MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Legislative Assembly will meet on Monday on the requisition of the 19-member opposition to debate on half a dozen resolutions on the situation in India-occupied Kashmir, including the recent conviction on fake grounds of the incarcerated JKLF chairman Yasin Malik by an Indian court.

However, the main item of the day is a private member’s bill, seeking 200 to 300pc increase in salary and certain allowances of the Legislative Assembly members (MLAs) as well as some additional privileges includingprovision of a furnished office and four-member staff to each of them.

According to PML-N lawmaker Waqar Ahmed Noor, who has tabled the bill “on behalf of the entire opposition”, the “skyrocketing dearness and devaluation of rupee had made it difficult for assembly membersto make both ends meet”.

In an apparently invisible divide within the PML-N parliamentary party in AJK, Mr Noor stands by the former premier Raja Farooq Haider as against chief organiser Shah Ghulam Qadir.

His bill, namely AJK Assembly (Salaries, Allowance, Privileges and Pension of the Members) Act, 2022, has proposed enhancement of the monthly salary of an MLA from Rs45,000 to Rs150,000 and the travelling and daily allowances from Rs3,000 and Rs1,000 to Rs5,000 and Rs2,000 per day, respectively.

Similarly, the bill has proposed that the per kilometre allowance (mileage) be raised to Rs50 from the existing Rs15 and the yearly additional travelling allowance to Rs360,000 from Rs130,000.

It has also proposed additions of two new sections 6-A and 6-B to entitle each MLA to a furnished office by the government in Muzaffarabad along with officially provided four member staff - a personal assistant (PA), driver, peon and police guard.

The house rent of an MLA has been proposed at Rs60,000 per month from Rs29,000, the sumptuary allowance to Rs30,000 from Rs10,000 and utility allowance from Rs6,000 to Rs3,000 per month.

According to a new section 10-E, each MLA shall be entitled to display on his vehicle “for distinctive appellation” an official plate issued by the assembly secretariat along with a jacket (leather cover).

The private bill has also proposed an increase in pension contribution by each MLA from Rs5,000 to Rs10,000 per month and subsequently the increase in monthly pension from Rs50,000 to Rs100,000.

It may be recalled that the AJK Assembly is the only legislature in the country where lawmakers become eligible for lifelong pension after serving just one term.

Immediately, it was not clear whether the ruling party would support the bill or not, but social media had been abuzz with speculations that the government wanted to appease the opposition to seek some favours from it in return at an appropriate time.

This correspondent made several attempts to reach minister for finance Abdul Majid Khan and prime minister’s spokesperson Dr Irfan Ashraf, but the calls went unattended.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2022