The Senate rejected a motion tabled by opposition Senators on Saturday to freeze the defence budgetary allocations for the upcoming financial year at the amount of revised budget estimates for 2008-09. The motion was jointly moved by Senators Professor Khurshid Ahmad, Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, Mushahidullah Khan and Abdul Rahim Madokheil to freeze budgetary allocation as per actual expenditure during 2008-09, but the House rejected the motion with majority of voice.
Speaking on the issue, state minister for economic affairs Hina Rabbani Khar said that in view of current situation in the country, the defence budget could not be frozen. The second motion was jointly moved by Senators Raja Zafarul Haq, Dr Abdul Malik, Professor Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, Professor Sajid Mir and Professor Khurshid Ahmed.
The mover of the motion was Senator Ishaq Dar on behalf of Raja Zafarul Haq. The Senators in the motion recommended that 25 percent reduction should be made in non-development expenditure of the federal government.
The motion was also opposed and rejected. The third motion was jointly moved by Ishaq Dar, Syed Zafar Ali Shah, Begum Najma Hameed and Afia Zia. The Senators recommended that the general sales tax should be reduced by 10 percent. However, the House opposed and rejected the motion with majority.
The fourth motion was jointly moved by Professor Khurshid Ahmed, Ishaq Dar, Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo and Abdul Rahim Khan Mandokhail, in which they recommended that the proposed carbon tax, tax on petrol, diesel, kerosene oil and petroleum products be reduced by 50 percent. The House also opposed the motion and rejected it with majority votes. The House also allowed Senator Colonel Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi (Retd) to withdraw a motion on Finance Bill from tabling before it.
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