Fazl for responsible response to India

ISLAMABAD: The chief of JUI-F and Chairman Kashmir Committee, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, on Friday deplored India’s malicious designs to hamper Pakistan’s efforts for peace and prosperity in the region.
“India is opposing the $46 billion China’s investment in Pakistan in the shape of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and wants to take Pakistan towards war. In these circumstances, Pakistan should play the role of a responsible country,” the JUI-F top leader said while taking part in the budget debate in the National Assembly (NA) on Friday.
The budget debate entered into final stages and some voices for bringing the black money back to the country were also heard.He said Pakistan should have taken India’s recent threatening posture seriously following admission of the Indian prime minister with regard to India’s role in breaking up Pakistan. He said with the statement of Indian prime minister, it has now become ample clear that India has been involved in terrorism in Pakistan as well as in Kashmir by violating the UN Resolution to give the right to self-determination to the Kashmiri people.
He advised the Pakistan government to opt for a cautious response to aggressive Indian attitude because Pakistan has always advocated peace in the region.He demanded that the Kashmir issue should be resolved according to the UN resolutions and aspirations of the Kashmiri people.
He drew the attention of the government to the plight of the Kashmiri refugees and demanded that their living allowance should be enhanced by two hundred percent and a housing scheme should be launched to provide shelter to them. He said IDPs should be sent back to their homes. He said Pakistan should highlight the issue of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar at diplomatic level. He said Pakistan should play its role for peace in the region.
He urged parliament to make legislation in the light of recommendations by the Islamic Ideology Council for Islamic system in the country. He said terrorists should be treated as terrorists whoever was involved in such kind of activities.
He said peace is imperative for development while the country is facing numerous internal and external challenges. He said there is a need to get rid of foreign debts and exploit our own resources for self-sufficiency. He pleaded for an interest-free economy and the Islamic banking system.
He appreciated the government for creating a consensus on CPEC and lauded China’s role for economic cooperation with Pakistan.PML-N legislator Rana Muhammad Hayat pleaded vocally for incentives for the agriculture sector.
Chief of Qaumi Watan Party Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said the present NFC Award is going to end on 30th of this month but there is no progress for a new NFC Award.He said according to law new NFC award is must after every five years so that provinces get their shares of resources for the development.
He stressed the need for a trust building between the federation and the federating units. He said some provinces feel sense of deprivation which should be addressed. He said China-Pakistan Economic Corridor is a good project for the development of the country.
However, he said reservations of the provinces in this regard should be removed. He said India has no right to oppose the project.He said if India creates any problem in the way of this project, we will fight for the project.
Sherpao said Temporary Displaced Persons are not the issue only for the federal government but it is the issue of the whole nation which should be addressed on priority basis.He pointed out that 21 billion rupees allocation for Fata is insufficient. He said Fata should be made part of NFC Award. He said the post of assistant in government departments should be upgraded from scale-14 to scale 16.
Minister for States and Frontier Regions Abdul Qadir Baloch in a clarification said in addition to 21 billion rupees allocation for Fata, a special allocation of one hundred billion rupees has also been made for IDPs and Fata development.
Asghar Ali Shah lauded the government for continuation of Benazir Income Support Programme and enhancing its allocations Rs 102 Billion.He said procedure to get loan under Prime Minister’s Loan Scheme for youth should made easy so that deserving people can take benefit.
He said industries should be promoted to generate employment in the country. Chaudhry Hamid paid tributes to the vision of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and hard work of his economic team to improve the economy.
He said the government is far ahead at this time on the path of progress and prosperity. He said the government has adopted the policy of merit and transparency in all departments including recruitment.
Amjad Ali Khan said the government has missed different targets of the economy including growth rate and imposed indirect taxes burdening the common man.He pointed out that two billion rupees Ramazan Package announced by the government is insufficient. He said four percent to GDP allocation should be made for education.He said government employees should be given pay raise of at least twenty percent.
Chaudhary Jaffar Iqbal said the government has always taken all the political parties into confidence on important national issues which resulted in political stability in the country.He said no corruption scandal of the government has surfaced. He said Metro Bus Project has been completed in minimum possible period in a transparent manner.
Abdul Wasim demanded that local government elections should be conducted to resolve the problems of the people at their door-steps.He said there is a need to address the issues of water shortage and improvement of health and education system.
He pointed out that the government has announced to conduct population census in March next year but no allocation has been made for this purpose in the budget.Rana Muhammad Hayat Khan of PML-N appreciated Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar and his team for working hard to strengthen country’s economy, saying the same was acknowledged by international institutions including Moody’s and IMF.
He said that GDP growth rate had stopped at 4.2% and revenue target at Rs2600 billion adding now all the targets could be achieved by paying attention on the agriculture sector.The PML-N parliamentarian demanded of his government to announce relief for the agriculture sector. In this regard, he proposed the price of Urea fertilizer which in last tenure was Rs500 per bag and now had reached Rs2000 should be reduced by Rs1000.
He also demanded exemption of taxes on pesticides. “The government should defer the motorway project to next year and divert Rs200 billion to subsidise the agriculture sector,” he said.
Rana Hayat asked the government that in light of the Supreme Court decision, it should move for an amendment in the Constitution and recover Rs300 billion from elites who got waiver of loans from banks, adding Pakistan’s 200 billion dollars be brought back to the country from Swiss banks.
He observed due to efforts of the prime minister and chief of the army staff, the situation of law and order would improve in the country and ultimately the mega projects like Gwadar Port would also be completed on time.