Opposition in the Senate on Tuesday demanded the government to present before the House the LNG contract signed by the present government with Qatar. This was demanded by Leader of the Opposition Sherry Rehman during the debate on the federal budget 2018-19 soon after PML-N Senator Sadia Abbasi, sister of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, concluded her speech on the budget which also led to exchange of arguments between the two.
Senator Abbasi gave all the credit to former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for the completion of the tenure of the government, adding that the government is finally completing its term despite every effort made to break the party and demoralize its leadership. She said that it is unfortunate that Khawaja Asif was disqualified, Ishaq Dar is facing suspension of Senate membership, Pervez Rashid lost his ministry due to Dawn Leak while Ahsan Iqbal escaped an assassination attempt.
She further said that PML-N government in Balochistan was derailed but Nawaz Sharif accepted the change for the sake of democracy. Opposition leader Sherry Rehman took floor and reminded to the PML-N senator of the LNG contract which was made by her brother when he was minister for petroleum, saying that despite repeated demands, the government is yet to present the contract before the Parliament.
"I want to clarify one thing that anybody has the right to speak her/her mind. But unfortunately, we are demanding for the last many months that the LNG contract with Qatar should be presented before the Parliament and the government is yet to make it available to the House," Rehman said while referring to agreement signed by Shahid Khaqan Abbasi with Qatar when he was minister for petroleum under the premiership of Nawaz Sharif.
She pointed out that the government is levying taxes on the gas produced indigenously while the LNG coming from Qatar is complexly tax free. "What's the reason...why the contract is not being presented before the House? It appears that speeches here in the House are coming from Mars," she said in reference to Sadia Abbasi's speech.
This pushed Abbasi to object to the leader of the opposition but she was denied the floor by Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani. However, she continued to speak, saying that every member of the House has the right to make a speech and no body has the right to raise objection.
Earlier, taking part in the debate, Parliamentary Leader Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party Senator Usman Kakar noted that the budget would compound the masses' problems and would not help the provinces significantly, particularly Balochistan and FATA.
"There is everything for those who are 2 percent of the total population and for whom the majority votes in elections. And, there are not even 2 per cent members of the National Assembly who live below the poverty line. There should not be wishful thinking for masses; unless they bring people from among themselves in the legislature, budgets will not be made for them," he warned. He lamented there is a need to spend more and more on health and education.
Referring to budgetary figures, he pointed out that while the defense budget has been increased by 20 per cent, the development slashed by 25 per cent. He added the defense allocations must be lesser and those for development projects be greater.
He noted that CPEC is worth $63 billion and $35 billion are for energy projects, whereas the government has already claimed to added 12230 megawatt power to the system. "I challenge the government to show whether any project, producing one megawatt of electricity has been installed in Balochistan or FATA," he said.
Likewise, he pointed out the motorways and highways across Pakistan are spread over 2500 kilometres but if there was one kilometre of them in Balochistan. He disputed the government figures that 29 per cent children face food shortage and claimed 71 per cent children in less developed areas face food non-availability and these areas are of Balochistan, Sindh, FATA and Punjab.
He claimed people from many districts and villages would be forced to migrate to other areas due to non-availability of water in Balochistan, as water level in many parts has plunged to 1500 feet. He said Balochistan showed 3.8 per cent negative agriculture growth.
He strongly opposed rollback of 18th amendment and asserted that political parties and the Parliament would resist if the government or the GHQ has any plan in this connection. Referring to Pakhtoon Tahafuz Movement, he said their demands are justified and within the constitutional limit and be fulfilled before it is too late. He said they have been raising issues in the Parliament but when the Pakhtoon youth saw their issues are not being resolved, they adopted the path of a peaceful political struggle. He warned against use of force against this movement and said, "You will regret if you use force against them. And you can't misguide them this time."
He claimed that political parties and politicians want across the board accountability under an Ehtesab Commission but the military and judiciary are opposed to this. He called for complete implementation of the National Action Plan to root out the menace of terrorism. He alleged military ruler Zia-ul-Haq had laid the foundation of terrorism, militancy, gunrunning and drugs and Musharraf had given boost to terrorism by calling Chechens, Uzbeks and Arabs their assets and hence made the entire world the enemy of Pakistan.
Kakar regretted that the foreign policy is being forwarded by the establishment while the NAP and the strategy devised by the Parliament are not being implemented. "They don't want the government and the Parliament keep going," he alleged. Senator Kakar asked if there could be any budget without the NFC, adding: "How could you present a budget without the approval of NFC?" he questioned. "Today, foreign exchange reserves of Bangladesh are $33 billion and Bengalis, who were thought to be dying after separation, are leading a prosperous life," he said.
PTI's Senator Dr Mehar Taj Roghani made a speech based on her experience of a recent visit to Bangladesh and said that there was lesser poverty today in India, Nepal and Bhutan while India's literacy rate was 73 per cent. "We must spend as much as possible on a kid during his first 1000 days as investment on kids becomes development," she said. PML-N Senator Ayesha Razzaq Farooq lauded the budgetary allocations, saying that measures have taken to reduce tax burden on the salaried class.
She said that the budget statistics reflect improvements made in all sectors during the last five years including GDP, agriculture and services sectors. She said that growth rate is the highest in a decade and inflation is at the lowest level. Referring to water shortage in the country, she said that there is a need for increasing the storage capacity to save the water, adding, "We are wasting up to 50 percent of the available water due to absence of dams." She further said that there is a need for construction of small and large scale dams in the country to save water.
She also suggested investing in the youth which constitute two-third of the country's population. She also warned that there is a need to focus on the rapidly growing population which is becoming a 'time bomb." Aurangzeb Khan from FATA pointed out that keeping in view the given situation and poverty, the allocation of Rs 24.5 billion for the tribal areas is just a peanut, which needs to be further increased.
He further demanded compensation for the people of FATA whose houses were damaged during the militancy and the military operation. He said infrastructure has been destroyed in FATA due to war against terrorism and Rs 90 billion earmarked for the purpose are not enough. He said that the amount should be fixed Rs 1.5 million per family for the partially damaged and Rs 3 million to the completely damaged house.
He also demanded an immediate implementation on the FATA Reforms, adding that there are no differences among the FATA parliamentarians on the merger of FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Senator Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldini of Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) referred to the neglecting of Balochistan in the budget and the increasing deprivation among Baloch people due to unequal treatment of them in distribution of the natural resources.
He said that it is shocking to see that Rs 180 billion increase in defense budget while decrease of Rs 200 billion in development budget. He termed the PML-N government last budget as an election budget which offers incentives for industrialists but having nothing for the poor. He also supported the amnesty scheme, saying that it will help avoid imposition of indirect taxes, adding a door-to-door survey needs to be conducted to find out the wealthy with view to levy direct taxes.
Mohammad Akram of National Party suggested that relations with neighboring countries including India, Afghanistan and Iran, need to be improved, adding that trade with the neighboring countries needs to be improve. Referring to the controversy of removing the name of noted scientist Dr Abdu Salam from Physics Centre of Quaid-e-Azam University, he said that Abdu Salam was given the Nobel Prize for his services in physics and not for being an Ahmedi. "We need to bring about change in our attitude and the society needs to be equipped with overbalance for a better tomorrow," he said.
He also referred to the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), saying that the leaders of the movement have raised important issues including missing persons issue. There are also hundreds of missing persons from Balochistan, he said, adding that the issue should be resolved immediately. Tahir Bizenjo, while speaking on the budget, pointed out that Gwadar being the centre of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is facing acute water shortage and the government is yet to take any measure despite promises made time and again.