The Senate was informed on Wednesday that sales tax and custom duty may be waived off on all defence imports, besides IBC for defence budget 2016-17 may be revised from Rs 860 billion to Rs 920 billion. A report of Senate Standing Committee on Defence that was presented in the house by its chairman Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed said that a pay and pension commission should be constituted besides adopting one rank one pension formula for defence services.
It also recommended that power to waive off austerity measures of defence organisations may be delegated to secretary defence, adding 40 percent deduction from coalition support fund reimbursement by government may be discontinued. It also said that out of total $13 billion received through CSF from US since 9/11, 40% has gone to the civilian government. The current year being the last year in respect of CSF, it added, a balance amount of $200 million remains to be cleared by the US government.
The report also recommended to enhance the budgetary allocation to three armed forces according to threat perception, adding the budget allocation to all three armed forces should be related to threat perception which is markedly enhanced due to the current geo-political situation and Pakistan's strategic location in the area.
Referring to a recent meeting of "Pak-US Strategic Dialogue", it added, a proposal of establishing a border management fund to the tune of $100 million was discussed.
The defence ministry has put forward a proposal for the development of Federally Administrative Tribal Areas (FATA) to the tune of $8 billion spread over 5 to 8 years, it said, adding US government has agreed that a robust border management is essential for maintenance of peace on Pak-Afghan border and further negotiations on the matter will continue.
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