ISLAMABAD
\nTaking part in the budget debate in the National Assembly, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday called for efforts to create a political consensus to abolish the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), as lawmakers from the opposition parties, while decrying their alleged political victimisation, questioned huge budgetary allocations for various institutions, including the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and the judiciary.
\n\u201cWe realised that NAB and the Pakistani economy cannot coexist,\u201d said the PPP chairman who had come for the first time to the assembly since the presentation of federal budget by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on June 12.
\nHe had come to the house after presiding over a parliamentary party meeting in which the PPP decided to vote for the budget, stating that it did not want to destabilise the country.
\nMr Bhutto-Zardari alleged that NAB was an institution created for political engineering and maligning politicians. He said the businessmen were running from the country whereas bureaucrats were not ready to sign the documents due to NAB\u2019s fear.
\n\u201cIt is in our manifesto and that of the other parties to abolish NAB. The biggest supporters of NAB may too support this step today,\u201d he added.
\n\u201cWe do not need to send our opponents to prison to further our politics. If the step to discontinue NAB is finally taken, then it will benefit the country, its economy and democracy. If this is not done so, then at least public-private partnership projects should be exempt as was done for the SIFC,\u201d he said.
\nHe said the people were looking at the government and the opposition with the hope that they would sit together and form consensus to prioritise the solutions to the crises being faced by the country.
\nHe recalled that in the past, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had talked about a \u2018Charter of Economy\u2019, adding that \u201cwithout such a charter and consensus, we cannot address the long-term problems Pakistan is riddled with\u201d.
\nHe complained that under the agreement signed between the PPP and PML-N at the time of the government formation, it had been agreed that the budget and related decisions, including the PSDP, should be made with the consultation of the PPP. Unfortunately, he said, this prerequisite was not fulfilled.
\nMr Bhutto-Zardari expressed concern over the rise in electricity prices and ongoing loadshedding in the country amid sweltering temperatures. He called for \u201ccompetitive taxation\u201d, instead of \u201cpunitive taxation\u201d. He regretted that every budget stressed on indirect taxation, instead of the rich and the mighty companies. In this budget too, he said, 75 to 85 per cent of tax regime was indirect taxes.
\n\u201cWhen this is the case, then suffice to say, we are not passing a poor and people-friendly budget,\u201d he stated.
\nThe PPP chairman said the Sindh government had succeeded in expanding tax collection and the base, stating that they had done this because \u201cwe do not use NAB, FIA or anti-corruption to threaten the business community\u201d.
\nHe said the previous PTI government had attempted to make full use of NAB, FIA and similar entities to meet its targets. \u201cThey were unsuccessful, and this government will be too if it adopts the same methodology,\u201d he said.
\nLater, taking part in the debate on the charged expenditure, inclu\u00added in Demands for Grants and Appropriations for the next financial year, the PTI members one after the other questioned huge allocations for the ECP and the judiciary, stating that the two institutions had failed to come up to the expectations of the people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD Taking part in the budget debate in the National Assembly, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday called for efforts to create a political consensus to abolish the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), as lawmakers from the opposition parties, while decrying their alleged political victimisation, questioned huge budgetary allocations for various institutions, including the Election Commission […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391834,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-414838","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n