT report.

Byline: Amir Wasim

ISLAMABAD -- The National Assembly on Thursday witneAssed political skirmishes betAween the members of the opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and federal ministers throughout the nearly three-hour-long proceedings during a discussion on the performance of K-Electric (KE) and National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) in the wake of massive load-shedding and excessive billing in Karachi and over a controversy on the report of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on notorious Lyari gang leader Uzair Baloch.

The PPP leaders had verbal clash with Minister for Power Omar Ayub Khan and Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umer during a discussion on a calling attention notice regarding the unprecedented and unscheduled load-shedding in Karachi by the KE and failure of Nepra to take prompt action in this regard.

The opposition members reacted strongly when the two ministers started blaming the past two governments of the PPP and the PML-N for the miseries being faced by the people of Karachi due to lengthy hours of load-shedding during the hot and humid weather and amid coronavirus pandemic.

Members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and the Muttahida Qaumi MovAeAment (MQM), including fedeAral Minister for Information Technology Aminul Haq, from Karachi also joined their voices with the protesting PPP members over the performance of the KE.

MQM to hold sit-in outside Parliament House against outages in Karachi

'The KE is a mafia and has become a state within the state,' Mr Haq said while calling for holding an investigation as to where the KE was making re-investments from billions of rupees it was collecting from the people of Karachi.

The minister said that the KE sometimes blamed the Pakistan State Oil, sometimes the gas company and often blamed rains for its poor performance. He said when they raised the issue with Prime Minister Imran Khan, they came to know that the KE was already being provided additional electricity from the national grid and gas from the Sui Southern Gas Company Limited.

The minister said that people of Karachi were suffering due to lengthy hours of load-shedding despite the fact that most of the shops and shopping centres were closed at 7pm.

Mr Haq said the PTI members from Karachi had been staging protest outside the KE office for five days and now the MQM had decided to hold a protest sit-in outside the Parliament House in Islamabad on July 14.

A PTI MNA from Karachi...