Parliament must probe how other state organs impose taxes: Bilawal

KARACHI: Pakistan People's Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has called for doing parliamentary activism in the country to strengthen Parliament in accordance with the Constitution so that the elected representatives of people are be in the best position to take key decisions of the State.

The PPP chairman stated this on Saturday while speaking at the Meet-the-Press Programme of Karachi Press Club. He said the National Assembly alone had the prerogative to impose a new tax as in no circumstances it would let any other branch of the State exercise this power. He said the National Assembly should launch a probe to know as to how the power of elected representatives of the people to impose a new tax was taken away from them and was exercised by another organ of the State. He said how could Parliament allow that.

It was the first visit of the PPP chairman of Press Club after becoming the leader of the People's Party though in his childhood days he had accompanied his mother Benazir Bhutto during her visits of the club in the 1990s. Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Sindh Information Advisor Barrister Murtaza Wahab, Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani accompanied the PPP chairman during his visit to the Karachi Press Club.

He said the concept of freedom of speech guaranteed by the Constitution is being eroded as a manifestation of democracy under threat in the country. He said the PPP remains fully committed to the cause of the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press in the country and it fully shares the valid concerns of the journalistic fraternity. Bilawal said the parliament and other democratic fora would be used to ensure the freedom of speech and the freedom of media in the country. He said a legislation could also be passed by the Sindh Assembly to safeguard the employment of the journalists.

Bilawal reiterated his resolve to preserve the 18th Constitutional Amendment by whatever means including using the parliamentary forum, filing review petition in the Supreme Court to get orders against the amendment reversed, going to the masses, or even doing a long march across the country. Bilawal said he is ready to visit every part of the country to let the people know about the importance and the benefits of the 18th Amendment contained for them. He said the 18th Amendment guarantees the provision of best of educational and health facilities for the masses. He castigated the court's decision of snatching the public sector hospitals in Karachi from the Sindh government to hand over them back to the centre in negation of the 18th Amendment. The PPP Chairman said the Sindh government had massively spent its resources to convert the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) and Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) into state-of-the-art health institutions but despite this heavy investment, the two were snatched from the province against the spirit of the 18th Amendment. The Chairman said the PPP government in Sindh enjoyed complete confidence and mandate of the masses and it in no way would render people homeless in Karachi while carrying out the anti-encroachment drive in pursuance of the court decisions.

He said rendering people homeless as part of the anti-encroachment is an utterly unpopular decision for a democratically elected government like that of Sindh. He said the courts while issuing such orders to the government should also give them due opportunity and ample time for alternative arrangements for the livelihood and shelter of people as part of the anti-encroachment drive.

Advising the prime minister in having confidence in the Parliament, he said once the prime minister started decision-making through the parliament considering it the rightful and supreme constitutional and democratic forum in the country it would ease out his (PM’s) own work and he would be in the best position to ensure maximum delivery to the masses. He said the executive branch of the state would also be maximally strengthened and would reclaim its lost authority after the supremacy of the parliament. The PPP Chairman said the present government should not shy away from the debate in the National Assembly on the newly unveiled mini-budget of the federal government. He said the newly announced mini-budget contained no relief for the poor people, labourers, and farmers in the country as it contained incentives only for the rich people and businessmen including those well-connected to the present government set-up and the ruling political party.

Bilawal said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had come to power to fulfill the promises it had made with masses before the general elections including provision of 10 million jobs and five million houses but instead the present government had rendered people jobless and shelterless.