NA continues discussion on Federal Budget

ISLAMABAD : National Assembly resumed its session at the parliament house in Islamabad on Monday with Speaker Asad Qaiser in the chair. At the outset, the house offered fateha for two Pakistani soldiers martyred in Waziristan and the departed souls of Mufti Naeem and Allama Talib Jauhari as well as those who died of coronavirus. One minute silence was also observed over the death of former minority MNA George Clement. The chair in his remarks welcomed the reopening of airports in the country saying it will help ensure early repatriation of overseas Pakistanis stranded abroad. The house is now continuing discussion on the budget for next fiscal year. Participating in the budget discussion, Barjees Tahir emphasized the need for construction of Diamer Basha Dam saying it is important for the future of Pakistan. He said India should stop human rights violations in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. He called for the resolution of Kashmir dispute in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions. Adviser on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan said Pakistan has a principled stance on Kashmir dispute that its resolution lies in plebiscite under the umbrella of United Nations. He said Modi is a usurper and his policies have put the regional peace at stake. He said the present government has effectively raised the Kashmir dispute at the international fora. Andleeb Abbas said the present government has made the highest allocations for education sector. She said we are also giving priority to the health sector and five mother and child care hospitals are being established in different districts. She said the world institutions are hailing the improvements made by Pakistan in business sentiment and macroeconomic policymaking since the 2018 general elections. Hina Rabbani Khar said the PTI government is giving development funds to its own members but not those belonging to the opposition parties. She was critical of the government for slashing the budget of the higher education commission. Makhdoom Zain Qureshi said despite difficult times, the government has enhanced allocations for social safety nets. He said it is a fact that no new tax has been imposed in the budget whilst current account deficit has been reduced by seventy three percent. He said remittances and tax collection also witnessed increase before the breakout of COVID-19. Dr Ibadullah Khan said the budget envisages no relief for the poor people and employees.  He said the salaries should be enhanced keeping in view the inflation. Ali Nawaz Awan said the opposition parties should not do point scoring on Covid-19. He said Pakistan cannot afford complete lockdown as it will affect the livelihoods of poor people. He said the salaries of employees will be enhanced with improvement in the situation. Abdul Qadir Patel said the tax collection has decreased under the PTI government. Aslam Bhootani said the government has presented a better budget in the current circumstances.  He said implementation on the development schemes for Balochistan including Gwadar must be ensured. He said online classes should also be started for the students of Balochistan. Sajid Mehdi said the agriculture sector has been ignored in the budget.  He said the country cannot be taken forward without supporting the agriculture sector. Saleh Muhammad was appreciative of the steps taken by the government to provide cash assistance of twelve thousand rupees each to the deserving families. He said the salaries of employees should be enhanced by ten percent. Aliya Kamran voiced concerns over the rising cases of CoronaVirus in the country.  She said the budget envisages no measures to save the country from the impacts of the pandemic. Raja Khurram Nawaz said the PTI government has presented the budget for next fiscal year keeping in view the problems of the poor people. He said the nations stand by Prime Minister Imran Khan to rid the country of CoronaVirus. Khursheed Ahmad Junejo said the testing capacity for CoronaVirus should be enhanced to determine the exact number of Corona patients in the country. Rashid Shafiq said relaxation in lockdown was imperative to protect the livelihoods of poor segments of the society.