Daily Times

After an intense debate, the Upper House of parliament on Monday rejected bills seeking an exorbitant increase in the salaries of the lawmakers.

As the bills to increase the salaries and privileges of parliamentarians were presented in Senate, ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) opposed the legislation. Only 16 votes were cast in favour of the Chairman and Speaker (Salaries, Allowances and Privileges) (Amendment) Bill, 2020, while 29 senators voted against it. Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) supported the bill.

The bill demanded the salaries of Senate chairman, deputy chairman and NA speaker and deputy speaker equivalent to that of the judges of the Islamabad High Court (IHC). The draft bill seeks an increase in the salaries of Senate chairman and National Assembly speaker from Rs 225,000 to Rs 879,000 per month to match the salaries of Supreme Court judges and a rise in the remuneration of the Senate deputy chairman and National Assembly deputy speaker to match those of the high court judges.

The second bill – Members of Parliament (Salaries and Allowances) (Amendment) Bill, 2020 – seeks to increase the salaries of members of the parliament from Rs 150,000 to Rs 300,000 per month. It also calls for travel allowance of the parliamentarians to be increased to cover the cost of business class air tickets and AC class train tickets. The bill further seeks 25 business class tickets to be allocated for each lawmaker.

While opposing the bill, PTI’s Senator Faisal Javed said the salaries cannot be increased until the economic conditions are improved, adding that the lawmakers should live with the same salary. He said that the rulers in the past spent taxpayers’ money on their luxuries but Prime Minister Imran Khan didn’t take a pay raise and also decreased the expenses of his office. The PTI senator went on to say that salaries of lawmakers should not be increased unless income of the workers and the peasants increases.

Speaking on the occasion, Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif of MQM-P said that the parliamentarians who do not wish to take the extra money should donate it back to the government or to Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital or Edhi. He said that there are rich people in Senate who can even pay others’ salaries but there are also people like him, adding that raising salaries will not put that much burden on the treasury.

PPP Senator Sherry Rehman, however, criticised the bill. “We will think about pay raise once the economic condition of the country improves,” she said, adding that her party will oppose the bill in current situation. “The country is facing severe crisis and inflation and putting extra burden on the people and the national exchequer is not good,” she maintained. “But, it is also true that the salaries of the lawmakers are the lowest in the region and it is difficult for some parliamentarians to live in the current salary,” she observed.

Usman Kakar, Sitara Ayaz and Abdul Ghafoor Haidri were of the view that everyone in the House wants to increase their salaries and other privileges but due to compulsion from their parties, they are unable to support the bill. They remarked that if a secret ballot is held on the bill, it will get 99.99 per cent votes in favour.