Govt, opposition trade barbs over budget in NA

ISLAMABAD: The opposition members in the National Assembly during debate on the federal budget, asked the PTI government to stop befooling the masses and calling them 'illiterate' and provide relief to them.

As the government also came under criticism for increasing tariffs of electricity, not increasing salaries and pensions of employees and shooting up inflation rate, the Parliamentary Secretary on Finance Zain Qureshi said they have no magic wand to resolve all problems at once.

“You yourselves spread ignorance and illiteracy and call people as illiterate and ignorant,” the PPP parliamentarian Hina Rabbani Khar soon after taking the floor while referring to government’s approach to control Covid-19 said.

Hina Rabbani Khar also said that the PTI leaders also tried to befool the masses while calling the prime minister as handsome. She observed that the government could not meet its target for the fiscal year 2019-2020 but was shifting all the blame on to the Covid-19.

The PPP parliamentarian pointed out it was the PTI leadership which used to call provision of development funds to parliamentarians as corruption but the budget documents revealed tha Rs24 billion have been given to the PTI members in this particular head. Hina Khar said she made it to the National Assembly for the third time but was never such disappointed and never witnessed such divide in the House.

Senior politician Abdul Qadar Patel of PPP and PTI member Attaullah Khan advocate were involved in passing indecent and vulgar remarks which were also not expunged by the chair. Abdul Qadar Patel referred to speech of the federal minister Murad Saeed in which he talked about JIT report of Uzair Baloch. “I cannot tell the House of what is mentioned in medical report of Murad Saeed,” he said. In response, Attaullah Khan of PTI said he would not talk about relations of Bilawal with David. “What will happen if David also takes the field as did Cynthia Ritchie,” he said adding it was just a trailer.

However, Malik Ghulam Raza Rabbani Khar of PPP who is youngest member of the sitting assembly regretted use of derogatory remarks. “As a young parliamentarian, I want to learn but what I have been seeing is regrettable,” he said.

Meanwhile, the PTI parliamentarian from Faisalabad, Raja Riaz staged walk out from the House after he was not allowed to speak on a point of order. Without given the mike, Raja Riaz criticised the government for shortage of petrol saying that not even a single petrol pump was there while travelling from Faisalabad to Multan. The PTI member left the assembly hall when deputy speaker Qasim Suri asked him to keep silence and wait for his turn. Chaudhry Birjees Tahir of PML-N called the budget documents as nothing but gimmickry of words, which gave no relief to the masses saying the government also failed to meet the budget targets. “It was PTI top leader who used to say that people do not pay tax when rulers are corrupt,” he said. He also alleged it was also failure of Pakistan’s foreign policy that India became non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. “Now the Kashmiris are mourning over your Kashmir policy,” he said.

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan said the government was following Kashmir policy of the past regimes. “No one can dare change Kashmir policy,” he said. He said Indian Prime Minister Modi was a usurper and his policies had put the regional peace at stake.

Parliamentary Leader on Finance Zain Qureshi said the government presented the best possible budget at a time when the IMF also reported that the Covid-19 badly damaged the world economy. He said for the first time in country’s history no new tax was proposed in the budget while current account deficit was also reduced by 73 percent. He said the PTI government started its journey from where the economy was left by the PML-N government saying they have got no magic wand.

Ali Nawaz Awan of PTI while asking the opposition members to come up with some positive suggestions, asked them to refrain from just point scoring. He said it were the past governments, which played havoc with organisations like PIA and Steel Mills. “As to why the opposition leadership offers to sell Surrey Palace and Evenfield flats and contribute the generated amount to national exchequer,” he said. He pointed out that the country could not afford complete lockdown as the national economy was facing many challenges.

Abdul Qadar Patel of PPP said it were Ziaul Haq martial law, death penalty to ZA Bhutto and 1992 cricket world cup, which brought disasters to the country. Without naming Minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gull, he said now 19 types of Covid-19 have been discovered. Claiming that the PPP government in Sindh has been providing unprecedented health facilities in the province, he said a joker like Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Dr Shahbaz Gill landed in Sukkur but could not see a single hospital there. “Stop him coming again otherwise he may be lost somewhere,” he said.

Aslam Bhootani said the government has presented a better budget in the current circumstances. He said implementation on the development schemes for Balochistan including Gwadar must be ensured. He said online classes should also be started for the students of Balochistan to save their academic year. Sajid Mehdi of PML-N said the agriculture sector has been ignored in the budget. He said the country cannot be taken forward without supporting the agriculture sector. Saleh Muhammad of PTI was appreciative of the steps taken by the government to provide cash assistance of Rs12,000 each to the deserving families. He said the salaries of employees should be enhanced by ten percent.

Aliya Kamran of JUI-F voiced concerns over the rising cases of coronavirus in the country. She said the budget envisages no measures to save the country from the impacts of the pandemic. Raja Khurram Nawaz said the PTI government has presented the budget keeping in view the problems of the poor people. He said the nation stands by Prime Minister Imran Khan to rid the country of coronavirus. Khursheed Ahmad Junejo said the testing capacity for coronavirus should be enhanced to determine the exact number of corona patients in the country. Sheikh Rashid Shafique of PTI said relaxation in lockdown was imperative to protect the livelihoods of poor segments of the society.

Maulana Jamaluddin of JUI-F said that Fata was merged with KP province in darkness but the promise of keeping Rs110 billion every year for development of ex-Fata was not fulfilled.

Meanwhile, the National Assembly passed unanimous resolution to write Khatam-an-Nabiyeen (SAW) with holy name of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) in all the text books of syllabi of educational institutions of the country. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan moved the resolution which was unanimously adopted by the House. The House through the resolution demanded of the government to direct writing the Last Prophet (SAW) before name of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him). The PTI member Muhammad Amjad Khan who was presiding over the proceedings pointed out that the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) in his last sermon had also maintained that no Prophet would come after him (SAW).

The PPP parliamentarian Abdul Qadar said that Qadianis were declared non-Muslims by then prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. “Bhutto said he is sinful person but Almighty Allah will pardon him because of this act,” he said. The resolution bears signatures of members from all the parties represented in the House.