ISLAMABAD: After exhausting their criticism of the Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2021 — generally known as mini-budget — during the two-day debate, the opposition members on Wednesday on the floor of the National Assembly made a formal request to the allies of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) to come out of the ruling coalition as the PTI plans to get the controversial bill passed from the assembly on Thursday.

The appeals to the ruling coalition partners — the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) and the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) — were made by two leaders of PML-N and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Ahsan Iqbal and Syed Khursheed Shah, respectively, during their speeches on the bill.

“There is a solution to save the country from the IMF (International Monetary Fund). The key is with the MQM, the Q-League and the GDA. Leave the government and change the government. We will mutually talk to the IMF,” said Mr Iqbal, after blasting the PTI for imposing Rs350bn taxes through the mini-budget.

“I hope that the MQM, the GDA, the PML-Q and (even) some PTI members will vote (on the bill) according to their conscience,” said the PML-N leader.

Bilawal terms Imran biggest crisis of country

Similarly, PPP’s Khursheed Shah while responding to some MQM members’ criticism on the local government act in Sindh, asked the MQM to come out of the government and stand up for the rights of the people. “If you will remain part of every government, then how can you fight for the rights of the people,” Mr Shah said, while taunting the MQM for being a part of all previous governments.

“If you will not raise voice for the people only for the sake of staying in the government and few ministries, then tomorrow the people will count you with the PTI and then you will face the same music and lose whatever the number of seats they have now,” he said. Mr Shah’s remarks came after the speech of MQM MNA Salahuddin in which he first castigated the PTI government for not consulting his party on the mini-budget and then lashed out at the PPP-led Sindh government over the issue of the recently-introduced controversial LG law in the province.

Taking part in the debate on Tuesday, the MQM members had asked the government to reconsider the decision to impose taxes on food and daily use items.

Sources told Dawn that Prime Minister Imran Khan had convened a meeting of the parliamentary group of the PTI and allies at the Parliament House at 2pm on Thursday (today), two hours before commencement of the assembly session, indicating that the government was planning to put the money bill for a vote on Thursday.

The approval of the finance supplementary bill seeking to amend certain laws related to taxes and duties and the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2021 is necessary to ensure that Pakistan’s sixth review of the $6 billion Extended Fund Facility gets cleared by the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) executive board to take a decision on the disbursement of about $1bn tranche.

Earlier taking part in the debate, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari decla­red Imran Khan as the “biggest crisis of the century” for the country. He said the country had not seen a negative growth even after the two wars and separation of East Pakistan.

“This government obeys the directives and orders of the IMF. The government and its allies will not be able to face the public. The people of Pakistan will treat you in such a manner that you will not be able to forget,” he said.

He particularly took the government to task for imposing tax on contraceptives.

He said the government’s legislation would make the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) a slave to the IMF and this would be the greatest attack on Pakistan’s economic sovereignty which would also impact the national security. He said the government had increased the tenure of the SBP governor from three years to five years with a salary of Rs10.5 million.

“This is part of an international conspiracy that will impact CPEC, our foreign policy and our relations with our neighbours. This will create problems for our nuclear programme. This legislation says that there will be only one defence account and that too in the same SBP which will be overseen by international financial institutions. We are exposing our nuclear programme to the world,” he added.

PML-N’s parliamentary leader Khwaja Asif alleged that the members of the assembly were receiving “telephone calls” asking them to vote for the mini-budget. He suggested that the word “state” should be removed from the central bank’s name as it had become a branch of the IMF.

Responding to the opposition members’ speeches, Minister for Energy Hammad Azhar as usual blamed the past rulers’ corruption for the present state of economy. He said Pakistan’s economy grew by 4pc last year, while by end of the current fiscal year, it would exceed 5pc mark. Similarly, he said, the revenue collection would also exceed the Rs6 trillion mark.

Chief of his own faction of the Balochistan National Party (BNP-M) Akhar Mengal mostly highlighted the plight of the people of Balochistan. He said that resources of Balochistan should be utilised for the welfare of its people on priority.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2022