National Assembly continues discussion on the next fiscal year’s budget

ISLAMABAD, June 22 (SABAH): The National Assembly is continuing discussion on the next fiscal year’s budget.

The session resumed at the Parliament House in Islamabad, with Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq in the chair. At the outset, the house offered fateha for five soldiers martyred in a blast in Kurram.

Participating in the debate, Mirza Ikhtiar Baig commended the government’s initiative of reducing the electricity tariff for the industries. He, however, opposed the increase in petroleum development levy by twenty rupees.

Syed Mustafa Kamal emphasized out of box solutions to deal with the issues in the power sector. He said we should shift to an interest free financial system.

Taking the floor, Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhry condemned the lynching of a man in Swat, lamenting how religion is being weaponised to justify “street justice” and “vigilantism”. Ahsan Iqbal said that parliament had to take stern notice of “mob justice”, as it had brought Pakistan “to the brink of destruction”.

A man was killed by a mob over alleged desecration of the Holy Quran in the Madyan area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swat district on Thursday night. Eight people were injured in the unrest. The police had moved the suspect of the alleged desecration incident to the police station, a police official said, but a charged mob attacked the police station and took the suspect away“. “People set fire to the police station and a mobile vehicle,” the DPO said, adding that the suspect was “torched”. Videos making the rounds on social media showed a mob circling a body on fire in the middle of the road, as well as people gathered in huge numbers outside a police station.

Amid interjections by the Deputy Speaker Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah, Ahsan Iqbal maintained that parliament had to take stern notice of “mob justice”, as it had brought Pakistan “to the brink of destruction”.

“Another mob lynching has happened in Swat and Pakistan is under scrutiny for it,” he said. “If this was an isolated incident we could move past it, but similar incidents have happened in Sialkot, Jaranwala and Sargodha,” he added, referring to incidents where those accused of desecration were lynched by vigilante mobs.

The minister also referred to an attempt on his life in 2018, where he was shot by a supporter of the religio-political party Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan. “I am grateful that I got a new lease on life after an extremist shot me,” he said. “Even now the bullet is in my body.”

“We must take notice of this incident as our nation is on the brink. We have now reached a point where we are using religion to justify mob violence and street justice, flagrantly violating the Constitution, the law and the state,” he lamented.

He added that in Islam, “even the bodies of heretics must be shown respect”, further stating that it is forbidden to burn bodies. “Not only are mobs killing people, but they are setting the bodies on fire and making a spectacle out of it. It’s shameful.

“What are we showing the world with this?” he asked as the deputy speaker tried to cut him off. Despite the interruptions he continued, saying: “We need to think about where we stand in the world […] we are a backwards country. If we do not take notice of this, we will fall into anarchy.”

Ahsan Iqbal concluded his address by demanding that a committee be formed to probe these incidents. “It is the ulema’s responsibility to understand how religion has been weaponised to justify mob violence. There must be a committee in place to tackle these incidents so we can be a civilised country.”

Deputy Speaker Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah said that as a member of the cabinet, Ahsan Iqbal should confer with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and work with him to form the committee. “You should coordinate with your colleague and bring these issues to the [Khyber Pakhtunkhwa] chief minister,” he said. “Please bring this up at cabinet and not here,” he added.

Abdul Qadir Patel proposed the imposition of wealth tax on assets. He said this measure could become a major revenue generator.

Muhammad Hanif Abbassi said the budget has been presented in a very difficult situation. He was confident that the country will see investment worth billions of dollars in one year as a result of the government’s efforts.

Asad Qaiser said economic corridors should be established with Iran, Afghanistan and China.

Hameed Hussain said steps should be taken to curb terrorist acts and improve security situation.

Sharmila Farooqi said the budget of Benazir Income Support Program should be further enhanced in order to enroll more deserving families.

Sardar Muhammad Yousaf said the government has put the country in the right economic direction.

Zartaj Gul said Pakistan is one of the most vulnerable countries to the climate change. She said the budget of four billion rupees allocated to deal with this challenge during the next fiscal year is not sufficient.

Shehryar Khan Mehr welcomed the increase in the defense budget. He emphasized it is important in view of the security challenges faced by the country on the internal and external fronts.

Others who spoke on the occasion included: Shehryar Khan Afridi, Hafeez Uddin and Sana Ullah Khan Mastikhel. The House has now been adjourned to meet again tomorrow (Sunday) at 11:00 AM.