ISLAMABAD, June 18: The government on Monday dismissed the opposition’s criticism of the new budget in the National Assembly but said at a turbulent end of the general debate that more than half of 91 recommendations of the Senate were being accommodated.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Pakistan Muslim League (PML) president Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain also used the sixth day of the debate on the national budget for the fiscal year 2007-08 to renew an invitation to opposition parties for dialogue to frame an agreed code of conduct for the next election, but received a cool reception from a major opposition alliance.

Both the prime minister and Minister of State for Finance Omar Ayub Khan, who said 51 of the 90 Senate recommendations were being accommodated in the final budget without specifying any of them, rejected opposition’s objections to increased defence budget and assured the house that all requirements of the armed forces would be met.

The house witnessed some turbulent moments in the second evening sitting of the day due to angry exchanges between the opposition and the government’s ally Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) mainly over the May 12 bloodshed in Karachi and a row over some remarks made by Religious Affairs Minister Mohammad Ejazul Haq about suicide bombings which Speaker Chaudhry Amir Hussain belatedly expunged from the record of the house proceedings, invoking ‘national interest’.

“You may criticise (the government) but never raise a voice against Pakistan,” Mr Aziz said in an apparent reference to opposition’s criticism of the defence budget mainly because of military’s role in the country’s politics.

“For God’s sake, if we can’t ensure Pakistan’s solidarity, honour, existence and defence, then what is the use (of the government),” the prime minister said rhetorically and added: “We will not allow anybody to cast an evil eye (on Pakistan) and anybody doing it will get a mouth-breaking reply.”

He called the budget people-friendly, peasant-friendly and worker-friendly, as he rejected opposition’s criticism of the government economic policies over the past eight years after President Pervez Musharraf seized power in 1999.

He also the government would never compromise or roll back the country’s nuclear programme but would improve on this capability.

Both the prime minister and PML president also took the opposition parties to task for airing their grievances about the government and the coming elections to US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher when their representatives met him in Islamabad last week and the premier said they should rather discuss these issues in parliament.

“I appeal and offer to you to come and talk to us so that we together chalk out a course of action to ensure an election which is transparent and in accordance with the constitution,” Mr Aziz said about the election code.

A similar offer was earlier made by Chaudhry Shujaat, who also voiced his confidence that the PML and its allies would win the next elections and present the budget in 2008 as well.

Mr Omar Ayub, who had presented the budget on June 9, rejected the opposition’s criticism as the manifestation of a desire to take the country back to ‘darkness’ after it was rescued from what he called a ‘merry-go-round’ between the governments of former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.

EJAZ’S ABOUT-FACE: Minister Ejazul Haq created a stir in the house when he made his controversial remarks about the justification of suicide attacks while condemning the British government’s weekend award of knighthood to Salman Rushdie, author of the book “The Satanic Verses”, widely seen in the Islamic world as blasphemous, and called for breaking diplomatic relations with London and a boycott of the British High Commission in Islamabad by parliament members until the award was withdrawn.

Earlier in the day, the house unanimously passed a resolution sponsored by PML and MMA members, protesting against the award, which it said could cause “religious hatred and rift between religious” and asking the British government to withdraw it.The minister made some remarks about suicide attacks, which he later retracted twice in the house after being aired by private television channels and attracting a protest by People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) chief whip Khurshid Ahmed Shah.

Mr Haq said he meant to say that actions like the award of knighthood to Rushdie could be used by suicide bombers as a justification of their acts rather than himself justifying such acts against blasphemy.

The speaker called for an end to the controversy and said even if the minister had made the controversial remarks he would expunge these from the record as it was a matter of ‘national interest’ and asked journalists covering the assembly proceeding not to print those remarks.

MQM parliamentary leader Farooq Sattar and some MMA members exchanged angry remarks and charges about violence in Karachi after Mr Sattar, in a detailed speech in support of the budget, rejected charges of terrorism levelled against his party chief Altaf Hussain by Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf chief Imran Khan in an earlier speech.

In Karachi, the Sindh Assembly on Monday criticised the Britain government for awarding the knighthood title to Salman Rushdie and demanded its withdrawal forthwith.

A resolution in this respect, moved jointly by Sindh Law Minister Iftikhar Chaudhry and Hameedullah and Makhdoom Jameel-uz-Zaman on behalf of the opposition under rule 211 of the Rules of Procedure, was adopted unanimously by the voice vote.

The resolution reads: “This assembly condemns the award of knighthood to Salman Rushdie and calls upon the UK government to withdraw the award forthwith.”