The government came under severe criticism for the third consecutive day as members from opposition in Senate on Monday kept lambasting federal budget 2013-14, calling it status quo, IMF dictated and big corporate tycoon budget. Taking part in the debate, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed termed budget as traditional, pro-businessmen and above all an International Monetary Fund (IMF) friendly, adding no relief for the poor and increase in GST shows the government has no plan to provide relief to poverty stricken masses.
He said that 10 percent increase in the budget for government employees is a peanut and this should have been at least 20 percent, adding the budget reflected the government's policies to provide relief only to big business. Mushahid outlined six-point proposals for government stating that a special fund should be established for victims of drone strikes and money should be allocated in the budget for affected families and the injured as a result of US drone attacks in tribal areas.
He said that special funds should also be allocated in the budget under a programme to provide life insurance for working journalists who are working in difficult conditions. "I really take pity that the equipments like cameras, DSNGs etc are ensured but the human beings have no importance," he added.
Despite knowing the bad reputation of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), he added, giving access to online accounts of bank accounts holders, the government should have given access to Swiss accounts and offshore bank accounts in foreign countries to bring back the ill-gotten money in Switzerland and other parts of the world.
He said that Pakistani internet users and phone users were a victim of the cyber aggression of the US, adding US government had launched a surveillance programme under its National Security Agency (NSA) and all email accounts and phone calls were being monitored and accounts were being hacked. He said that a cyber strategy should be framed to counter the US cyber aggression against Pakistani people and funds should be allocated in the budget to formulate a strategy to counter the US aggression against Pakistani people.
The PML-Q leader also called for allocation of funds to evolve a country-terror strategy as the country was facing the menace of terrorism. He said that counter terrorism strategy be formed taking all stakeholders, including civilian and military branches, on board. He also called for revival of parliamentary committee on national security (PCNS) which had contributed a lot under the leadership of Mian Raza Rabbani.
Senator Usman Saifullah said that there is a need to take tough decisions but the government did not take a single step in the budget 2013-14 to steer the country out of the prevailing crisis. He said that rather than increasing general Sales Tax (GST), the government should have imposed tax of Rs 10,000 each to 32,000 potential tax evaders identified by FBR which could have resulted into an additional Rs 32 billion into the national kitty.
He said that the FBR which also had missed its target of revenue collection last year could not achieve the targets set in the budget document, adding borrowing from the national banks would also backfire while the broadening of tax net would also fail.
Humayon Mandokhel said that Gwadar Port handing over to China was a good step and it would help the country a lot in achieving self-reliance. He said that the facility of mortgage for housing sector would help revive the economy. He said talks should be the way forward for resolution of Balochistan problem and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif should talk to Baloch national leaders.
Dr Khwaja Karim said that the initiatives taken for youth by federal government should be for all provinces and there should not be any discrimination. He said that the GST increase should be withdrawn. He said that the parliamentary democracy should be cemented and the civil-military co-ordination should be improved. The house was adjourned to meet again on Tuesday at 4pm.
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