ISLAMABAD: Pointing out that Pakistan was now the most vulnerable country to climate change impacts, PPP parliamentary leader in the Senate Sherry Rehman on Wednesday raised alarm over the cut in the budget of the climate change ministry.
Taking part in budget discussion in the House, she regretted that the budget had been slashed from Rs3.5 billion to Rs2.7 billion, warning that the move will weaken the national coordination, mitigation and adaptation, as well as access to global climate finance. The remarks came as a tirade against budgetary proposals from both sides of the aisle continued in the House.
“The climate ministry will barely get its job done of representing Pakistan in 27 international treaty commitments. Where will it now carve out space for transformational financing?” Senator Rehman asked.
She said that Pakistan has to also take the climate crisis as a real emergency, not just a talking point.
PML-N lawmaker reveals 2,500 bureaucrats hold dual nationality
Dual national bureaucrats
PML-N lawmaker Afnan Ullah Khan revealed that 2,500 bureaucrats of the country including four federal secretaries were holding dual nationality.
He said a bill seeking a bar on civil servants’ dual nationality moved by him had been unanimously passed by the Interior Committee, but regretted that it has not yet come to the House.
“How can a person be loyal with two countries,” he asked. He linked the issue with the damage caused to Iran by agents of some other country and said there were many Zionist agents in Pakistan as well. He warned that a heavy price will have to be paid, if they were not nabbed on time.
PPP lawmaker Quratul-Ain Marri while coming hard on the government said it had repeatedly proved it was not in need of the allies.
Deploring that discussions with them yielded no tangible result, she said: “I urge the government to have introspection and understand that if it wants to work with the allies, then it should be with honesty and whole-heartedness instead of just paying the lip service…”.
BAP parliamentary leader in the House Manzoor Kakar regretted that no long-term policy had been formulated to pull Pakistan out of the economic quagmire and get rid of the debt trap.
Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2025
