Lawmakers pay move meets divided opinion

The bill seeks a 100% raise in the salaries of legislators from Rs150,000 to Rs300,000

ISLAMABAD: The ruling party on Sunday hinted at rolling back the proposal for increase in the salaries and other perks of the lawmakers, floated a day earlier, if a consensus was not reached on it.

The draft Salaries and Allowances Amendment Bill is set to be tabled in the Senate on Monday (today).

The bill calls for an in the salaries of Senate chairman and National Assembly speaker from Rs225,000 to Rs879,000 to match the salaries of Supreme Court judges.

It seeks a raise in the remuneration of the Senate deputy chairman and National Assembly deputy speaker to match those of Islamabad High Court judges.

The bill further calls for a 100% raise in the salaries of parliament members from Rs150,000 to Rs300,000.

It seeks the travel allowance of legislators to be increased to cover the cost of business class air tickets and AC class train tickets.

The draft bill also calls for 25 business class tickets to be allocated for each lawmaker and an option for their spouses and children to travel within the country on these tickets.

The bill is to be introduced in the House by senators Naseebullah Bazai (independent), Sajjad Hussain Turi (independent, chief whip of PTI), Sardar Mohammad Yaqoob Khan Nasir (PML-N), Dilawar Khan (independent), Dr Ashok Kumar (National Party) and Shamim Afridi (independent).

Commenting on the matter, PTI Senator Sajjad Hussain Turi maintained that they would consult various political parties and if a consensus was not reached, the bill would be scrapped.

Voicing his dissent, National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser termed the proposal "inappropriate" and noted that the country was still undergoing an economic crisis.

He advised that those demanding an increase in their remunerations should wait for the time until the economy of the country was stable.
He added that an increase in the parliamentarians’ pay at this point would put an unnecessary burden on the treasury.

Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Asad Umar, in a tweet on Sunday, said he hoped that media reports regarding the bill were untrue.

"In these circumstances, it is not at all reasonable that the country's representatives receive an increase in their concessions. If there is a margin in the treasury, it should be used to reduce the burden on the people.

Senator Faisal Javed of the PTI called for the parliamentarians to follow the footsteps of PM Imran.

He said the premier had set an example by drastic cut in the expenses of chief’s executive’s office.

He observed that public and particularly the poor segment of the society was the top priority of PTI and PM Imran.

While addressing a news conference on Saturday, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Information Firdous Ashiq Awan said, while the PTI was not in majority in the Senate, it would take every possible step to make sure no injustice was done towards the public.

Answering a question regarding PTI's lawmakers tabling the bill on Monday, she said that the party was united towards implementing the premier’s austerity drive.

"If a member of the party is bringing up such a bill, they are doing it as an individual and the party does not support such measures," she maintained.

However, not all PTI lawmakers seemed to be on the same page.
Leader of the House in the Senate Shibli Faraz said he would support the bill.

He pointed out that the salaries of lawmakers from Balochistan were almost three times higher than those of the members of the two houses of Parliament.

He said he knew many colleagues in the Parliament whose only source of income was their salary and they found it difficult to make ends meet.

On the opposition side, PPP Senator Sherry Rehman noted that her party would not support the bill.

Taking to micro blogging website, she said, "This is a time of great economic crisis for the people of Pakistan and not the time to for us to start matching [our] salaries with the region or others. Public money needs to be spent on public relief right now."

PML-N’s Mushahidullah Khan said the salaries of all the public office holders needed to be rationalised.

However, he added, the salary structure had to be based on some principle.