PRIME Minister Imran Khan has consistently demonstrated that he has the will and determination to go deep into various crises that his government faced at the hands of different mafias and bring to book all those responsible for inflicting losses on national kitty.
Friday’s decision to seek resignation from Special Assistant on Petroleum Nadeem Babar and suspension of Federal Petroleum Secretary are in line with his policy of ensuring transparency in investigation of different scams and bringing all facts before the people of Pakistan.
There is absolutely no doubt that the country suffered losses worth billions of rupees due to wrong or delayed policy measures, lack of proper vigilance, connivance with vested interests and corruption in the oil sector.
Probes so far held in last year’s shortage of oil in the country have already highlighted these issues and these would form the basis for a forensic audit by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) during the next 90 days.
The Prime Minister took the decision about resignation of his Special Assistant and suspension of the Petroleum Secretary on the recommendations of a Ministerial Committee and according to Federal Minister Asad Umar on completion of the FIA’s forensic investigations criminal proceedings would be initiated against those responsible for the shortage and put them behind bars.
Investigations would be meaningless without inclusion of OGRA and oil marketing companies within the scope of FIA’s probe and that is why the FIA has also been mandated to look into their role.
It would also be investigated as to how different public sector officers facilitated creation of fuel shortage and whether the stock was available in the country or not.
It was also highlighted in the initial report of FIA that one ship was given berth at the port with delays so that the prices of POL products could escalate for domestic consumers.
This shows how cartels and mafias are operating and causing harm to the consumers as well as the government.
A number of irregularities and malpractices have been pinpointed by reports on petroleum, sugar and wheat crises but the process of collection of solid evidence to initiate criminal proceedings is taking too much time and as a result people continue to suffer at the hands of manipulators.
The government has enormous resources at its disposal and, therefore, formalities should be completed on a priority basis and action taken against the culprits besides reforming the system for the future.
