PPP, PTI to oppose bill seeking raise in salaries of parliamentarians

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) have said that they will oppose the bill seeking a raise in the salaries of lawmakers.

PTI Senator Faisal Javed said that senators from his party will oppose the bill as Prime Minister Imran Khan has instructed them to not spend extravagantly from the national kitty.

The senator shared that the prime minister and his party are focused on providing relief to the masses, especially the poor. He added that the representatives of the people should follow PM Imran’s example who initiated austerity from himself.

Meanwhile, PPP’s parliamentary leader in the Senate, Sherry Rehman also announced her party’s decision to oppose the bill.

“We will not support the bill on the salary increase for parliamentarians,” Rehman tweeted on Saturday.

The PPP leader said that it was a time of “great economic crisis” for the country and it was not the right time for lawmakers “to start matching their salaries with the region and others.”

“Public money needs to be spent on public relief right now,” said Rehman.

Some members of the parliament have submitted a draft bill in the Senate Secretariat seeking increase in the salary of the Senate chairman, the deputy chairman, the National Assembly speaker, and the deputy speaker, by up to 400 per cent.

The bill also included a proposal to raise the salary of the members of the National Assembly by 100 per cent, besides seeking an upward revision in the traveling allowance for all lawmakers and their families. The raise has been proposed in light of “price hike and devaluation of the rupee”.

The inflation, according to the statement of objects and reasons outlined in the bill, has affected the Senate chairman, the NA speaker, the Senate deputy chairman, and the NA deputy speaker, are all members of the parliament “alongside the general public.”