ISLAMABAD - The combined opposition staged a protest walkout for the fifth consecutive day on Friday from the National Assembly session over the imposition of additional taxes without approval of the parliament.
The opposition parties soon after the Question-Hour session registered their strong protest and left the house.
The house, which was prorogued sine die due to lack of quorum pointed out by a JI lawmaker, witnessed very thin presence of MNAs from both sides of the aisle.
Taking the floor on point of order, PPP’s lawmaker Dr. Nafeesa Shah termed it biggest SRO of the history imposed on masses. “This is nothing short of a money bill,” she said, adding that the opposition was expecting a satisfactory response in shape of withdrawal of at least five percent GST out of total ten percent addition levy imposed on petroleum products in the last couple of months. “The government should not introduce culture of SROs as it is tantamount to violating the sanctity of the house,” said the PPP lawmaker.
Raising his party’s concerns, MQM senior lawmaker Abdul Rashid Godil termed the justification of finance minister for imposing additional taxes mere a jugglery of words.
“A person sitting in this house might not understand the impact of this tyrant tax, as increase of only Rs2000 expenditure cannot be afforded by poor people,” he said and criticized the government for imposing taxes.
Responding to the concerns raised by opposition lawmakers, Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Rana Muhammad Afzal said that Pakistan is currently providing much cheaper petrol to masses. “The country is in a state of war so we are spending money to maintain law and order situation,” he added.
Minister of State for Interior Baleegh-ur-Rahman also tried to convince the opposition by saying that the government is taking initiative in this regard. His brief comment could not serve the purpose as all the opposition parties left the house.
At the fag end of proceedings, JI’s lawmaker Sher Akbar Khan pointed out lack of quorum in the house when he was not given the floor. The deputy speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi had to read out the prorogation order, as the required condition of two-thirds of the house being present was not met.
The 18th session was summoned on the requisition of opposition parties to discuss the sudden petrol shortage in the country. The opposition parties staged walkouts for around seven times on different reasons mainly due to imposition of additional taxes on masses sans approval of the parliament.
The government during these sessions had warned about more attacks in the country in response to the operation Zarb-e-Azab and actions under National Action Plan (NAP).
The opposition grilled government benches on Shikarpur tragic incidents, saying Prime Minister or Interior Minister should pay visit to the area.
A senior lawmaker of ANP had also made a stunning statement by announcing $200,000 bounty for the person who will assassinate the owner of Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical weekly magazine which had printed sacrilegious caricatures of the Holy Prophet (PBUH).