Islamabad:
On Friday, the president of the National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said that he had no role in the phenomenal increase in wages of the Guardians of the Higher and Lower Chamber of Parliament, and that those who had given this increase can also withdraw it.
Sadiq responded to a comment from the head of the opposition to the National Assembly, Omar Ayub, who during the budgetary session on Friday, said that the government speaks of austerity but commits “financial obscenity”.
The expression – financial obscenity – was used before by the Minister of Defense, Khawaja Asif, to describe a 500% increase in the wages of the president of the NA and vice -president and president of the Senate and vice -president.
A report citing sources said that the president of the Senate Yousaf Raza Gillani, who belongs to the PPP, chaired a meeting of the Back House Finance Committee to approve the increase in his own salary as well as that of the Vice-President, Sardar Syedaal Khan Nasar of PML-N,
He also said that the president of NA, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, of the PML-N, had chaired a similar meeting of the NA finance committee to “discreetly” the green light an increase in his own salary and that of the vice-president of the NA, a position occupied by Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah of PPP.
Responding to Omar’s comment on Friday, Ayaz Sadiq said that neither the financial committees nor themselves had increased their wages. “Those who have increased our wages can also withdraw this increase. Any increase in our salary can be reversed by the government if it wishes,” he added.
Meanwhile, the president of the Senate, Yousaf Raza Gilani, would also have moved away from the massive hike of the salaries of higher parliamentarians, in particular himself, claiming that he had not been consulted before the approval of the revival.
A notification of May 29 revealed that the president of the Senate and the salaries of the president of the NA had been gone from RS205,000 to Rs1.3 m, in addition to 50% of the revised salary (650,000 rupees) as a sumptuous allowance. The hike came into force from January 2025.
