Tarin claims most issues sorted out at NFC meeting

LAHORE: Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin has dispelled impression of any kind of deadlock at the current NFC session, saying that a final decision to this regard will hopefully be made within few weeks. Talking to newsmen at the end of first day of 6th NFC meeting here on Wednesday, he said the 19 year old issue was about to be solved, adding that there was a consensus among all the four provinces on the subject to division of resources on the basis of population and area. He said differences among provinces over distribution of revenue have been ironed out as the federating units have demonstrated conciliation over the issues. He said Punjab and Sindh would hopefully be reaching a consensus till tomorrow after which the question about division of resources would be solved soon. Punjab Finance Minister Tanveer Kaira said not a single right of any province would be usurped. Haji Adil, who was representing NWFP here, said his province was most affected from terrorism, and expressed his gratitude over what he called “Token money”, adding that their point would be taken into consideration in the NFC. Balochistan Finance Minister Asim Kurd, speaking on this occasion, demanded to provide funds on the basis of area of their province. Sources privy to the meeting, however, spoke of a deadlock between Punjab and Sindh. Sources claimed that a flexibility by Punjab would cost the province Rs.50 billion, while Sindh, if retreats from its stance, would have to loose a major share from the divisible pool. Sources said final recommendations were unlikely to be prepared till Thursday, saying that there might be needs for more meetings.