ISLAMABAD: The ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) revealed in the Senate Wednesday that as many as 2,500 bureaucrats, including four federal secretaries, are dual-nationality holders.
Taking part in the ongoing budget debate, PMLN Senator Afnan Ullah Khan explained he had moved a bill in the House seeking bar on civil servants’ dual nationality that was unanimously passed by the Senate committee, but it has not come to the House for consideration yet.
He emphasized that how could a person be loyal with two countries simultaneously and linked the issue with the recent damage caused to Iran by the agents of some other country, saying that there were also many Zionist agents in Pakistan. Senator Afnan warned that a heavy price would have to be paid if they were not apprehended on time.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) legislator Quratul-Ain Marri, while criticising the budget, also contended that the government had repeatedly proved that it was not in need of allies. She regretted that discussions with them yielded no tangible result and urged the government to have introspection and understand that if it wants to work with the allies, then it should with honesty and whole-heartedness instead of just paying lip service.
Senator Marri expressed concern over the state of agriculture sector and remarked, “We have been listening since childhood that ours is an agro-based economy and agriculture is backbone of the economy but in this budget, this backbone has been broken. There are neither incentives for the farmers nor a long-term plan to increase yield of crops, which is declining constantly.”
She criticised imposition of taxes on sectors affecting the low-income class like solar panels and electric cars, etc. She called for prioritising climate change and criticised lack of proper planning and budget to tackle climate change challenges.
PMLN Senator Pervaiz Rashid defended the budget and said that in the past before the budget an environment was made, as if a tsunami was coming and people would whisper about the possibilities of increase in prices and that commodities would disappear from the market. He claimed that this time no such thing happened, prices remained stable after the presentation of the budget and goods were also available in adequate quantity. He continued that the financial market had also appreciated the budget and the stock market reflected in terms of value-addition. He pointed out that it should be kept in mind that the budget was made in the midst of threats and ultimately Pakistan emerged successful.
Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) parliamentary leader Manzoor Ahmad Kakar lamented the fact that no long-term policy had been formulated to pull Pakistan out of the economic quagmire, get rid of the debt trap and how to deal with the challenge of poverty.
However, he appreciated the budgetary measures for the construction sector, saying it would give a boost to this sector. He advocated for maximum relief to the poor.
PPP’s Palwasha Khan opposed manifold increase in direct, indirect taxes and sales taxes with a little increase in salaries, warning that it would only put more burden on the salaried class. She criticised tax on income from e-commerce and believed that it will adversely affect small scale businesses and home-based entrepreneurs.
BAP’s Senator Danesh Kumar urged for increasing budgetary allocation for monitories while thanking the provincial governments of Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh for allocating special funds for minorities and promotion of their religious sites.
PMLN’s Kamil Ali Agha criticised the powers given to the Federal Board of Revenue, saying dignity and honour of taxpayers should be ensured. He also called for increase in salaries of the government employees by up to 25 percent.
Senator Fawzia Arshad urged for provision of maximum relief to the common man, already under immense financial burden. She also called for harvesting of rainwater in the federal capital. The House will resume now on Thursday morning (today).