Some of the senators contended that China had signed CPEC with Pakistan because of Gwadar but the entire Balochistan province was being overlooked which needs to be addressed. The senators were discussing an admitted adjournment motion by Atique Sheikh of MQM-P for non-profitability of FTAs with China as well as non-utilization of concessions granted by China under the first phase of these agreements in order to promote local industry.
They regretted that it was not the job of federal secretaries to thrash out and sign such agreements as there is a dire need to involve all the stakeholders and take them onboard before finalizing such agreements. The senators from Balochistan including PkMAP's Usman Khan Kakar and Sardar Azam Musakhail and Kulsoom Parveen of PML-N, were particularly upset over the way their province was being overlooked with regards to CPEC and developing Gwadar port.
"In the given scene of FTAs, Pakistan will become a market of capitalist and imperialist forces for dumping their products," cautioned Senator Kakar, adding it will be disastrous for the country and the Parliament must step in to rectify the flaws in these FTAs. He said that labor class of the country must not be punished as there is nothing for the laborers despite billions of rupees projects being undertaken in the country.
Senator Mohsin Leghari pointed out that at present, the total volume of Pakistan-China trade was $12.2 billion: Islamabad's share in it was merely $1.6 billion and the rest belongs to Beijing. "It is a matter of serious concern and under these circumstances, we cannot compete with China when there is such a meager trade margin in our favor," he maintained.
He said it is good that Pakistan-China friendship is so strong and time-tested but it might be noted that despite having signed an FTA, on Pakistan's main export ie cotton-related items, China had imposed 3.7 percent regulatory duty while for ASEAN states, it was just 0.4 percent and 3.5 percent for India's such exports, with which it had no such agreement.
For Pakistan's rice, he said that there was 65 percent duty imposed by China but for ASEAN countries, it was just 33 percent, which he warned, may further increase the trade deficit after inception of the CPEC. He proposed that in $43 billion investment from China, Pakistan should focus on engaging its local industry and laborers, adding there is a need to produce electricity towers and cables to feed local industry instead of relying on import.
Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak of PTI wondered why Pakistan signed 7-8 FTAs and PTAs when it was turning out to be the loser and the other side as winner. "There are a total of 7550 tariff lines of which Pakistan used only 335...is there anything wrong with these agreements or with our exporters and businessmen?" he questioned.
He wondered how the widening trade gap can be bridged if cost of production, particularly of energy, remains high. He also called for keeping the rupee floating against dollar and opposed restricting it to Rs 104-05 against one dollar and wanted it to be jacked up to Rs 120 to boost exports and curtail imports. He also wanted to know that China had been offered tax holiday but locals have been deprived of this.
Senator Mohsin Aziz, who also belongs to PTI, strongly opposed devaluing of rupee and said it would benefit a few, cautioning such a step would be very dangerous for the rest of the people. He said how Pakistan could reverse the trend of its falling exports if it fails to manage trade surplus and bring down cost of production which is very high.
He pointed out that India had given the status of Most Favored Nation to Pakistan yet it had been dominating the bilateral trade and one of the reasons is imposing of non-trade barriers. PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar complained that information on CPEC-related projects is not being shared with the CPEC committee.
He said the committee was to leave for China to seek answer to the questions that were not answered during the committee meetings by the government but the visit was postponed as Senate was to take up the 24th constitutional amendment bill. To this, Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani asked Senate Secretariat to inform him who is denying information to senators.
Senator Babar said they came to know that 91 per cent of the revenue from Gwadar port would go to China and 9 percent to Pakistan and added they were not informed when they had asked about Balochistan's share. He complained going beyond its powers, Nepra had included in electricity bills the cost of CPEC security. "But no one knows how much is the cost and when one looks at the economic side of the Gwadar project, where it costs half a dollar to desalinate 264 gallons of water but the local population of 0.2 million is looking for drinking water," he lamented.
Similarly, the toll tax collection contract would go to FWO on roads, connecting Gwadar but again no one knows how much would be the share of Balochistan, Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as these would pass through these provinces. He called for transparency in security-related matters pertaining to CPEC and safeguarding Pakistan's interests.
PkMAP Senator Azam Musakhail claimed the two chairmen of CPEC-related committees - one of the parliamentary committee and the other of the Senate - favored China. Senator Kulsoom feared the future generations might face consequences of CPEC and insisted on strengthening Pakistan by exploiting this opportunity.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017