ISLAMABAD - Severely criticising the PPP-led coalition government for getting budget document prepared by an unelected Advisor, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan asked the government to incorporate suggestions of the parliamentarians in the Finance Bill before passage and prove that it did not consider the Parliament as rubber-stamp like the previous regime. The treasury benches should not repeat the former regimes procedures by using the Parliament as a mere rubber-stamp and should seriously consider the recommendations of the legislature, he stated. Before budget debate, the House unanimously passed resolution condemning the killing of Dr Sarfraz Naeemi, saying the killers will be brought to justice. Haji Fazal Karim of PML-N raised the issue on a point of order to condemn the act of terror and demanded stern action against the culprits. Some members also pointed out the starting of budget session late by almost one hour. The Chair noted and assured that the House would start timely from the next day (today). Opening the budget debate in National Assembly, Ch Nisar Ali said the government had imposed 'indirect taxes by putting extra burden of Rs 200 billion on the poor people in the budget 2009-10. Contrary to our assurances, we could not give relief to them. The governments decision of withdrawing subsidies and imposing new taxes worth billions will directly hit the already poor segment of the society, he regretted. He asked the government to at least change the name of Carbon with Jagga tax, as it did not reflect the meaning. Carbon tax on petroleum products and CNG will further increase the inflationary pressure on the people, he argued, and added that the government had replaced the Petroleum Development Levy by Carbon tax to counter the Supreme Courts verdict. He urged the government to withdraw its decision and take everyone on board on the budget to make it more people friendly. Everyone should be taken into confidence to present a unanimous budget that should have the backing of every party and endorsement of the Parliament, the Opposition Leader suggested. He was critical of the PPP government for presenting the important document of budget by one Member and prepared by a technocrat, as being the practice of PPP in its earlier two terms between 1988-90 and 1993-96. The government should not repeat the same mistake that the budget should be prepared by someone outsider and only read by a Member of the House. The PML-N leader questioned if Dr Rehman Malik could be elected as Member of the Parliament then why not the Advisor on Finance Shaukat Tarin should also have been elected as member of the Parliament. On his referring to Rehman Malik, as Dr, he told the House, I dont know whether his degree is original or fake but he has a degree at least. He also strongly reacted to the Presidents brief speech a couple of hours before the budget by announcing some measures and said the President should advise or recommend to the government if he wanted any measure but by making the announcement was not understandable. He also criticized the Presidents comments in the recent Friends of Pakistan Conference, pledging US$ 5 billion which have not been realized till now, while he thanked the donors by saying he, his children and even the next generations would be obliged to them. He said according to the Advisor on Finance if Pakistan could not get the pledged amount then it had no other choice but to ask IMF for the arrangements. I dont know much of the economy but IMF provides finances for balance of payment and not budgetary support, he argued. Ch Nisar impressed upon the government to revive the Constitution in its true parliamentary form by empowering the Parliament and not using it as a rubber stamp, as was done by the former regime of Musharraf. Please, Parliament should not be taken for granted but it should be given its constitutional status, he insisted. We can regret that after a lapse of over one year, the government did not repeal the 17th Amendment curtailing the powers of the President and empowering the Parliament. President Asif Ali Zardari had categorically stated that when elected, he would return his powers by repealing 58 (2) B on the very next day, he reminded, and added that the government did not show any seriousness on the issue and it failed even to form a committee to look into the matter. Recalling the revival of judiciary in the wee hours a few months back, the Opposition Leader cautioned, The government should keep its words because once the President termed the agreement with my party as not the words from the Holy Quran and Hadiths but then it had to restore the judges in the morning. It is the most appropriate time for the government to repeal 17th amendment, as the whole Parliament is unanimous on the issue, he asserted. The government should keep in mind its earlier commitments like the issue of judges when it was forced to restore the judiciary in the wee hours a few months back. He expressed dismay over the attitude of the treasury by allocating just less than 10 days to the 342-Member House for debating the Federal Budget 2009-10, which was an important discussion on the policies for the whole of next year. In response to the Leader of the Oppositions comments about delay in formation of the committee on 17th Amendment, Speaker National Assembly Dr Fehmida Mirza informed the House that the parliamentary committee to evolve consensus on the said amendments would be formed shortly and was in the final touches by involving all the parliamentary parties on the issue. Responding to various points raised by the Opposition Leader, Syed Naveed Qamar, Minister for Privatisation, said Pakistan would get shortly the amount of US$ 5 billion, pledged by the Friends of Pakistan, and would be spent for the people. Our friendly countries are helping us at this critical juncture and we should avoid criticizing them, he advised the Opposition. On the issue of National Finance Commission Award, he said the government had started consultations on the issue and it was most likely to complete the consultative process in the first quarter of next fiscal year 2009-10. He hoped that the growth would pick up in the coming fiscal year, which was considered as the year of employment. The government was expecting to provide more jobs to the people. Taking part in the debate, MQM Parliamentary Leader and Federal Minister, Dr Farooq Sattar said that they admitted that the budget had been formulated in a very difficult situation. However, he said, before making a budget, it is the responsibility of the government to consider the difficulties faced by the common people. Basic health facilities, provision of homes to homeless, and proper availability of food are the basic issues, which should have been addressed in the budget. If the government could not provide relief to the masses then it makes no difference whether the House is full or empty, he stated. He pointed out that one should see the causes and analyze why our economy was not sustainable. He termed the inconsistent policies as responsible for the uneven economic growth. We claim to have 8 per cent growth in a year but the next year the growth is restricted to only 2 per cent, he highlighted. He contested the tax figures as the government was claiming to get Rs 70 billion through additional taxes, as according to him, the real increase in taxes was much more higher. Dr Sattar suggested that the government should levy tax on any income crossing a certain limit whether it is from agriculture or any other source to avoid burdening the existing taxpayers. He demanded that the provinces should be given autonomy and if that is not possible at the moment then the government should at least allow every province to retain the collected sales tax from its territory. At least tax collected from utilities should be given to provinces.