Defence budget in Senate for first time

Allocations for Pakistan Army increase by 4.31pc compared to previous year * Upper House divided over slashing budgetary allocations By Muhammad Bilal and Tahir Niaz ISLAMABAD: The coalition government made history on Tuesday when it presented the details of the defence allocations in Senate for the first time in the country’s sixty-year history. Leader of the House in Senate Raza Rabbani tabled the defence budget for fiscal year 2008-09. Though the complete details were not presented, the government introduced the budgetary allocation of services break-up for 2008-09 in seven categories: employee-related expenses; operating expenses; travel and transportation; general; physical assets; other stores and stocks; and civil works. Pakistan Army: According to the budget document, allocations for the Pakistan Army have increased by 4.31 percent as compared to last year with a grant of Rs 128.699 billion. Of this amount, Rs 71.274 billion has been allocated for employee-related expenses, Rs 22.337 billion for operating expenses and Rs 21.527 for physical assets and other stores and stocks. The budgetary allocation for the Air Force has increased by 5.93 percent in 2008-09 with Rs 71.006 billion, as compared to Rs 67.028 billion allocation in 2007-08. Similarly, the government has increased the budgetary allocations for the Pakistan Navy by 14.16 percent with a total grant of Rs 29.133 billion, as compared to Rs 25.518 billion in 2007-08. The major share of the budgetary allocation will be spent on physical assets and other stores and stocks. An amount of Rs 66.467 billion has been set aside for Defence Production Establishment and allied departments, showing as increase of 14.48 percent against last year. Of this amount, Rs 40.129 billion has been allocated for operating expenses and Rs 36.342 billion for general expenses. Uproar: There was uproar in the Upper House following the presentation of the budget, when the members opened debate with calls to slash the budgetary allocations. Treasury member Khalid Soomro criticised the army for killing its own citizens in military operations and said its budget should be cut by 50 percent. This incensed opposition members, who almost walked out. Several, including Gulshan Saeed and Pari Gul Agha strongly voiced their opinions against any criticism of the military. In his speech, Rabbani said the coalition government had proudly fulfilled its promise by tabling the defence budget in the Senate as pledged by Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif in the Charter of Democracy. He said this was a first step towards the supremacy of parliament. “Parliament is the supreme institution and all other institutions are accountable to it,” he added. Opposition leader Kamil Ali Agha also welcomed the government’s step to present the defence budget in parliament, but cautioned against any confrontation among state institutions. He praised the Pakistan Army, saying it had always played an important role in the country’s affairs. According to APP, Senator Anwar Bhindar said India had increased its defence budget so Pakistan should do the same. He also called for an increase of the total defence budget of the Pakistan Navy.