At the National Assembly, a bill to address the distribution of funds for the elections in K-P and Punjab was tabled.
A speaker for the NA has announced Bill was immediately sent to the committee for review.
ISLAMABAD: To deliberate and discuss the distribution of money for the elections for the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) provincial assembly, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar presented the Money Bill 2023 before the National Assembly (NA) on Monday.
In response to the cabinet decision, Dar introduced the “Charge Amount for General Election Provincial Assemblies of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Bill 2023” during the 51st session of the National Parliament.
The minister provided background information for the Bill by stating: “This House approved a resolution in view of the several Supreme Court rulings to declare that the Supreme Court majority judgement of 4-3 has nullified the suo motu notice.”
He said that the House made clear to the administration that it should not execute the Supreme Court’s 3-0 ruling since it was a “minority judgement” and should not be included in the resolution.
Dar emphasised that the federal cabinet recently met to discuss the SC judgement and concluded that the House should be informed of the apex court’s decision to disburse funding for the provincial assembly elections in Punjab and K-P and that the House should then decide how to proceed.
In its ruling, the SC instructed the government to give the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Rs21 billion so that it could conduct provincial elections, he continued. Without the National Assembly, Sindh, and Balochistan assembly holding general elections, he declared, “these elections would not take place.”
According to article 81-E of the Constitution, the Money Bill 2023 was introduced in light of the government’s choice, the minister said.
He declared that the coalition government, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, was committed to ridding Pakistan of the threat of terrorism and rescuing the country from its economic, political, and constitutional difficulties so that prosperity and growth would be the nation’s destiny.
The Bill has been automatically referred to the committee, the Speaker said.
Ishaq Dar stated in the prologue of his speech that Pakistan had paid back $12 billion in foreign debt since July 2022. He declared, “We are timely paying each foreign payment.
He said that the nation now has 9.6 billion in foreign exchange reserves. According to him, Pakistan’s reserves currently amount $9.60 billion, of which $4.10 billion is held by the State Bank of Pakistan and $5.50 billion by commercial banks.
The administration, according to the minister, has developed a plan to boost the nation’s foreign exchange reserves to $13 billion by June 30.
He said that the administration has strengthened ties with friendly nations and worldwide allies under the direction of PM Shehbaz.
The finance minister said that there were hopeful indicators coming from the government’s efforts to halt the unlawful exodus of money from the nation. According to him, Prime Minister Shehbaz recently declared the adoption of austerity measures to limit the nation’s spending.
He said that the government has created a strategy to stop providing untargeted subsidies and instead give targeted subsidies to low-income, qualified individuals. According to him, the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) now has Rs400 billion in funding, up from Rs360 billion.
Dar stated that the administration upholds the constitution and the law of the nation and respects the sovereignty of the Parliament. He regretted that “Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf [PTI] sought to create constitutional and legal difficulties in the country as part of a premeditated scheme.”
