ISLAMABAD - Though the PDM's government will get the mini-budget approved from the parliament next week, yet it has been facing severe criticism by the thin opposition currently present in the lower house of parliament.
The lawmakers from opposition and government include dissidents of GDA, MQM-P, PPP and PTI who lambasted the government over introducing the rain of new taxes.
They came with weird proposals for the government, which is striving to stave off 'default' by unlocking the deal with the IMF.
In their suggestions loaded with sarcastic remarks, the lawmakers challenged Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar to make budget of a person having earning of Rs50,000. “Impose tax on ‘bitter’ (taste) drinks instead of levying tax on sugary drinks,” commented GDA’s MNA Saira Bano, adding that the members of treasury benches from PPP were holding ‘Mehngai March’ (March against price-hike) but now they were equally part of proposing taxes. “Of course, I won’t see my country go in to default but at the same time this inflation by imposing taxes is unbearable,” she said. A PTI’s dissident MP Afzal Dhandala on his turn came up with strange proposals to deal with inflation. He said the lights in the markets should be switched off in the evening as customers have no purchasing power to visit shopping markets. He stressed the need to focus on agriculture and population control. He called for strengthening public transport and reducing car imports. A member from treasury benches/PPP MNA Qadir Khan Mandokhail asked the government to decrease the burden on the poor and instead hike taxes on luxury cars and houses. MQM-P MNA Salahuddin, on his turn, came down hard on the Finance Minister for not turning up in the house. “If MQM-P is your allied partner, the only reason now is to prevent default,” he claimed. The house saw very thin presence throughout the proceedings.