Pakistan government’s total allocation for the military for fiscal 2010-11 is about Rs 675 billion and not Rs 442 billion as shown in the defence budget, a top finance official has said.
Saqib Sheerani, principal economic adviser to the finance ministry, said the allocation for defence was not reflected under one head in the budget but was distributed under three different heads. Mr Sheerani was explaining why the International Monetary Fund had given Rs 593 billion as Pakistan’s total defence spending for the last fiscal while the government had put the figure at Rs 378 billion in its budget documents.
During the last fiscal, Rs 378 billion were shown under the main head of the defence budget while over Rs 200 billion were shown under two other heads — spending on pensions and the war on terrorism. The government also had to pay for “legacy expenditures” like purchases of defence hardware for which deals were struck during former President Pervez Musharraf’s tenure, Mr Sheerani said. The budget for 2010-11 contained the total allocation for defence under three heads. Besides, the Rs 442 billion announced as the defence budget, almost Rs 225 billion were allocated for pensions and war on terrorism, he said.
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‘PML-N not a genuine Opposition’
Shafqat Ali
Islamabad
The ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) thinks that the rival Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) is not a “genuine Opposition”.
PPP legislator Nadeem Afzal Gondal has challenged the PML-N to shun its garb of “friendly Opposition” and take on the ruling party on genuine political issues and prove itself a real Opposition party.
“If they (PML-N) are serious and claim to be a real Opposition, why don’t they protest and boycott House proceedings and press the government to try former military ruler Mr Pervez Musharraf under Article 6 and conduct the accountability of the corrupt,” Mr Gondal said while speaking in the National Assembly on Friday night.
“The PML-N should link their support to the passage of the budget with the tabling of the list of names of those who got their loans written-off since 1985, and the trial of those who abrogated the Constitution, so that their position as the real Opposition is reinforced,” he added while speaking in the Assembly.