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

ISLAMABAD: While slamming the government on its plans to present a mini-budget, the opposition on Wednesday claimed that Pakistan would be stripped of its nuclear capability if the country surrenders its financial sovereignty to international financial institutions.

The opposition expressed its concern when the National Assembly met under Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri’s supervision.

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On a point of order, PML-N lawmaker Khawaja Asif said that on December 16, 1971, the country lost its eastern wing and labelled it a “territorial surrender”.

“The mini-budget is the financial surrender and is worse than the territorial surrender which was made in 1971,” said Asif. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has become a local branch of the International Monitory Fund (IMF) and Pakistan has become a financial colony of the lender, claimed Asif.

The PML-N lawmaker urged all 342 members of Parliament to resist the government’s mini-budget plan.

“We will resist the SBP bill and the bill related with mini-budget. Develop consensus on such matters. I request the government not to surrender the financial sovereignty of the country as afterwards they would also surrender autonomy and the country would be stripped of its nuclear capability. Please avoid such a move” urged the former defence minister.

However, at this point, the deputy speaker reminded Asif that the government is yet to table the mini-budget.

But when former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, got a chance to speak, he told the House that there was talk of the government presenting a mini-budget.

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The PPP lawmaker said that the rising inflation has already made the lives of citizens miserable and warned that the mini-budget would be disastrous.

“The public cannot bear any more inflation,” said Ashraf, while urging the lawmakers to resist the mini-budget.

When Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was given the floor to respond to the reservations of the opposition benches, the opposition pointed out the lack of quorum. However, when the count was done the deputy speaker ruled that the House was in order.

Once the count was clear, Qureshi claimed that the microeconomic indicators of the country had not deteriorated in the last three years.

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The foreign minister assured the National Assembly that there is consensus on the nuclear programme, adding that no one can even think to put the programme in jeopardy.

Qureshi asked the opposition to play its role to make the House functional and said that it is not in favour of opposition to point out quorum time and again.