FROM A RINGSIDE SEAT

The Senate opened its debate on the federal budget Wednesday afternoon on a subdued note, overawed as the house seemed to be was by the persisting rumours in the Capital that Shaukat Aziz had resigned. In the absence of Chairman Muhammadmian Soomro and the non-election by far to the vacant slot of deputy chairman, Senator Khalid Ranjha was in chair.
He upheld the impartiality demanded of him by his office, and would be remembered if nothing else by his snub to state minister for interior, Shahzad Wasim. Would that mean "you support extra-judicial killings", was his observation when the minister tried to justify the graphically portrayed humiliation of Jamaat's political activists in Karachi the other day by a contingent of a law enforcing agency as response to provocation.
Leader of opposition Raza Rabbani rejected the plea of provocation, arguing that on that particular day there was no cause for provocation. It was a peaceful 'hartal', as against the minister's claim that the forces were edgy consequent to terrorist attack on a Shia mosque.
If Shahzad Wasim was out of tune with time his colleague sitting next, Health Minister Nasir Khan, was gravely out of focus about the happenings in his fiefdom. He was stunned to know that a senior official of the PMDC who was suspended by him a week back on the charges of corruption and insubordination was back in chair-- courtesy an intervention by the PM secretariat.
"We have no information that the PMDC secretary has been re-instated" as reported in the media, he told the house. But it did not take long and regular business that is discussion on the budget was taken up with Raza Rabbani firing the opening shot.
The budget has excluded the people of Pakistan who are "creators of national wealth from its ideology...to enrich, protect and strength the grip of the unscrupulous few big businessmen over the vast majority of people of Pakistan", said Rabbani. The regime has created "two Pakistan's"--one that is of the elite moved by greed, fattened by ill-gotten wealth, living in palaces furnished with imported furniture and the other where hundreds of thousands of children fall prey to gastro-enteritis. While thousands of workers have been thrown out on the pretext of rightsizing and downsizing, the cabinet division has been given 1.6 billions to buy new cars and maintain the existing fleet. He rejected the paltry raise of Rs 500 in the wage of a worker, saying the opposition would recommend higher increase.
He also attacked 179 percent increase in funds for Presidency, 15 percent raise in defence budget, 44 percent more funds for the PM office and 37 percent increase in the NAB's allocation. Raza Rabbani was of the view that NFC Award was deliberately delayed "to cover its extravagant expenses" at the cost of violating the Constitution. Alleging the government "supervised" the stock exchange scam he reminded the house of the comment by ex-Prime Minister Jamali that whole operation was conducted to fill coffers of just five big players. My question is why CVT on stocks and real estate business was excluded from the tax net while there is no subsidy for atta and sugar which could be of some relief to the large masses of Pakistan, he said.
But Nisar Memon rejected Rabbani's stance upholding free market economy. This budget should not be seen in the light of communism or socialism as nationalisation of early 70s destroyed the country's economy. Reminiscent of the bygone days when Z.A. Bhutto shook a bottle filled with crude from the newly discovered Dhodak oilfield close to the nose of late Maulana Mufti Mehmud, Memon put up a solar-powered lantern, to prove that progress is being made in all fields. But he too conceded that raise of mere five hundred rupees in the wage of a worker is too little and he would ask for more. Maulana Gul Nasib, called next to speak, declined the chair's offer.
Raza Mohammad Raza and Sanaullah Baloch are both firebrand and the budget offered them opportunity to whip their favourite horse-Punjab. Raza contested the competence of the Senate as sovereign House: "We sit in a House where we wail and you hear. Next day everything is forgotten". According to his analysis the budget has deficit to the extent of Rs 330 billion as new taxes worth Rs 80 billion were proposed. Out of the trillion plus outlay 826 billions would be consumed by non-development expenditure, he said. He also questioned the claim that per capita income has gone up to 736 dollars, saying if that were true it would mean that every family has income of Rs 18,000 per month. Urging end to military rule he warned of serious consequences in case it prolonged. Others who spoke till the House was adjourned included Professor Ghafoor Ahmad, Professor Ibrahim and Abida Saif.
The unusual tranquillity during the debate was attributed to unconfirmed reports that kept emanating from the National Security Council meeting, with one common message that the president had expressed his serious reservations about measures proposed in the budget to overcome unemployment and poverty. A keen observer of power play in the capital however contested this perception, reminding that the rumours of PM's resignation were rife even before the NSC meeting began. But he too did not reject the thesis that there are important differences between the two top men, particularly since President Musharraf's visit to Qatar where the Centcom has its regional headquarters.