Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday informed the Senate the government had no plan to cut development funds of parliamentarians to narrow the difference between official earnings and expenditures.
"We don't have any such intention," the minister said in the upper house as he categorically denied a media report suggesting that his ministry had sent such a summary to the prime minister secretariat.
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani last month promised to double annual funds for MPs from existing Rs 5 million a year. "It's unfounded news. The premier's announcement will be implemented," the minister added. Dar has of late been saying that the government is facing a very tight fiscal situation and looking to cut corners for savings. Putting a cut on funds allocated for parliamentarians' funds is thought to be one of such corners.
Oath-taking: Earlier, two new senators - one each from NWFP and Balochistan - took oath. Haji Muhammad Adeel of Awami National Party (ANP) from NWFP has joined the upper house on the seat vacated by his group's chief Asfandyar Wali Khan. Khan has become a National Assembly member now.
Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haidri, the vice chief of Jamiat Ulamae Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) from Balochistan, replaces Senator Sarwar Kakar, who won the provincial assembly seat but later died. Haji complained of his province being nameless and hoped new government would take a decision in this regard. "Certainly, a day will come when this house give my province a name," he said immediately after taking oath.
Adeel's ANP has long been struggling for renaming NWFP as Pukhtoonkhawa. Ghafoor said Islam was the only system that could ensure equal rights for smaller province and transform Pakistan into a welfare state.
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