Opposition senators protest against ministers’ absence
By Ahmed Hassan
ISLAMABAD, June 8: The opposition in the Senate on Thursday strongly protested against the absence of ministers from the house, pointed out lack of quorum and staged a token walkout to force the government to rush in maximum number of cabinet members to complete the quorum and be part of the second day of the budget debate.
PPP Parliamentarians’ Mian Raza Rabbani and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Kamil Ali Agha had a verbal clash over the absence of ministers.
While Mr Rabbani insisted that there was no dearth of ministers and at least some of them should be present to listen to the debate, Mr Agha said: “The ministers were also supposed to be present in the National Assembly to listen to the opening speech of the leader of the opposition.”
Chairman Mohammedmian Soomro agreed with opposition’s point of view about lack of interest being shown by the ministers in the proceedings and promised to take the message to the right place for rectification.
The opposition lawmakers said the treasury members gave scant attention to completion of quorum, the ministers kept away from the proceedings and no one took notes of the speeches, which was tantamount to ridiculing the sovereignty and sanctity of parliament.
Most of the speakers criticised the increase in defence budget and less allocation for education, health and agriculture.
They said more than 90 per cent of the population could not benefit from the subsidy on pulses.
Treasury lawmakers joined voices with the opposition against inappropriate allocations for education, agriculture and industry sectors and demanded revision of the budget estimates by cutting down the administrative expenses to boost the country’s economy in the real sense.
S.M. Zafar of the Pakistan Muslim League emphasised the need for a grand national reconciliation between the civil and military leadership on the future of democracy.
He termed the 2007 election crucial for the country and stressed the need for giving autonomy to the Election Commission. He advised the chief election commissioner to hold parleys with all political parties to create a consensus code of conduct to make the election free, fair and transparent.
If the Election Commission became as powerful as such institutions were in the democratic countries, there would be no need for an interim government, he said.
Terming the recent presentation of defence budget details in the house standing committee concerned a good beginning, Mr Zafar expressed the hope that the entire defence budget might come for scrutiny to establish the supremacy of parliament next year.
He said the Human Rights Society of Pakistan had received complaints about disappearance of a number of people and their relatives had no knowledge of their whereabouts. These people, he said, had been picked up by security agencies, which was wrong and the practice must end.
The PML leader supported the idea of making the Federal Bureau of Statistics an autonomous body.
He supported the demand of giving provinces more autonomy but asked the opposition parties which were boycotting the parliamentary committee led by Wasim Sajjad to sit together to work out a consensus formula in this regard.
While supporting most of the budgetary estimates, Mr Zafar criticised allocation of less funds for education and demanded doubling of the allocations at least up to Rs50 billion by cutting down administrative expenses.
Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal parliamentary leader Maulana Gul Naseeb termed the budget representative of the worst capitalist system under which the poor got poorer and the rich richer.
He said Islam’s economic system was focussed on balance, for which a stable and disciplined government was a must, which the country lacked.
He said people at large were dissatisfied with the judicial system and they were reverting to punchayat and jirga system.
Ilyas Bilour of the Awami National Party said the government had failed to address the problems of the industries sector with special reference to the special committee report on the matter.
He warned that if the cost of production continued to soar, not only the $18 billion export target would be missed but the industrialists would also shift their business abroad, as a few of them had already done.
He said the foreign exchange reserves had grown as a result of $22 billion remittances after the 9/11 attack, purchase of $8 billion by the State Bank from open market and other resources.
Mr Bilour said if the government remained in power the country would have nothing in its kitty with all the national assets sold and their proceeds spent out.
He warned that if the widening gap between the poor and the rich was not removed the downtrodden masses would snatch their usurped rights.
Responding to a treasury member’s suggestion, he declared that people of the NWFP would not allow the Kalabagh dam to be constructed.
Prof Sajid Mir of the MMA alleged cover up of figures to hide failure of the government’s economic policies.
ISLAMABAD, June 8: The opposition in the Senate on Thursday strongly protested against the absence of ministers from the house, pointed out lack of quorum and staged a token walkout to force the government to rush in maximum number of cabinet members to complete the quorum and be part of the second day of the budget debate.
