Parliament breaks taboo, debates defence budget

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
1

Its a great achievement that at least the defence budget is being discussed in the parliament.. it was a main clause in the Charter of Democracy.. the sacred cow is now been debated :k:

Parliament breaks taboo, debates defence budget

http://www.dawn.com/2008/06/18/top1.htm

ISLAMABAD, June 17: For the first time in the country’s history, details of the defence budget for the current as well as the next financial year were placed before parliament amid applause from both treasury and opposition benches.

The Leader of the House in the Senate, Raza Rabbani, laid before the house the papers containing service-wise break-up of the Rs295.306 billion budget for the next financial year and Rs276.186 billion revised budget for the current year.

At the outset of the session, which started two hours late, Mr Rabbani termed the move a step towards sovereignty of parliament. He said that in the past “only one-line defence budget” was presented and the issue was never debated in parliament.

He said the Pakistan People’s Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-N had agreed in the Charter of Democracy that the defence budget would be brought to parliament for debate.

Mr Rabbani admitted that complete details were still not being provided to the Senate, but expressed the hope that next time more details of defence expenditures would come before the house for discussion.

The defence budget details were put before the Senate on the last day of a general debate on the budget, which is expected to be passed by the National Assembly by June 26.

Senators were given only two hours for discussion on defence spending after which Finance Minister Naveed Qamar wrapped up the debate.

A total of Rs295.306 billion has been allocated for defence services, as against Rs276.186 billion for the current year. An amount of Rs99.09 billion has been allocated for employees-related expenses, Rs82.84 billion for operating expenses, including Rs12.08 billion for travel and transportation and Rs70.75 billion for general expenditures, Rs87.63 billion for physical assets and Rs25.73 billion for civil works.

According to the revised budget for the current year (2007-08), Rs95.74 billion had been allocated for employees-related expenses, Rs74.33 billion for operating expenses, including Rs12.54 billion for travel and transportation and Rs61.79 billion for general expenditures, Rs82.91 billion for physical assets and Rs23.20 billion for civil works.

The service-wise break-up for 2008-09 shows that Rs128.699 billion has been earmarked for the army, Rs71.006 billion for the air force, Rs29.133 billion for the navy and Rs66.467 billion for defence procurement (DP) establishment and other accounts organisations.

During the current year, the allocation for army was Rs123.290 billion, for air force Rs63.332 billion, for navy Rs26.454 billion and for DP establishment and other organisations Rs63.109 billion.

Of the Rs128.699 billion allocated to the army, Rs71.274 billion has been set aside for employees-related expenses, Rs22.337bn for operating expenses, including Rs4.682bn for travel and transportation, and Rs17.654bn for general expenditures, Rs21.527bn for physical assets and Rs13.560bn for civil works.

Of Rs71.006 billion allocated for air force, Rs10.706 billion has been kept for employees-related expenses, Rs16.463 billion for operating expenses, including Rs2.183 billion for travel and transportation, and Rs14.279 billion for general expenditures, Rs39.597 billion for physical assets and Rs4.239 billion for civil works.

Of the Rs29.133 billion proposed for the navy, Rs6.750 billion has been allocated for employees-related expenses, Rs3.910 billion for operating expenses, including Rs1.432 billion for travel and transportation and Rs2.477 billion for general expenditures, Rs15.712 billion for physical assets and Rs2.759 billion for civil works.

An amount of Rs66.467 billion has been proposed for DP establishment, ISOs and accounts organisations. Of the allocation, Rs10.359 billion has been set aside for employees-related expenses, Rs40.129 billion for operating expenses, including Rs3.786 billion for travel and transportation and Rs36.342 billion for general expenditures, Rs10.8 billion for physical assets and Rs5.176 billion for civil works.

While some members of the ruling coalition called for slashing the defence budget because of its interference in politics, opposition members suggested that the allocation should be increased because of the tense situation at the country’s border.

Treasury Senator Khalid Soomro criticised the army for carrying out operations in the tribal areas and Lal Masjid and suggested that the defence budget should be curtailed by 50 per cent.

At this, some of the opposition women senators protested over the criticism on the army by treasury members and threatened to stage a walkout. However, Opposition Leader in the Senate Kamil Ali Agha persuaded them not to do so.

Mr Rabbani said the PPP did not want confrontation with any institution, but one thing was clear: parliament was the supreme institution.

“Parliament is the supreme institution and all other institutions are accountable to it,” he maintained.

He said the PPP and the PML-N had also defined the role of intelligence agencies in the Charter of Democracy and that would be ensured in future.

Mr Agha lauded the government’s decision to place the defence budget before parliament, but said there should be no confrontation among institutions.

2

Re: Parliament breaks taboo, debates defence budget

This is the only good thing came out of Feb election. Really this government is a continuation of PML-Q govt, when it comes to solving basic public issues. They had Big Announcement Diarrhea with no attention to increased prices and everyday life problems. PPP is also master in announcing Bhutto funds etc for poor, but does very little for them.

Pakistan's defence budget must be locked for five years atleast. Cut down plot schemes for top brass, reduce the force by 30% and invest that money in power generation plants and sattelitte programs.

3

Re: Parliament breaks taboo, debates defence budget

The defence budget
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Mir Jamilur Rahman

The budget is always good. This lesson we have been learning since the birth of Pakistan. Every government presents good budgets through exaggeration in the fixing of their targets of revenue, exports and social and economic development.

For instance, the new budget envisages a 25-percent increase in revenue in the next fiscal year. In the best of times we have never achieved even one-half of this percentage. The budget is hiding painful facts. Pakistan is suffering a serious shortage in energy production and it is affecting industrial output. Similarly, we have been hit badly by rising inflation. It will keep on increasing digit by digit unless the government tightens its belt and drastically reduces the allocations in non-development sectors.

There is one good thing to emerge from this budget. Prime Minister Gilani has decided that from now on defence budget estimates would be placed in the National Assembly for debate. This is a welcome departure from the norm and would lead to improved accounting and realistic allocations for defence. Parliamentary debate on defence expenditure would also create better understanding by the people of our security needs. Defence takes almost one-fourth of the total outlay of our budget. It is the civil society that generates revenues and which makes the defence allocation of Rs296 billion possible.

At present the budget estimate of the three Services, the ordnance factories and others is presented as a one-line allocation. It is not approved separately but in a consolidated form for all Defence Services. After approval of the budget, the Ministry of Defence apportions the allocation to the three Services and other defence organisations.

As decided by Prime Minister Gilani, the defence budget estimate has now been presented in the National Assembly in a format reflecting the estimated expenditure under major “heads.” Before taking this decision, Mr Gilani took Ministry of Defence and the chief of the army staff into confidence about his proposed change. It is heartening to note that both the Ministry of Defence and COAS fully endorsed the revised format of the Defence Services budget estimates.

In a policy statement Mr Gilani said that as a measure of Pakistan’s tangible display to seek peace with our neighbours, we have decided to freeze, actually reduce, the defence budget when seen in the context of inflation and the rupee-dollar parity. Mr Gilani expressed the hope of seeing a reciprocal gesture from India. Explaining his policy the prime minister declared that our defence is based on the strategy of minimum essential credible deterrence and that we will not enter any arms race.

There is no disagreement among people that the security of the country is of top priority. They have helped to build a creditable defence apparatus by sacrificing even their basic needs. Most of them do not get clean water. They lack sanitary facilities. Their healthcare problems are ignored. Their children cannot get into schools. Recently, the Sindh education minister revealed that nearly 7,000 public schools are not functioning because of lack of funds. It is the same story in the other provinces. The industry and commerce are shrinking because there is no electricity to run them. It means less revenue for the government. If this trend continued we would not be able to maintain even our minimum credible security.

Our budget essentially is prepared to provide annual relief to the ever-increasing government employees, including the retired. They have been given a 20 percent raise in their salaries and substantial increase in pension amounts. For the purpose of the salary raise members of Parliament are now treated as government servants. It means that whenever a raise is given to the government employees, the MNAs and Senators will also get the same raise automatically. In another budgetary proposal the former presidents of the country have been exempted from income-tax. The government is not expanding the income-tax base but rather shrinking it.

Mr Asif Zardari has felicitated the lawyers and their leaders for maintaining discipline and law and order throughout just ended the Long March. Zardari’s praise for the lawyers is well deserved considering that there was not a single incident of lawlessness during the entire march, not even a broken traffic light. The various processions first converged in Lahore then joined the main march to Islamabad. Many political parties also participated in the march. Undoubtedly, the Long March has proved that protests can be held non-violently. The government also deserves congratulations for facilitating the marchers.

The most favourite slogan of the marchers was “Go, Musharraf, go.” Suppose he listens to the people’s cries and leaves voluntarily. Who will take his place? Most probably, it will be Asif Ali Zardari, because he commands more votes in the than any other leader. If this happens, Zardari would become the first president of Pakistan from Sindhi, which will augur well for the federation.

The writer is a freelance columnist.

Email: [email protected]

4

Re: Parliament breaks taboo, debates defence budget

good move.

♥*♥*♥*♥*♥ Muhabat Key Naheen Jati ♥*♥*♥*♥*♥