Members from both the treasury and opposition benches demanded an increase in the budget allocations for the health and education sectors, as the National Assembly held its second day of debate on the federal budget for the Fiscal Year 2008-09 on Sunday. They said that subsidies on oil and electricity should continue to control price hike.

The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) came under fire from its own members and its coalition partners for the proposed increase in the number of Supreme Court (SC) judges, its government’s inability to act against President Pervez Musharraf and to reinstate the sacked judges.

Unconstitutional: Justice (r) Fakhurun Nisa Khokhar of the PPP opposed the proposed increase in the number of SC judges through the finance bill, terming it illegal and unconstitutional. She said the strength of high courts should be increased in view of the number of pending cases. “India is a much larger country than Pakistan, but there are still 17 judges in their Supreme Court,” she argued.

She expressed regret that the sacked SC judges had not yet received their salaries despite her personal request to the prime minister in this regard. However, Law Minister Farooq H Naik said that all the sacked judges had been issued cheques without discrimination. Surprising the House with his comments, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi said his party would soon introduce a resolution to impeach Musharraf, but did not give any timeframe. He said he admired PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and chairwoman Benazir Bhutto for their struggle for democracy. PML-Quaid leader Sardar Talib Nakai slammed the budget, saying it had nothing for the poor in it. “This is a dull, dry and lifeless budget,” he said.

He said that the government had not only ignored the vital sector of agriculture in the budget, but had also added more burden on poorer farmers by withdrawing subsidy on oil and electricity. He said the government had increased the general sales tax (GST) from 15 to 16 percent, and that it would further affect the already distressed working class. PPP member Makhdoom Shahbuddin, who is a former state minister for finance, called the budget ‘balanced’ in the present circumstances.

He said the rescheduling of debts by Paris Club and aid grants following the 9/11 attacks during the term of the previous government had amounted to $60 billion, but added that the amount was not utilised properly. He called for a probe by the auditor general of Pakistan into the issue. He said that besides freezing the defence budget, the government had decreased the non-development budget and increased the development budget.

PPP members from Sindh praised the government’s decision to abandon the Kalabagh Dam project, while PML-N and some PPP members from Punjab opined that the issue be discussed at the highest forum. Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) members also gave their proposals on the budget and criticised the power crisis in the country.

Tags: ali bhutto, budget, budget allocations, coalition partners, dis, education sectors, finance, fir, fiscal year, hanif, Health, high courts, ins, khokhar, law minister, opposition benches, pakistan muslim league, pakistan muslim league nawaz, personal request, pose, president pervez musharraf, subsidies, ubs, vital sector

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