Call to abolish perks for judges, generals, legislators

[HAIDER]

Call to abolish perks for judges, generals, legislators​

Iftikhar A. Khan Published February 18, 2023 Updated about 2 hours ago




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ISLAMABAD: As the Senate on Friday unanimously adopted recommendations on the Money Bill to amend certain laws relating to taxes and duties through the Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2023, a call was given in the house to do away with perks for judges, generals and lawmakers as a step towards steering the country out of economic quagmire.
Jamaat-i-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmad, on a point of order, waved a document in the air and read it out. A retired judge gets around Rs1 million a month in pension, in addition to 2,000 free electricity units, 300 litres of free petrol and free phone calls worth Rs3,000, though there was no room for this luxury lifestyle, he said.
While highlighting the need to bring ‘protocol culture’ to an end, the senator said 60 bulletproof luxury vehicles were in use of cabinet members only, while ‘other bigwigs’ have vehicles which consume as much as oil a truck consumes.
According to him, as many as 150,000 official vehicles are filled with free petrol. He was of the opinion there should be no free electricity, gas or petrol for anybody.
The senator called the budget a death warrant for the poor and asserted, “You burden the poor, now put some burden on the elite class.”

Senate adopts recommendations on money bill

He dubbed the incumbent 87-member federal cabinet as the world’s largest cabinet and called for a substantial cut in its size. He claimed the bill had not been domestically prepared but had been drafted at the IMF headquarters. He rejected the government’s rhetoric that there was no other option but to go to International Monetary Fund.
PTI senator Dr Shahzad Waseem, who is leader of the opposition in the senate, said the recommendations proposed in the report adopted by this house sought a catastrophe in the name of a mini-budget to be inflicted on the masses. He said the opposition completely rejected this alleged controversial bill as anti-people.
He said people should be the centre of all state endeavours, but the recommendations intended to add to the miseries of the masses after the spike in taxes and inflation. He said the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) requested the government to allow import of 155 luxury cars. “The FBR should improve its outdated IT system that has gone hackneyed and unable to serve its purpose of tax collection,” he said.
He believed there was still time to reclaim the country, adding that the government in accordance with the constitution should be compelled to hold elections in the two provinces.
However, he added, to decide future course of the country, the masses must be allowed to elect a unanimous leadership through general elections. He also grilled the government for what he called launching a campaign against the judiciary.
Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha on Friday said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would announce major austerity measures in all the government institutions to control the fiscal deficit by minimising government expenditures.
“The prime minister has already formed a commission to finalise the austerity measures and he himself would announce the recommendation finalised by the commission,” the state minister explained while speaking on the floor of the senate.
She said all cabinet members had already voluntarily announced that they would not get their salaries from the national exchequer.
‘Meeting PTI promises’
Ms Paha said the PDM government was acting upon the agreement made by the PTI regime with the IMF, only ‘to save the state at the cost of their politics’. She called upon all political parties and other stakeholders to support the government in this hour of need, as ‘tough decisions’ were badly needed to steer the country out of economic crisis.
She said the recently increased tariffs in electricity and gas sectors would not apply to the small consumers.
Referring to the Finance (Supplementary) Bill, 2023 presented by the government in both houses, she said the government had no option but to take tough decisions as the country’s economy was on the verge of default. “No doubt inflation is high and the people are extremely worried but the point is that this is the time to make structural adjustment because without this we will sink in further darkness,” she added.
However, she said that to safeguard the extremely poor segment of society from the inflationary shocks, the government had decided to raise the allocation for Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) by Rs40 billion to Rs400bn.
The minister made it clear that whether the government go with the IMF programme or not, it would have to make structural reforms in key economic areas without which the country’s economy would not get stability.
After her speech, the Senate chairman adjourned the session to meet again on Feb 20.
Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2023

 

[Olympus81]

Absolutely a must.

The Generals, Judges, Bureaucrats, Politicians need to have their luxury and freebies stripped to bare minimum.

 

[Goritoes]

Absolutely a must.

The Generals, Judges, Bureaucrats, Politicians need to have their luxury and freebies stripped to bare minimum.

I can see Tanks rolling, and our Mard-e-Mujahids shooting unarmed civilians to keep their incentives and Mafia.

 

[Imran Khan]

for everyone

Pakistan air force police car is BMW as we are oil rich arab country

while Indian air force chief use suzuki

 

[Enigma SIG]

for everyone

Pakistan air force police car is BMW as we are oil rich arab country

while Indian air force chief use suzuki

That BMW certainly didnt stop the Mehran Airbase attack.

Absolutely a must.

The Generals, Judges, Bureaucrats, Politicians need to have their luxury and freebies stripped to bare minimum.

They need to stripped in public as well.

Absolutely a must.

The Generals, Judges, Bureaucrats, Politicians need to have their luxury and freebies stripped to bare minimum.

They need to stripped in public as well.

 

[Signalian]

You can wish they would reduce perks for generals - not really happening.

 

[Olympus81]

If the establishment were really sincere they’d be rolling out steps like these to recuperate their lost reputation.

But …

 

[N.Siddiqui]

Aren't bureaucrats, judges, retired judges, legislators part of the establishment, and not just generals.

They all support each other, a kind of a cabal with common vested interest.

 

[Shabi1]

Call to abolish perks for judges, generals, legislators​

Iftikhar A. Khan Published February 18, 2023 Updated about 2 hours ago




0
LISTEN TO ARTICLE1x1.2x1.5x
ISLAMABAD: As the Senate on Friday unanimously adopted recommendations on the Money Bill to amend certain laws relating to taxes and duties through the Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2023, a call was given in the house to do away with perks for judges, generals and lawmakers as a step towards steering the country out of economic quagmire.
Jamaat-i-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmad, on a point of order, waved a document in the air and read it out. A retired judge gets around Rs1 million a month in pension, in addition to 2,000 free electricity units, 300 litres of free petrol and free phone calls worth Rs3,000, though there was no room for this luxury lifestyle, he said.
While highlighting the need to bring ‘protocol culture’ to an end, the senator said 60 bulletproof luxury vehicles were in use of cabinet members only, while ‘other bigwigs’ have vehicles which consume as much as oil a truck consumes.
According to him, as many as 150,000 official vehicles are filled with free petrol. He was of the opinion there should be no free electricity, gas or petrol for anybody.
The senator called the budget a death warrant for the poor and asserted, “You burden the poor, now put some burden on the elite class.”

He dubbed the incumbent 87-member federal cabinet as the world’s largest cabinet and called for a substantial cut in its size. He claimed the bill had not been domestically prepared but had been drafted at the IMF headquarters. He rejected the government’s rhetoric that there was no other option but to go to International Monetary Fund.
PTI senator Dr Shahzad Waseem, who is leader of the opposition in the senate, said the recommendations proposed in the report adopted by this house sought a catastrophe in the name of a mini-budget to be inflicted on the masses. He said the opposition completely rejected this alleged controversial bill as anti-people.
He said people should be the centre of all state endeavours, but the recommendations intended to add to the miseries of the masses after the spike in taxes and inflation. He said the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) requested the government to allow import of 155 luxury cars. “The FBR should improve its outdated IT system that has gone hackneyed and unable to serve its purpose of tax collection,” he said.
He believed there was still time to reclaim the country, adding that the government in accordance with the constitution should be compelled to hold elections in the two provinces.
However, he added, to decide future course of the country, the masses must be allowed to elect a unanimous leadership through general elections. He also grilled the government for what he called launching a campaign against the judiciary.
Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha on Friday said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would announce major austerity measures in all the government institutions to control the fiscal deficit by minimising government expenditures.
“The prime minister has already formed a commission to finalise the austerity measures and he himself would announce the recommendation finalised by the commission,” the state minister explained while speaking on the floor of the senate.
She said all cabinet members had already voluntarily announced that they would not get their salaries from the national exchequer.
‘Meeting PTI promises’
Ms Paha said the PDM government was acting upon the agreement made by the PTI regime with the IMF, only ‘to save the state at the cost of their politics’. She called upon all political parties and other stakeholders to support the government in this hour of need, as ‘tough decisions’ were badly needed to steer the country out of economic crisis.
She said the recently increased tariffs in electricity and gas sectors would not apply to the small consumers.
Referring to the Finance (Supplementary) Bill, 2023 presented by the government in both houses, she said the government had no option but to take tough decisions as the country’s economy was on the verge of default. “No doubt inflation is high and the people are extremely worried but the point is that this is the time to make structural adjustment because without this we will sink in further darkness,” she added.
However, she said that to safeguard the extremely poor segment of society from the inflationary shocks, the government had decided to raise the allocation for Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) by Rs40 billion to Rs400bn.
The minister made it clear that whether the government go with the IMF programme or not, it would have to make structural reforms in key economic areas without which the country’s economy would not get stability.
After her speech, the Senate chairman adjourned the session to meet again on Feb 20.
Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2023

When PTI came into power they tried a policy in which only up to Cultus will be allotted to bureaucrats and official car not be used for personal errands like shopping or picking children, can report via PM portal and share picture of in use car, it was severely opposed and didn't last long. Regarding perks, while eliminating at once is ideal but will be faced with opposition also they are given perks so they can have comfortable lives and dont get tempted to corruption as they have massive projects/power at disposal (how much it works is debatable) , for starters instead of units and petrol litres, can make it a fixed monetary amount that way these people will also feel the brunt of things getting expensive because at the moment if someone allotted 200 litre petrol per month it makes no difference to him whether its Rs 100/litre or Rs 500/litre because he is guaranteed 200litres.


Given the emergency and blaming IMF for austerity measures is being hypocritic. We need to control expenses as its in our own good, there should be ban on purchase of any new cars for next 2yrs at least. Furthermore we could bound car manufacturers that only cars with 100% local sourced components will be eligible for any government use tender (after next 2-3yrs). India did the same for gov and taxi use and it forced manufacturers to comply because of the volumes. This will save foreign exchange and make these cars resilient from currency depreciation. In past manufacturers found loopholes like having third parties import components and assemble sub components to show made in Pak but in fact no local capacity built, which is why this time needs to be 100% made in Pakistan with local raw materials.

Infact gov can get creative and use similar approach for other items, PPRA could give ultimatum on certain items like solar panels, tiles, sanitary hardware, electrical goods etc that gov will only buy items made in Pakistan with local raw materials and for this it will give suppliers some notice period to comply if they want to continue having business with Pak gov.

 

[Mentee]

You can wish they would reduce perks for generals - not really happening.

Bohat shoday log Hain ustaad g chai b pallay say nae peetay

 

[N.Siddiqui]

The so called legislators came up with NAB amendments and gave clean chit to the loot of the country to themselves.

This is the class of legislators we have now, a shame to the highest office.

And these crooks are burdened with running a country. No wonder the country is at the brink and close to a meltdown.

 

[Genghis khan1]

Stripping will do no good. Infact properly functioning society sould be able to provide these perks to officeholders as an incentive to do good work. US Generals retired as millionaire. Problem here is the Absence of absolute accountability. You strip your bureaucrats, judges, retired judges, legislators and they will start selling themselves to highest bidder out there. Only fear of accountability keep societies alive.

 

[villageidiot]

Absolutely a must.

The Generals, Judges, Bureaucrats, Politicians need to have their luxury and freebies stripped to bare minimum.

But sir, that will adversely affect their ability to adequately serve this nation. They are already trying hard. Cut our poor elite some slack, will ya?

Stripping will do no good. Infact properly functioning society would be able to provide these perks to officeholders as an incentive to do good work. Problem here is the Absence of absolute accountability. You strip your bureaucrats, judges, retired judges, legislators and they will start selling themselves to highest bidder out there. Only fear of accountability keep societies alive.

It's almost as if IK isn't a broken record talking about accountability all the time. There's good reason behind it.

 

[N.Siddiqui]

A

Stripping will do no good. Infact properly functioning society sould be able to provide these perks to officeholders as an incentive to do good work. US Generals retired as millionaire. Problem here is the Absence of absolute accountability. You strip your bureaucrats, judges, retired judges, legislators and they will start selling themselves to highest bidder out there. Only fear of accountability keep societies alive.

As if they are not pliable now and not selling to the highest bidder.

Already they can be compromised and manipulated.

 

[villageidiot]

A

As if they are not pliable now and not selling to the highest bidder.

Already they can be compromised and manipulated.

Sir, if there's one thing I've learned from Pakistan's saga, is that greed has nothing to do with plenty or scarcity. There extremely poor people that are content and then there's Nawaz Sharif and Zardari types. Their next 7 generations could burn their money in the stove instead of firewood and eat off of that and still have some left.