Opinion Budget Pakistan
A register of reports and views from the Pakistan press....
Pakistans budget,announced this week,looked like the to-do list of an embattled state,struggling to manage what little was left in its coffers and desperate to generate more. The highlight,expectedly,was its defence spending. Dawn reported on June 7: The defence budget for 2010-11 has been jacked up to Rs 442.2 billion with the cost of war on terror crossing the $10 billion mark in a single year for the first time since 2001… The increase comes to 17 per cent of the revised estimates for 2009-10. After terror,the next big issue in Pakistan has been electricity,or the lack thereof. Daily Times reported: To overcome the severe power shortage… the Finance Division has allocated Rs 129 billion for 2010-2013 for the Ministry of Water and Power under the Medium Term Budgetary Framework… The ministry is bound to reduce load shedding by 60 per cent in 2010-11,70 per cent in 2011-12 and 80 per cent in 2012-13.
While the budget has goodies for select government servants,Pakistans members of parliament might be left high and dry,and it sounds worse for faujis and federal ministers. Daily Times reported that the 50 per cent increase in salaries will not be applicable to salaries of the armed forces,police,judiciary and federal ministers. However,the government would decide whether this increase would be applicable to members of parliament. Salaries of federal ministers will be pruned by 10 per cent but,adds Daily Times: the cut is not likely to benefit the national kitty to a large extent.
Gilani-Singh warmth
As Indias PM Manmohan Singh visited Srinagar,Pakistans PM Yousaf Raza Gilani headed to Quetta. Dawn reported on June 8: Speaking at the Command and Staff College at a ceremony to mark the completion of a course,he said: Pakistan seeks negotiated and peaceful resolution of all disputes with India…the Indian leadership had agreed to resume composite dialogue on all controversial issues. Pakistan believes in having peaceful relations with all neighbouring countries.
Daily Times added: By suspending composite dialogue following the Mumbai attacks,non-state actors succeeded in dictating their agenda… it was Pakistans consistent viewpoint to delink the peace process from terrorism… Better late than never.
Nato attack
The News on June 8 reported one of the most brazen attacks on foreign security forces: Unidentified armed men opened fire at a convoy of over 30 vehicles including trailers carrying supplies and vehicles and tankers carrying oil for the Nato forces in Afghanistan near Sang Jani,a few kilometres short of Taxila on the GT Road at around mid-night on Tuesday… The police claimed the terrorists continued shooting at the trailers and oil tankers for over an hour.
General popularity
News of Pervez Musharrafs expected return to Pakistani politics resurfaces every few days. The News reported on June 8: The All Pakistan Muslim League,led by former president Pervez Musharraf,has started its political journey from Karachi to target,what its representatives call the politics of dynasty in order to empower the masses. We observed unprecedented sentiments for Gen Musharraf,which showed he was more popular than we expected, said Musharrafs spokesman Rashid Qureshi at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club.
Corruption slur
Daily Times carried a news item on June 9 questioning the integrity of the countrys legal hero,Aitzaz Ahsan: The executive committee of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) has decided to forward the names of senior advocates Aitzaz Ahsan and Irfan Qadir for allegedly accepting bribes in the controversial Haris Steel Mills case for getting a favourable decision from the court. Qadir is the prosecutor general of the National Accountability Bureau.
Defence of defiance
Nawaz Sharif has kicked up a religious row,as. Dawn reported on June 10: PMLN has rejected criticism of its leader Nawaz Sharifs remarks about Ahmadis rights following the suicide bombings on two mosques in Lahore… Sharif upset religious and political circles last week after he said Ahmadi brothers and sisters are an asset of the country. Sharifs comments drew criticism from religious parties,and a grouping of such parties was reported to have urged Mr Sharif to retract his statement and not to defy religion for petty political gains. PMLQs Chaudhry Pervez Elahi has reportedly termed this remark as an attempt to secure his properties in the UK.
Legal eagle
To end the long queue of resignations from law secretaries,Pakistans law minister has picked his new aide,reported Dawn on June 11. The government gave its opponents enough ammunition… when it picked a relatively inexperienced advocate to head the law ministry. Mr Masood Chishti,a former associate of Law Minister Babar Awan,will be the fifth law secretary since the government took over in March 2008. The post has almost always been held by retired or sitting judges of superior courts.
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