ISLAMABAD, June 13: An opposition eagle eye put the government in the spot during the budget debate in the National Assembly on Tuesday when it was found that no funds had been demanded for a key federal department and the finance minister did not know why it was so.
An apparently embarrassed Minister of State for Finance Omar Ayub Khan promised to clarify the situation on Wednesday although he said preliminary information was that the National Database Registration Authority had not asked for any demand for grant in the budget because it was a ‘self-generating organisation,’ earning enough money for its expenditures.
There were cries of impropriety and scandal after Sherry Rehman of the People’s Party Parliamentarians raised the issue, on the fifth day of the general debate on the budget 2006-07 that saw more criticism and less praise for the governments economic and other policies and an absorbing speech by Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sher Afgan Niazi had tried to sidestep Ms Rehman’s demand for a clarification on the issue pertaining to Nadra, which issues national identity cards and works under the interior ministry.
But Deputy Speaker Sardar Mohammad Yaqub, presiding over the proceedings, sought an explanation from Mr Khan, who appeared clueless and offered to try to find out budget entry about Nadra with the PPP member in his office.
“This is a scandal...and a shocking example of poor governance,” Ms Rehman said on return from a meeting with the minister at his office where, she said, they were informed that Nadra had not made any demand in the budget because it was ‘self-sufficient.’
The minister confirmed this version and said the preliminary information he received from the interior ministry was that Nadra had not asked for allocations because it was a ‘self-generating organisation.’
ACHAKZAI’S WARNING: In the budget debate, Mr Achakzai warned the house that intense external and internal pressures could plunge the country into ‘such a crisis that its name will become history’ if the political forces did not sit together to face the situation.
He criticised army involvement in politics and military operations in Balochistan and Waziristan.