ISLAMABAD -
Arif Alvi says Mujahid Ali’s demand personal view and nothing to do with PTI
Ijaz, Hiraj confront Nisar over his allegations against ISI
Dar to windup debate on finance bill today
A lawmaker of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) triggered a new controversy in the Lower House of parliament on Thursday by demanding an “honourable release” for Mumtaz Qadri, the assassin of former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer evoking a fiery response from the PPP with its legislator, Nafeesa Shah denouncing it.
However, senior PTI leader Dr Arif Alvi intervened and distanced his party from the irresponsible statement made by one of the members of his party, Mujahid Ali, saying that it was Ali’s personal view and had nothing to do with the party.
Moreover, eyebrows were raised within the PML-N as two treasury members, Ijazul Haq and Raza Hayat Hiraj, confronted the allegations made the other day by none other than the interior minister, Nisar Ali Khan, against the top intelligence agency of the country, the ISI, for its involvement in the Quetta blast.
Both lawmakers said accusing agencies was not right as it was "our army" and not that of India or any other state.
The lawmakers from both sides of the political divide expressed their views on the finance bill 2013-14 as Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar is likely to make his winding-up speech on the budget today (Friday), which would be followed by voting for the passage of the bill.
With a strong muscle, the PML-N and its allied parties are likely to get the finance bill passed in the next week.
Taking part in the budget discussions, PTI President Javed Hashmi said the finance bill offered nothing to the poor of the country while the government through the budget had given a clear message that feudals were free to go scot-free while the poor would have to bear the expenditures of the government.
He said it was very unfortunate that the government had virtually turned the direction of the taxes from the rich to the poor.
"No taxes are being levied on sugar mills, textile mill owners and feudals. The government has once again opted to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), hence, picking up the begging bowl which it claims to have broken a decade ago," Hashmi said.
He demanded Islamabad make separate provinces to properly manage the affairs of the metropolitan with two million population as the Capital Development Authority (CDA) alone could not manage such a large city.
He urged the government to resolve the issues of the people as it was the best time for the PML-N to deliver, saying that the PTI would stand by it in all efforts that were taken to provide relief to the poor.
Hashmi lamented the law and order in the country, saying if all the parties came on the one page, “nobody will dare conduct drone strike inside our country”.
Syed Saqlain Bukhari said the victory in general elections was a test for the PML-N, adding that all efforts would be made to come up to the expectations of the masses. He said the previous government had failed to provide any relief to the people as none of the programmes launched in the last five years could produce the desired results.
Dr Mehrren Razaq Bhutto said the government had announced paying the circular debt (CD) within two months, but had not said how it would pay such a large amount in such a short period of time.
Tehmina Daultana said the PML-N had shown a big heart and let the Baloch Nationalist Party (NP) form government in Balochistan and let the PTI form government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Mehmood Bashir Virk of the PML-N said the government employees’ salaries should be increased.
Tahira Aurangzeb of the PML-N said it was a record that after coming into power, the PML-N government had presented its first budget in just five days.
Sheharyar Afridi said Pakistan's integrity “is at stake due to our fight against each other”. He said an increase of 1 percent in the general sales tax (GST) will have a great impact on the people.
Jamshed Dasti stressed for forging unity, saying, “We have achieved independence after giving great sacrifices, so nobody should talk against the country.” He said the situation in Karachi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan was a real challenge for the current government.
He urged the government to check smuggling to enhance its revenue collections and also demanded fixing quota of three seats for labourers and one seat for eunuchs in the National Assembly.
Ali Hassan Gilani said it was time that all stakeholders sat together to help overcome the challenges the country was facing and lead the country towards development and prosperity.
Rana Mohammad Hayat Khan said elimination of terrorism was one of the priorities of the government. He said the government should remove all the employees recruited by the PPP government without following any merit.
Beelum Husnain said instead of imposing new taxes, the government should have introduced reforms to make it more reliable.
Rai Hassan Nawaz Khan said the PTI would always support the initiatives to be taken for the betterment of the country as well as the nation. He said the party demanded tough measures against corruption, causing losses to the national exchequer.
Sajid Ahmed criticising the budgetary documents also highlighted deteriorating law and order in Karachi and asked the government to take concrete measures.
Raza Hayat Hiraj said policies should be devised to end unemployment and create employment opportunities in the country. He said poverty could not be eliminated by merely giving Rs 1,200 per month to the poor. “This programme will only produce beggars,” he added.
Rehan Hashmi said the government should focus on the already-started projects instead allocating money for new projects. He said WAPDA had already completed feasibility studies of several hydro projects, however, no allocation was made to tap hydro potential for power generation.
Aijaz Chaudhry stressed elimination of corruption for the economic uplift of the country.
Chaudhry Ashraf said the country was facing a host of problems including load shedding, inflation and fragile economy. He said Kalabagh Dam was a political issue and it should be sorted out through mutual consensus, adding that the dam would not only generate cheap hydro electricity but would help strengthening the agricultural sector.
PML-Zia chief Ejazul Haq said the country was facing of terrorism and energy crisis and anti-state elements were hatching conspiracies to destabilise Pakistan.
“India has set up 14 consulates in Afghanistan where agents of RAW, Mossad and CIA are active against Pakistan,” he claimed.
Asadur Rehman said his party's government had devised a comprehensive policy to lift the growth rate from 3 percent to 7 percent by 2015-16. He said inflation would also be brought down to a single digit while the fiscal deficit would be reduced from over 7 percent to 4 percent.
Ali Gohar Khan Mehr urged the government to ensure development of Gothki district, which had been providing 40 percent of gas to the country.
Muzammil Qureshi stressed the need for putting a ban on the screening of foreign TV dramas and films to save the local industry.
