Mirza ready to fight ‘judicial dictatorship’
"After fighting military men for decades, we are now ready to fight the judicial dictatorship of the country."
After fighting military men for decades, we are now ready to fight the judicial dictatorship of the country, stated Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza during his budget speech to the Sindh Assembly on Thursday.
“Judicial activism has created a problem for the home department as around 120 terrorists, who were arrested red-handed with suicide jackets and explosives, were acquitted because there were no witnesses,” he said, adding, “Where can we bring independent witnesses from?”
During 2002, around 360 terrorists were arrested and later released within a short span of time, which encouraged them to commit more crime, the home minister claimed.
“Due to the frequent acquittal of criminals, the morale of the police and security personnel, who risk their lives to arrest them, is very low.” Appealing to the judiciary, Mirza asked them to be realistic.
Budget
Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) MPA Sardar Ahmed said that majority of the legislators had not even studied the budget properly and had not spoken about it in the House.
While legislators blamed the bureaucracy for making the budget, Ahmed defended them, saying that the structure of the budget is set by the head of the finance department with the advice of the bureaucracy alone.
“Before announcing the budget, a provincial economic survey must be carried out,” he said, adding, “The Sindh government has never thought about the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the per capita income of the people of Sindh.”
Ahmed further said that there is some confusion in the budget documents and other information provided by the government. Referring to the supplementary budget for the year 2009-10, he said that on one hand, the government has claimed that their expenditure has exceeded Rs38 billon, while on the other hand, the supplementary budget shows the overall expenditure to be Rs24 billion. “I think the finance department should reconcile among themselves,” Ahmed said.
Regarding the Annual Development Plan (ADP) for the year 2009-10, the supplementary budget says that apart from the Rs75 billion, the government spent an additional Rs9 billion. “I fail to understand why officials earlier stated in their 10-month report that only Rs38 billion were spent on ADP, if they exceeded Rs75 billion in the next 2 months,” Ahmed questioned.
He said that Sindh government’s plan to establish the Sindh Bank will not be feasible as Punjab and Khyber Banks have not yielded any results.
Meanwhile, Sindh Minister for Tourism Shazia Marri said that those people who criticise the government should look at their past budgets in which they have shown the deficit budget as surplus. Also defending the budget, Sindh irrigation and power minister Murad Ali Shah said that this year’s budget is made according to the wishes of the people, unlike 90 per cent of the budgets passed during previous governments. He said that the ADP has been increased by 200 per cent during the last two years, which is a record high.
Local Bodies
Minister for Local Bodies Agha Siraj Durrani said that infrastructure in almost all the districts has collapsed due to last year’s budget misappropriation. “Now they have torched all the records,” he said. Durrani said they had received 1,131 complaints against the former nazim.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 25th, 2010.
“Judicial activism has created a problem for the home department as around 120 terrorists, who were arrested red-handed with suicide jackets and explosives, were acquitted because there were no witnesses,” he said, adding, “Where can we bring independent witnesses from?”
During 2002, around 360 terrorists were arrested and later released within a short span of time, which encouraged them to commit more crime, the home minister claimed.
“Due to the frequent acquittal of criminals, the morale of the police and security personnel, who risk their lives to arrest them, is very low.” Appealing to the judiciary, Mirza asked them to be realistic.
Budget
Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) MPA Sardar Ahmed said that majority of the legislators had not even studied the budget properly and had not spoken about it in the House.
While legislators blamed the bureaucracy for making the budget, Ahmed defended them, saying that the structure of the budget is set by the head of the finance department with the advice of the bureaucracy alone.
“Before announcing the budget, a provincial economic survey must be carried out,” he said, adding, “The Sindh government has never thought about the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the per capita income of the people of Sindh.”
Ahmed further said that there is some confusion in the budget documents and other information provided by the government. Referring to the supplementary budget for the year 2009-10, he said that on one hand, the government has claimed that their expenditure has exceeded Rs38 billon, while on the other hand, the supplementary budget shows the overall expenditure to be Rs24 billion. “I think the finance department should reconcile among themselves,” Ahmed said.
Regarding the Annual Development Plan (ADP) for the year 2009-10, the supplementary budget says that apart from the Rs75 billion, the government spent an additional Rs9 billion. “I fail to understand why officials earlier stated in their 10-month report that only Rs38 billion were spent on ADP, if they exceeded Rs75 billion in the next 2 months,” Ahmed questioned.
He said that Sindh government’s plan to establish the Sindh Bank will not be feasible as Punjab and Khyber Banks have not yielded any results.
Meanwhile, Sindh Minister for Tourism Shazia Marri said that those people who criticise the government should look at their past budgets in which they have shown the deficit budget as surplus. Also defending the budget, Sindh irrigation and power minister Murad Ali Shah said that this year’s budget is made according to the wishes of the people, unlike 90 per cent of the budgets passed during previous governments. He said that the ADP has been increased by 200 per cent during the last two years, which is a record high.
Local Bodies
Minister for Local Bodies Agha Siraj Durrani said that infrastructure in almost all the districts has collapsed due to last year’s budget misappropriation. “Now they have torched all the records,” he said. Durrani said they had received 1,131 complaints against the former nazim.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 25th, 2010.