ISLAMABAD: The government on Wednesday prevailed in the meeting of Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) Board of Directors (BoD) and managed to get resignation of gas facility’s Managing Director Arif Hameed. Arif Hameed, while sensing the mood of the government and the major shift in many private members in favour of the authorities, tabled his resignation when the meeting started, a top official who attended the meeting told The News. The resignation will, he said, now pave the way for inking the tripartite agreement between Pakistan State Oil, Sui Southern and Sui Northern which is very imperative for making LNG deal with Qatargas Company. Pakistan has already given the undertaking to Qatrgas that the government will resolve by September 30 the issues pertaining to tripartite agreement, sustainable payment mechanism on behalf of power sector with guarantee from the Finance Ministry, opening of back-to-back stand by letter of credit (SBLC), and dredging of water channel at Port Qasim. The government wanted to get the tripartite agreement between PSO, Sui Southern and Sui Northern signed, but the indecision of Hameed to ink the agreement as per the wishes of the top officials of the ministry had led to his earlier exist. However, Arif Hameed refused to step down, saying that his ouster was illegal and moved the Lahore High Court and got a stay order on the decision of the chief executive of Pakistan. The LHC was to hear the case on September 17 (today), but the government managed to get the resignation from Hameed. The BoD meeting, however, appointed SNGPL Chief Financial Officer Uzma Adil Khan as acting managing director with immediate effect. Arif Hameed reportedly said he could not bear the pressure being put on him and that is why he decided to quit. Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, in an interview, said the government did not pressurize the former MD as it does not believe in such tactics. He said the former MD was creating problems and he resigned on his own. The minister said if the former MD had been right, he should have stood ground instead of resigning.
