Govt tables mini-finance, SBP bills in NA amid opposition’s protest

ISLAMABAD: Amid strong protest by the opposition, the government on Thursday tabled the heavily debated Finance Supplementary Bill 2021 and State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2021 in the National Assembly.

The Finance Supplementary Bill 2021 which is also being regarded as the mini-budget would not be referred to the concerned standing committee as per the ruling of the chair.

Moreover, the government also adopted resolutions for the renewal of several ordinances which according to the opposition had already been expired and could not be renewed by the House.

The opposition parties staged a strong protest demonstration in front of the chair and chanted slogans against PM Imran, the government and the cabinet.

Read more: Cabinet approves Finance Bill 2021, will be tabled in NA today, says Fawad

The opposition members were also holding placards on which anti-government slogans were inscribed. They also tore the supplementary finance bill and other documents.

A physical scuffle between lawmakers of treasury and opposition also took place in a session marred by chaos.

Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2021 and the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2021 have been laid in the parliament for approval to ensure the $6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) gets cleared by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Under the supplementary amendment bill tax exemptions have been waived off and according to the opposition, the government would levy Rs1,100 billion taxes under the bill.

Meanwhile, SBP (Amendment) Bill 2021 is seeking operational and financial autonomy for the State Bank of Pakistan with a new mechanism for enhancing transparency and strengthening accountability.

Read more: Pakistan may lose nuclear capability if it surrenders financial sovereignty, warns opposition

The amendments allow the SBP to be sufficiently capitalised and prescribe the necessary mechanism to achieve the desired level of capital over time, through both statuary reserves as well as retained earnings.

The oversight role of the Board of Directors of SBP has been strengthened and its scope has been broadened, including by giving them explicit oversight over the affairs and functions of the bank; the power to supervise the management, bank’s administration, operations and the right of access to all activities of the bank.

Earlier the proceedings of the National Assembly started under the chair of National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar. The government presented the resolution under which proceedings the calling attention notice and the question hour period were suspended.

When SBP Amendment Bill was laid through supplementary agenda then the opposition started protesting against it.

They gathered around the speaker seat and chanted slogans like ‘Go Niazi Go, ‘stop financial murder of masses’.

On a point order, PPP’s Syed Naveed Qamar objected that the government wants to renew the expired ordinances. He was of the view that the government is setting new traditions by doing so. He said six expired ordinances are being introduced and attempts are being made to give new lease of life to these ordinances which are already dead.

Read more: Government once again fails to meet quorum in National Assembly

Responding to the lawmaker’s concerns, Advisor to PM on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan said that ordinances are being presented in the House as per the rules.

Dr Babar Awan presented a resolution about extending the Regulation of Generation, Transmission and Distribution of Electric Power (Amendment) Ordinance 2021. The speaker asked for a voice note on the resolution which was challenged by PPP’s Shazia Marri.

On it, the speaker ordered the count which led to 145 in favour of it and just three votes were cast against it. Actually when the speaker had asked the members to stand on their seats who are against it then the majority of opposition members did not rise from their seat as was advised by Syed Khursheed Shah. It was also a sort of protest demonstration by them against the government.

PML-N’s Khawaja Asif when given floor said that by making legislation on these two bills the government is putting the sovereignty of the country at stake.

“It’s a day of infamy. The control of SBP is being given to IMF. Please do not sell Pakistan. Do not surrender the financial sovereignty of Pakistan. The financial surrender of the country is even worse than the territorial surrender which was made in 1971,” said Asif.

Responding to the PML-N lawmaker, federal minister Asad Umar said that how can the opposition allow remove the government when they could not even make their members stand on voting.

Former PM and a lawmaker of PPPP, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said that that the opposition is not being given time to talk on mini-budget. On it, the chair assured the opposition that it would be given enough time to talk on it.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi was given the floor by the chair to respond to the issues raised by the opposition but the opposition started pointing out quorum on which the chair adjourned the sitting to meet again on Friday at 11am.