Treasury, opposition face off in NA over economic policies

Khawaja Asif opens debate with trenchant criticism of PM Imran; Planning Minister Asad Umar hits back

ISLAMABAD: The treasury and the opposition benches faced off on the government’s economic policies on the floor of the National Assembly on Monday as the lower house of parliament kicked off a 40-hour general debate on the budget for the financial year 2020-21.

Apart from a few light moments, the over three-hour long debate was full of razor-sharp criticism, with both the sides defending as well as questioning decisions that led to the financial measures contained in the budget document.

Mostly, the contest was between the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Asif and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s senior leader and Planning Minister Asad Umar.

The general debate on the budget started after Speaker Asad Qaiser asked Asif to initiate the debate, in place of Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif, who is recuperating at his residence after contracting coronavirus.

At the outset, the speaker elaborated that the government side would have the assembly floor for 21 hours and 35 minutes, while the opposition members would speak on the budget for 18 hours and 24 minutes.

Initiating the debate, Asif called it a temporary budget and said that there would be a mini budget with imposition of more taxes. He questioned the government finance team’s link with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), while calling them “mercenaries” and asking: “Why were they brought to power.”

Asif said that the economy had already sunk even before the virus hit Pakistan, adding that not even one could indicate that the economy was on the right track. Blaming Dr Hafeez Shaikh and SBP Governor Raza Baqir for dismal economic performance, he demanded that their names should be put on the Exit Control List (ECL).

“The budget is a massive retreat,” Asif said, comparing the economic data of both the previous PML-N government and the two years of the incumbent PTI government. He pointed out that unemployment was rising and millions of people had become jobless.



“Imran Khan was brought with great fanfare,” the former foreign minister said. The PTI chief had promised that he would not borrow loans from the IMF and any other international organisations but that was not the case, he said.

“The prime minister had said that he was against any amnesty schemes and had told the people that it was always introduced for thieves, yet the government introduced the scheme,” he told the house. “There will be a time when this government will become a liability for its voters and sponsors.” He added. “The government should stop blaming coronavirus for all mishaps. The [economic] situation had slipped out of its hands even before the Covid-19 hit the country.”

In his speech, Asif said that the “architect” of the incumbent government – PTI leader Jahangir Khan Tareen – was allowed to go abroad. “He [Tareen] knows all the secrets; he knows the umpire who had to raise the finger; how the government was designed and how our brothers were able to cross the benches,” Asif alleged on the floor of the house.

In response, the PTI leader Asad Umar said that the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif used to call the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Pakistan.

Defending the government’s strategy of easing the lockdown, the minister gave India’s example, where more than 100,000 cases were reported despite a strict lockdown. “The lockdown is an ineffective policy and a menace for the developing nations like Pakistan,” Umar said, emphasising that Modi’s policies had damaged the economy of his country by pushing millions below the poverty line.

He said the opposition should tell the government if they had any plan instead of just criticising the government’s policies, adding that if they [the opposition] had the courage, they should also tell the daily-wage earners and the downtrodden segments of society that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s policy to keep the economy running and helping the poor was wrong.

Responding to Asif’s criticism, Umar tried to answer each and every question by quoting figures, citing relevant government policies and how Asif’s predictions in the past had turned out to be incorrect. He reminded the PML-N leader that Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre generated the highest funds in the year, when Asif had called it a fraud.

Answering the notion that PTI was losing its popularity, Umar said that the picture was completely the opposite. Commenting on different economic numbers, Umar regretted that the former foreign minister could not see but the investments and reserves have increased during the PTI tenure. At one point, Umar said that Asif misquoted the figures about the PSDP during his speech.

Umar also compared PM Imran Khan and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, saying that Imran had responded to the Supreme Court’s questions about his assets for 8 months while Sharif, despite claiming on the floor of the house that he had the money trail, could only present the Qatari letter in the court.

On the subject of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Umar said that the bureau was functioning according to the laws framed by the PML-N and others and its chairman was nominated and appointed by the opposition parties and not by PTI. “Stop blaming Imran Khan for its policies,” he said.

On the demand of putting finance team’s names on ECL, the planning minister said: “I have stopped believing in the ECL now”, especially, after Sharif left the country. Following a few more speeches from the treasury and opposition benches, the NA session was adjourned till Tuesday (today).

The National Assembly session is being held amid strict precautionary measures in the wake of coronavirus pandemic. According to some reports, a total of 97 politicians, including 86 lawmakers from the national and provincial assemblies, have tested Covid-19 positive while six have lost their lives since the outbreak of the pandemic in Pakistan.