Senator Farhatullah Babar on Tuesday alleged that the 2017 budget 'seeks to ambush' the Supreme Court, shuts the door on Fata reforms, launches a bristling attack on the human rights and fails to inject even token transparency and accountability in the military spending structures.
Taking part in the budget debate in the Senate, Senator Babar said that for the first time the total financial powers were vested with the executive in what he said "ambush of the Supreme Court." This is the foremost political statement of the budget, he said. The August 2016 verdict, he said, stated, "The Prime Minster cannot take decisions by himself or by supplanting or ignoring the cabinet because the power to take decisions is vested with the federal government ie the cabinet, and unilateral decisions taken by the PM would be usurpation of power."
Never before the SC was fired upon using the platform of Finance Bill, he said. "B sai (for) budget, B sai (for) bandooq (gun) and seen (an Urdu alphabet) sai (for) Supreme Court" is the new course curriculum, he said adding that the SC was fired upon through the budget bandooq (gun).
"The much trumpeted Fata reforms are dead and buried," is yet another political statement of the budget, he said. Out of 13 PSDP projects of NHA and of the 63 new PSDP projects of Higher Education Commission, not a single one is for Fata. Even a token allocation of one rupee has not been made for the so-called Fata reforms. "'Weep Fata, weep' is the message," he sarcastically said.
The third political message is bristling attack on the human rights of citizens by transferring the resources and powers of independent National Commission of Human Rights (NCHR) to the executive and setting up of a parallel human rights body under the executive. The law provides for independent NCHR to oversee state's performance in human rights, he said, adding that 'however a notification issued in March brought it under the administrative control of the government.' The NCHR is supposed to take notice of human rights violations committed by the executive, how can it be brought under the executive itself, he asked.
Funds have been allocated in the PSDP for a new institute of human rights under the executive while the Commission is starved of funds as no allocation made to set up the "Fund" provided in the law, he said. He said that the independent commission was placed under the executive in March after its representative contradicted the official version about terrorism at an international forum.
"Protection of human rights is not the political agenda of the government" is a stark message of the budget, he said. He said the nation always provided as much as asked for in the name of national defence but the absence of transparency, lack of accountability and no civilian oversight cannot be condoned in the name of national security and defence.
He said transparency and accountability are alien to the government. It has persistently refused information about the post retirement perks and privileges of retired generals. Senator Sherry Rehman of PPPP expressed dismay over the recent budget presented by the government saying, the government just stripped people of hope for a better life by telling them it is blithely continuing to tax them to pay for its profligate spending. "It is appalling to observe that around 82 to 85 percent of the taxes gained are indirect. The brunt of these failed policies is borne by the poor citizens of the country. They are the ones reeling from power outages. They do not have access to generators, they do not have the cash to buy an extra fan or pay their utility bills," she lamented.
"This is the first government where the minister of finance is patting his own back for the farcical record trade imbalance. The government has projected a current account deficit of $ 10.4 billion due to an increase of $ 26.9 billion in trade deficit including Rs 401 billion in circular debt and instead of being ashamed, they are celebrating for reasons unknown," she added.
Big numbers are proof that the exports are massively declining and the imports are rising. "For a country that is the 4th largest cotton producer in the world, how are our exports in such a dire situation? You cannot blame away the trade imbalance on CPEC fuelled imports? How can the exports go down to almost $ 3 billion as compared to PPPP's tenure when oil prices were much higher than what they are today," she added.
"From Kashmir to Karachi, the country is under darkness not only due to load-shedding but also because we are drowning in debt. On top of that, the government has added surcharges on electricity which will inadvertently make the poor poorer under these new schemes," she explained.
"The national debt has reached time bomb proportions but here we are, being told that the incumbent government will not require another IMF bailout. Of course we will, we are already planning to borrow $ 8.1 billion in new loans, on international bond markets where no development finance rates are available, instead there are high interest rates," she continued.
On the incessant shameless borrowing by the government, she said, "With external debt and liabilities growing by $ 6.5 billion this year, and increase in central government debt until March 2017 by Rs 1.2 trillion, the debt stands at a staggering Rs 20.25 trillion. All this bank borrowing, treasury bills, permanent debt, project loans, external loans will all be paid for by future taxes."
"Over Rs 227 billion have been allocated for the PM's schemes and the proposed Public Sector Development Programme further includes 153 schemes which will cost a whopping Rs 9.2 trillion to complete the proposed projects. Prioritising these business generating projects instead of spending on human capital is further going to cripple the nation," she noted.
Senator Mukhtar Dhamra of Pakistan Peoples Party Parliamentarians (PPPP) said that the federal budget 2017 is a pack of lies, but the nation is lucky enough to get rid of a regime which did nothing for the poor throughout its fifth consecutive budget. He also contradicted government claim of restoring peace in Sindh, saying all the money for the operation against terrorism and militancy in the province was spent from provincial development fund, as federal government did not give a single penny in this regard.
About Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway, he said that it was superhighway which was broadened a bit, and then declared motorway by the government, adding now within few years it is in a dilapidated condition which reflects how the government built motorway for Sindhis.
"There is no truth in what the federal government claims of doing for Sindh. The largest income generating province has been allocated Rs 70 billion in the PSDP while Punjab has been given Rs 97 billion, KP Rs 93 billion, and Balochistan Rs 80 billion which shows how this government treats Sindh province," he lamented.
In his reaction to opposition MPs' speeches, Senator Saud Aziz said that maximum emphasis has been given to farmers, villages, the poor and the underprivileged sections of the society. He said when his party took over back in 2013 elections, they had inherited a country which was near bankruptcy. He said that the opposition should not forget who brought normalcy in Karachi and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
The load-shedding and the bomb blasts in every nook and corner of the country almost on regular basis, he added, were controlled by the incumbent government led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. "This budget is associated with our aspirations, our dreams and in a way depicts our future. This is the future of our new generation, the future of our farmers. Today a farmer gets fertiliser without awaiting in the queue, which shows we are doing something good for the farmers," he added.
He also said that long-delayed projects such as Lowari Tunnel are also being completed by this government, and the much delayed census is being done by Nawaz Sharif which had been carried out by his government last time in 1998. Senator Ahmad Hassan of PPPP strongly reacted to PML-N senator's claim on Lowari Tunnel, and said that the he must not forget that work on the tunnel was shut by 'PML-N godfather' General Ziaul Haq because the project was initiated by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
He said that there is nothing in budget for other provinces, especially for other provinces' development, except Punjab, which shows the discriminatory approach of the federal government towards other provinces. Mohsin Leghari, an independent senator, said that credit availability for farmers through Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) should be enhanced as the recent increase is not enough.
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