A file photo of former president Asif Ali Zardari. PHOTO: FILE
"Let's give the economic policy ownership so that it remains forever," said Zardari while delivering his budget speech in the National Assembly on Thursday.
It was Zardari's first appearance on the floor of the assembly after being arrested by the National Accountability Bureau in the fake bank accounts case.
NA Speaker Asad Qaiser had issued the production order for Zardari on Wednesday.
Zardari's two daughters - Aseefa and Bakhtawar - were present in the NA Gallery while his son, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, was also along with him in the house.
He said industries were facing problems while the poor people were unable to heave a sigh of relief.
Zardari asked, "If the budget is so good and so expected and if we are getting money from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), why are people crying, why are industries crying?"
Zardari said salaries of government employees had been raised in the budget, but taxes were also increased along with it, stressing the need to resolve issues of the agriculture sector which "is the backbone of the country's economy".
The PPPP president said Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto sacrificed their lives for democracy and he also raised slogan of "Pakistan Khappay" (long Live Pakistan) after the death of Benazir.
"Pakistan is our identity and we are nothing without it," he said, adding that an individual had no value and Pakistan was their identity.
Coming to power after a decade of military rule, Zardari said politicians were not victimised who had served under a dictator.
"We let them be as we wanted to concentrate on getting the country back on track," he added.
He thanked the Baloch leaders, including Akhtar Mengal and Shahzain Bugti, for standing with the opposition demanding the production orders of detained leaders. "Though they are not our political ally, the PPPP will remember their act of kindness," he added.
Zardari said detention was not new for them and he used to come to the assembly from jail in the past. He asked the government to focus on resolving the public issues.
Parliamentarians from treasury and opposition benches recommended various options to make the budget more effective and helpful in improving the living standard of the people.
Parliamentarians from the government benches termed the budget positive for the people of the country, saying it would be helpful in improving the economic situation of the country besides changing the life of the common man.
However, MNAs from opposition benches criticised the budget, suggesting the government to include input from the parliamentarians for further improving it.
Speaker Qaiser directed the government to ensure presence of high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Finance during the budget discussion.
Participating in the discussion, PML-N MNA Qaiser Ahmad Sheikh said that strong policies should be made to encourage business activities, adding that there was a lot of potential in Pakistani businessmen to boost their business. Sheikh asked the government to play its role in this regard.
During his speech, MNA Ghous Bux Mahar said, "The practice of criticism on the government policies without considering the true situation is not new and it has become a routine practice."
MNA Naveed Qamar said, "Making economic decisions on the basis of worst economic condition of the country is not fair.
"Claiming that import bill is out of control due to increasing oil prices in the international markets is not true as the oil prices always remained high even in the tenures of past governments," said Qamar, highlighting that inflation rate was 3.5% in the early days of the government and now it had reached 10% and there was a prediction of reaching 15% even.
During his budget speech, Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood blamed the past governments for destabilising the economic situation of the country, urging the opposition benches to avoid politicising the issues and work for the progress of the country.
Mehmood said Opposition Leader in the National Assembly (Shehbaz Sharif) in his budget speech spoke on various issues but avoided discussing the budget. "The moral grounds of opposition parties are weak as their leadership are in jail on corruption charges," he said, adding that due to weak policies and poor management of the PML-N and the PPP governments, many state-owned enterprises were in worse conditions.
He said during Shehbaz's tenure as the Punjab chief minister, as many as 2,176 innocent people lost their lives in fake police encounters while the nation would not forget the Model Town incident where police fired straight at the people.
He said the PML-N had physically attacked the Supreme Court on the directions of its leadership and the recording was available in which Nawaz Sharif was calling and talking with Justice (retd) Qayum.
He accused the PML-N leadership of having started horse-trading in politics and promoting the culture of sale and purchase of politicians for making a government.
"The PML-N leadership is involved in many property scandals in Lahore and they use state money on their private properties by declaring them camp offices," said Mehmood. "The PML-N promoted the culture of yellow journalism in the country by preferring their favourite channels. It gave advertisements to their favourite channels and avoided other channels during its tenure."
He said that they used Rs5 billion state money as "slush fund" for providing funds to 362 newspapers, of which, many were dummies without having circulation.
In his speech, Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan said, "The government has presented a balanced and the best budget in the prevailing economic conditions, covering all basic demands of the common man and the business community."
The aviation minister vowed that the incumbent PTI government would ease the sufferings of the poor people.
"A commission has been constituted to find out the reasons behind mega loans from international financial institutions and their utilisation by the previous regimes," said Sarwar.
He questioned as to why the foreign reserves had dropped to Rs10 billion from Rs18 billion.
The aviation minister accused the previous PML-N government of destroying all major state organisations, including the PIA and the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), saying it only flourished its own business of Ittefaq Foundry and steel mills.
He said the PSM "has been facing a loss of Rs470 billion" and the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) a loss of Rs416 billion, while the past government left only 33 planes, of which, 13 were in government property while the rest were on lease and four planes on ground.
He said, "They established their business not only in the country, but abroad as well from the looted money."
Speaking on a point of order, MNA Farooq Azam Malik complained that the front wheel of a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) bus, carrying passengers from lounge to plane, had broken down on the runway of Multan Airport two days ago, putting lives of passengers at risk. "Day before yesterday, my family and I were travelling from Multan to Islamabad through PK-682. The front-wheel of the bus came out at a 50 feet distance from the aircraft," he said.
He requested Speaker Qaiser to summon the PIA chairman for explanation.
The aviation minister assured the house of holding an inquiry into the incident and submit a report within a few days.
With additional input from APP
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