Opposition fires broadside against govt in NA

Leaders give fiery speeches on cut motion about Cabinet Division

ISLAMABAD: Opposition in the National Assembly on Friday unleashed a trenchant criticism of the government, particularly targeting the Thursday’s speech of Prime Minister Imran Khan, and some cabinet ministers, as the house continued debate on the budget for fiscal year 2020-21.

The lawmakers from the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) objected to the moving of the cut motions in the house and urged Speaker Asad Qaiser to ensure the proceedings in accordance with the rules and involve the opposition in the budget process.

Maulana As’ad Mahmood of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) said that the way the cut motion had been moved, was not appropriate. “We do not approve. This is NRO,” he said, referring to political amnesty given by then military ruler Pervez Musharraf in 2007.

“We have already said that you should run the House according to the Constitution. You do not link our cut motions with other member motions. Let each member speak,” Mahmood said. The speaker said that all members would be allowed to speak. “We are running the House according to the rules.”



Ahsan Iqbal of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) moved a cut motion regarding the Cabinet Division. He told the house that the in the past, prime minister Imran had spoken about a cabinet of 18 ministers, but today there was the largest cabinet in the history of Pakistan.

“The claimant of the state of Madina had said that he would form a small cabinet. Today is the largest cabinet in the history of Pakistan, the burden of which is being borne by the people,” Iqbal said, adding that no cabinet had ever become the butt of the jokes as the incumbent ministers.

Referring to Thursday’s speech of the Prime Minister Imran, Iqbal said the prime minister insisted that there was no contradiction in his statements. “Speeches alone cannot run the country. His only goal was to become prime minister. He has no plans,” he added.

In a further broadside against the prime minister, Iqbal said that the ruling party supporters said that the captain [Prime Minister Imran Khan] was an honest person but his advisers were not good. “I say that the captain himself is incompetent,” he said. “The government has failed on every front.”

Another PML-N lawmaker, Mohsin Shah Nawaz Ranjha, said that currently the cabinet comprised 27 ministers and an unknown number of advisers and special assistants. “Could any minister tell me that what is the number of cabinet members,” he asked.

According to Ranjha, the government was being run by selected people, sitting in the cabinet. “When we are elected, we submit the details of assets to the Election Commission. Do the people of Pakistan know what the citizenship of an adviser is, and how much assets they have?”

He emphasised that the ministries should be headed by the elected representatives and the government must be run by those who had sworn the oath under the Constitution. “We are made answerable. But tell me to whom these assistants and advisers were answerable?”

However, he invited strong protest from the treasury benches when he termed the special assistants backscratchers. He also pointed to conflict of interest among some special assistants and demanded that asset details of all the advisers and special assistants should be submitted to this house.

Dr Nafisa Shah of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) said that the cut motion regarding the Cabinet Division was based on the performance of the cabinet. “Yesterday, the prime minister spoke about his performance. “The prime minister doesn’t even know the difference between Germany and Japan.”

She added that the minister for climate change had said that there are 19 points in Covid-19 adding that the statement was being ridiculed all over. The aviation minister presented the report of plane crash in parliament and on the same day he said that out of 800 pilots, licences of over 200 pilots were fake.

“I demand the resignation of the Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan. The minister made a wrong statement, which discredited Pakistan all over the world. The minister’s own degree is questionable,” she charged.

At one point, the speaker stopped Shah from speaking, to which she strongly protested. During her speech, there were angry exchanges between her and the ruling party’s female lawmakers Asma Hadid. However, she was allowed to complete her speech.

PPP’s Shahida Rahmani struggled to hold back her tears, as she told the house that her mother and father were on ventilators because of Covid-19 infection. She accused the government of failing to control the spread of coronavirus. “Today the country is in ruins,” she said.

Defending the government policies, Ali Mohammad Khan said that during the PTI government, the expenses of the Prime Minister House, the Presidency had been reduced, while funds for the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) had been increased from Rs100 billion to Rs 200 billion.

And in a counterattack on the previous PML-N government, he said that former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had promised to make the country an “Asian Tiger”. However, he added that Sharif left behind a tiger that could not move.

“You have increased the country’s debt from Rs6,000 billion to Rs30,000 billion. Had Nawaz Sharif left a strong economy, Imran Khan would not have delayed the imposition of a complete lockdown in the country,” he added.

“Our economy cannot afford a complete lockdown. Coronavirus wreaked havoc around the world. Give me the name of one country that has helped 14 million families,” he said. “If the assistance was not provided to poor families, Pakistan’s situation would not have been different from that of India.”

Commenting on the sugar inquiry, he said that the government must be given the credit for making the inquiry report public. He also said that if NAB was taking action then “what is our fault?” adding: “You were in the government, when the NAB chairman was appointed.”

He said that there were some advantages of the 18th Amendment but also there were some disadvantages. He pointed out that since the 18th Amendment, the country’s agricultural production had declined by 7%.