ISLAMABAD: While opposition in the lower house staged a walk out on tax amnesty ordinance on Thursday, their counterparts in the upper house of the Parliament walked out in protest against hurriedly presentated money bills and ‘attempts’ to roll back the 18th Constitutional Amendment.
During the session, PPP senator Sassui Palijo sought admissibility of an adjournment motion regarding discussion on a controversial letter of the Cabinet Division regarding rollback of 18th Constitutional Amendment. However, the Senate chairman declined her request. The mover, opposition leader Sherry Rehman and several other PPP senators insisted that it was a matter concerning provinces and they wanted a detailed discussion on it, but the newly elected chairman from Balochistan refused to allow the request. In protest, Rehman announced a walk out. In the meantime, PPP senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar pointed out lack of quorum. However, before the session could be adjourned, treasury members succeeded in convincing the opposition to abandon the walk out.
Later, when Federal Minister Mushahidullah Khan started presenting six money bills, which were to be referred to standing committees concerned, the opposition leader protested, lashing out at the government saying, “there is no precedence for an ordinance to be passed in a money bill. That too, two weeks before the budget.”
She said, “The government has moved ordinances without taking the Parliament into confidence. This is an unconstitutional, ill-advised and shortsighted move. We will not allow the government to make a mockery of the Constitution of Pakistan.”
“The government has some serious questions to answer. Is there really a need for an emergency ordinance? If so, why? We are constantly assured by the government that our economy is doing well. Does this mean that we are heading towards an economic disaster? The timing of this makes absolutely no sense,” the Senate opposition leader said.
“It has been this government’s habit not to take the Parliament into consideration on any major issue be it on economy or foreign policy. It might be too late now, but it would have benefited them if they took some time to understand how a democracy works.”
As a protest she announced walked out. In mean time, PPP Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar again came to the house and pointed out lack of quorum. After counting, the Senate chairman Senate adjourned the session till 1030am on Friday (today).
Earlier, six bills were introduced in the House. These included: ‘The Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (Amendment) Bill, 2018’, ‘The Code of Civil Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2018’, ‘The Specific Relief (Amendment) Bill, 2018’, ‘The Limitation Relating to Civil Revisions Bill, 2018’, ‘The Federal Ombudsman Institutional Reforms (Amendment) Bill, 2018’ and ‘The Federal Judicial Academy (Amendment) Bill, 2018’. The chair referred the bills to the standing committees concerned.
The Senate was informed that financial assistance worth over Rs466 billion had been provided to BISP beneficiaries since 2012. Responding to a question, Minister of State for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal said that 125,714 beneficiaries were found doubtful as a result of scrutiny and, therefore, their payment was blocked. He said that disciplinary action was initiated against BISP officials involved in irregularities.
Replying to another question, Afzal said that the government had prepared a roadmap to pay back $3.3 billion loans due in June this year. He said the entire foreign loan portfolio had been spent on development projects. He said Pakistan’s credibility was very well intact as there was not a single case of default in paying back foreign loans. He assured the House that a proper system would be in place to maintain foreign exchange reserves.
Answering another question, Minister for Science and Technology Rana Tanvir Hussain informed the House that the government has increased research and development budget up to two hundred million rupees in last two years which was point three percent of the GDP.
Published in Daily Times, April 13th 2018.
