A view of the National Assembly. — Photo by APP

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday addressed the parliament's joint session, DawnNews reported.

During the address, President Zardari congratulated the parliament on the passage of the 18th and 19th amendments.

He also congratulated the parliament on the reduction of the size of the federal cabinet and the expansion of the tax net.

President Asif Zardari said that during the last three years the government had brought the economy back on track; in villages, cities, provinces, in FATA, in Azad Kashmir and in Gilgit-Baltistan.

“We must create opportunities for our youth and give hope to the people,” he said.

He recalled the food deficit when the present government took charge. Rising inflation, power shortages, worldwide recession and falling remittances compounded the situation. The fight against militancy and the unprecedented floods last year, further worsened it.

The President said that according to the Damage and Needs Assessment, the overall damage to the national economy, was of nearly 10 billion dollars.

He said that the government had embarked upon a comprehensive plan, to address the economic challenges, which included reduction in non-development expenditure to cut expenses, reforms in power sector, restructuring of public sector enterprises, incentivizing remittances and special programmes for poverty alleviation.

He said it was the responsibility of leadership to make tough decisions.

“We are not afraid to lead; and we know the way,” he said and pointed out that the government reduced the cabinet size, rationalized the subsidy regime and introduced tax reforms to mobilize resources.

He said that the tax net was being expanded, through introduction of the Reformed General Sales Tax and for the first time a social safety net had been created through the Benazir Income Support Programme.

The President described the 7th NFC Award after a gap of 19 years as a major achievement that led to transfer of over 300 billion rupees of additional revenues to the provinces.

He said the provinces had been given the right to collect GST on services; collection of direct and indirect taxes had increased by eight per cent and 12.5 per cent, respectively.

He pointed out that in 2007 foreign remittances were 6.4 billion dollars and were set to cross the 11 billion dollar mark this year - a record for now. Similarly, he said, the foreign exchange reserves had reached 17.5 billion dollars and an allowance equal to 50 per cent of basic pay had been given to every federal government employee.

President Zardari said medical allowance for employees and pensioners had been increased from 15 to 25 per cent. The Pay and Judicial allowance of the superior Judiciary had also been considerably enhanced, to attract new talent.

He said over Rs 74 billion had been disbursed to the poor beneficiaries through the Benazir Income Support Programme in the memory of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto.

He said that Mobile Phone Banking and a scheme of soft loans of up to 300,000 rupees for setting up of small businesses, had been launched.

The President said the BISP had provided relief to over 4 million poor families, including IDPs (internally displaced persons), flood victims and the victims of bomb blasts and over 90 per cent of adult population, had been issued identity cards.

Moreover, he condemned the assassinations of Salman Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti and said “we will avenge the martyrs by defeating the mindset” behind these actions.

During the session, President Zardari said "we believe all state institutions should operate within the parameters defined by the constitution".

The Pakistan Muslim League – Quaid (PML-Q) did not attending Tuesday's session.

Furthermore, before the address began, the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) issued a so-called fact-sheet criticising President Zardari and the Pakistan People’s Party-led coalition government.

The 'fact-sheet' stated that President Zardari had failed to deliver on the pledges that he had made in his previous addresses to the nation.

The government is more focused on defending the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) as well as its hold on power, the fact-sheet alleged.

The PML-N also stated that the parliament had "only nominal freedom" and that the government was not implementing the judiciary's rulings.

The face-sheet also stated that despite the parliament's decision to do away with the FCR in Fata, the decision was not implemented.

Moreover, opposition parties in a meeting earlier on Tuesday decided they would protest President Zardari's address.

The parties had decided to stage a walk out after registering their protest.