KARACHI, June 17: The general discussion on budget 2005-06 in the Sindh Assembly remained inconclusive on Friday, fifth and last day for the debate, as no less than 29 members from the treasury and opposition benches appeared keen to express their views.
It was decided to convene the session on Saturday when Finance Minister Syed Sardar Ahmed will wind up the discussion after speeches by the leader of the opposition, Nisar Ahmad Khuhro, and the leader of the house, Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim.
During Friday deliberations, 14 members from the opposition and 15 from the treasury benches took part in the 10-hour discussion.
Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah was in the chair when the proceedings started at 10.35am. Mir Naseer Khan Khoso, Mohammad Hussain and Dr Irfan Gul Magsi, members of the four-man panel of chairmen also preside over the session at times when the speaker took rest.
While the treasury benches continued to prove that it was welfare-oriented budget aimed at brining about a marked improvement in all walks of life, the opposition benches presented a flurry of arguments against the contention and in support of their own conclusion that the budget was only for the rich and, as such, would result in bringing only miseries to the poor.
Some of the opposition members also deplored the arrest of MPA Zahid Bhurgari as victimization, and castigated the provincial government for its failure in maintaining law and order and arresting killers of MPA Abdullah Murad, Munawwar Suhrawardi, Aslam Mujahid, Tahir Jamal, Raziq Khan, Khalid Bin Waleed, and other prominent figures.
As the debate on budget resumed after questions hour in the morning, Syed Shakir Ali of MQM was given the floor. He argued that only strong provinces could guarantee a strong Pakistan. If greater autonomy was granted to every province, not only their complaints against each other would disappear but they would be able to attain self-sufficiency.
Karachi is the economic capital of the country and deserves more facilities for industrialization through introduction of one-window operation, he suggested.
Ferheen Mughal of the PPP said that Mr A.K. Lodhi deserved gratitude for exposing the attitude of the federal government in the NFC Award to deprive Sindh of its due share.
She asked why the killers of MPA Abdullah Murad, Munawwar Suhrawardi, Raziq Khan and other prominent figures had not yet been arrested. She also warned the treasury benches not to bargain over interests of Sindh.
Heer Ismail Sohu of the MQM said that it was her party that had taken a tough stand on Sindh’s interests the province’s due share in the NFC Award. She alleged that the PPP had been maintaining different stands viz-a-viz the NFC Award in Punjab and Sindh.
Dr Nasrullah of PPP described the allocations for social sector development as ‘insufficient’. He pointed out that in the previous budget, allocations for scholarships meant for high school girls had been pledged but the commitment was not fulfilled.
Dr Irfan Gul Magsi of the PML welcomed the creation of new provinces and claimed that PPP too had attempted to create new districts in Hyderabad but it had resorted to criticizing the move taken by the present government.
Mr Najmuddin Abro of the PPP, contesting the government’s claim that it was people-friendly budget, and asked the finance minister if it had anything for bringing down prices of wheat, flour, oil and other essential items of daily consumption. “This is a rich-friendly budget,” he insisted.
Dr Rafique Bhanbhan of PML asked for provision of gas to Khairpur areas and stressed the need for overcoming power crisis in that district.
Hafiz Mohammad Naeem of the MMA said that people would forget annual budget because they knew that ‘budgets’ did come twice a month. He cited the increase in prices of almost all essential commodities going up twice a month.
He said that the budget documents, weighing over 10 kilograms, contained only tall claims and promises with regard to people’s welfare. None of these promises would be fulfilled, he apprehended.
Home Minister Abdul Rauf Siddiqui explained the aims and objectives kept in mind while preparing the budget, saying that the main aim was to meet the basic requirements of masses within the available resource.
Referring to criticism from the opposition on law and order situation, he said that in Karachi, out of 27,000 police personnel, 7,000 were spared for VIPs’ duty, 3,500 for investigations and another 3,000 for traffic management. This leaves just 14,000 men to discharge their duties in two shifts for maintaining law and order. If the personnel on leave are excluded, the force is left with just 5,000 personnel who had the gigantic task of ensuring peace in a city of 20 million people. Only 25 policemen could be made available at each police station, he argued.
The minister said it was the present government which had met the challenge of dacoits in Shah Belo and outlaws in Lyari. He said that the government was making all possible efforts to root out all dens and hide outs of criminals from urban and rural areas of Sindh.
Giving figures to prove that an improvement had been brought about in law and order, he made mention of a reduction in the incidents of snatching and theft of vehicles, and said this had helped restore citizens’, particularly investors’, confidence in the government. In this context, he cited over a dozen exhibitions held in Karachi last year and participation of thousands of local and foreign investors, including guests from over 150 countries.
He said another manifestation of the improvement in law and order was the peaceful atmosphere in Nooriabad where over 60 industries were now coming up and many closed units had already resumed production.
Farida Baloch of the MQM said that water issue had not surfaced last year after haunting the province for many years. She asked the opposition benches that which party had succeeded in overcoming the problem when it ruled the province in the past. She pointed out that like in the interior, there were backward areas in Karachi also. Such areas, she added, deserved joint efforts by the government and the opposition towards their uplift in order to bring them at par with the developed areas.
She expressed her regrets over neglect of Lyari and other old areas by those who always had been returning from their constituencies but instead of solving the pressing problems being faced by local people, continued to leave them at the mercy of anti-social elements.
“Instead of criticizing the allocation for Karachi, our stress should be on developing all backward areas of Sindh,” she added.
Yunus Barai of the MMA said that on the one side, a deficit of Rs9 billion was shown, and on the other, Rs600 million was earmarked for purchasing an aircraft for the governor/chief minister, in addition to millions of rupees for luxury cars to be used by ministers and advisers. No relief at all, however, was provided to the poor, he deplored.
Law Minister Chaudhry Iftikhar rejected the opposition contention that presenting a budget without NFC Award was illegal, and said there was no article in the constitution to support the opposition’s stand.
Regarding law and order, he pointed out that many police officers and jawans had laid down their life in the line of duty.
Others who participated in the discussion were Nasrullah Shaji, Manzoor Leghari, Sajid Jokhyo, Javed Shah, Ghulam Nabi Shoro, Saira Shaliani, Asif Ali Shah, Pir Amjad, Shamim Ara, Jam Mehtab Dahar, Bano Saghir, Imtiaz Shirazi, Ms Farzana, Sadaquat Ali Jatoi and Shoaib Bokhari.
