Ruckus in NA as govt tables supplementary finance bill

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led federal government on Thursday tabled Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2021 — or the mini-budget in the National Assembly for approval, ARY News reported.

The Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2021 was tabled by Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin in the lower house amid protest by the opposition members.

Govt also tabled the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2021 in the assembly for approval. The house also adopted different resolutions extending various Ordinances for a period of 120 days.

The Ordinances include; “the Federal Government Properties Management Authority Ordinance, 2021”, “the Elections (Third Amendment) Ordinance, 2021”, “the Public Properties (Removal of Encroachment) Ordinance, 2021”,   “the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021”, “the Pakistan Food Security Flow and Information Ordinance, 2021” and “the Tax Laws (Third Amendment) Ordinance, 2021”.

The NA adopted these resolutions with a majority vote amid uproar from the opposition benches.

Treasury, opposition face off in NA

Amid a noisy session of the National Assembly due to protesting opposition lawmakers, a Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) legislator Shagufta Jumani slapped Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Ghazala Saifi before the speaker’s dice.

As the mini-budget tabled in NA, the opposition lawmakers came face-to-face to the government legislators to stop the proceedings of the Lower House.

The opposition lawmakers besieged the speaker’s dice during the NA session to disrupt the assembly’s proceedings for the mini-budget. A PPP lawmaker Shagufta Jumani slapped PTI MNA Ghazala Saifi after they exchanged harsh words during the NA session.

The treasury and opposition lawmakers were seen pushing each other during the NA speeches.

Shehbaz, Bilawal’s absence

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari remained absent from today’s all-important parliament session.

Earlier today, the federal cabinet headed by Prime Minister Imran Khan had approved Finance Amendment Bill 2021, paving way for a mini-budget.

Taking to Twitter, Fawad Chaudhry said that the cabinet had approved the finance bill, and now it would be tabled before the National Assembly.

The bill was presented before the federal cabinet by Minister for Finance Senator Shaukat Tarin.

کابینہ نے فنانس بل کی منظوری دے دی ہے، اب یہ بل قومی اسمبلی کے اجلاس میں پیش کیا جائیگا۔ https://t.co/S5skxZfxQf

— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) December 30, 2021

PTI parliamentary party huddle

Prime Minister Imran Khan presided over a meeting of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) parliamentary party at Parliament House ahead of the National Assembly session.

Also Read: Is govt in crisis? Here’s what PM Imran Khan says

Sources told ARY News that PTI lawmakers confronted Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin with a volley of questions during the meeting.

MNA Saleemur Rehman lamented that the US dollar has soared to Rs180 against the Pakistani rupee with the public thrown at the mercy of the market.

At this, Tarin said the US dollar was overvalued due to the prevailing situation in Afghanistan and its exchange rate should be between Rs165 and Rs170. He hoped that the artificial rise in the American currency’s value would be controlled.

Some of the lawmakers who were in attendance in the meeting were critical of the bill granting complete autonomy to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

Tarin rejected the impression that control of the SBP was being handed over to the IMF.

MQM-P opposes tax hike on telecom, IT products  

Meanwhile, MQM-P has opposed an increase in withholding tax on telecom and IT products from 10 percent to 15 percent besides also rejecting an increase in taxation on the import of laptops.

The prime minister after listening to MQM-P’s grievances has formed a committee to review the matter.