Budget makers are thieves themselves who were putting the entire burden on the poor masses, former Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed said on Thursday. Addressing a pre-budget seminar at Mansoora, he said that perks and facilities enjoyed by the president, prime minister and the civil and military bureaucracy were not available to rulers of countries who donated funds for Pakistan. Qazi said that the armed forces of the country, which consumed 60 percent of the budget, had failed to check the recent US operation in Abbottabad.
The former JI chief said that agriculture was being destroyed under a conspiracy. Agricultural inputs were very costly and farmers did not have adequate resources to use them while foreign powers and multinational companies opposed providing subsidies on agricultural inputs, Qazi said. The former JI chief said that education must get high-priority in the budget but feudal lords and capitalists opposed such moves. He said that the youth, which constituted almost half of the population, were the biggest assets of the nation but were being spoiled.
He called for compulsory education up to Matriculation besides a vast network of technical education. Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) President Shahzad Ali Malik said that there was lack of a trust between taxpayers and the government. People did not pay taxes because they did not expect anything in return from the rulers, Shahzad said. He said that there was need for tax reforms and taxes should be levied on those sectors that were not paying taxes including agriculture, services, showbiz and sports.
Anjuman-e-Tajiran Pakistan chief Khalid Pervez blasted the rulers and said that these leaders could even harm the national interest only to protect their ill-gotten wealth.
He said that the budget was being thrust on the people from abroad. Khalid said that the country’s youth was being imparted alien education and the masses had got used to illegal income. Separately, Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Liaqat Baloch said that the Lahore High Court (LHC) verdict on the president’s holding of dual offices was in accordance with the constitution and law and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) should accept it with an open heart. He said that the president represented the federation and if he was head of a party, differences were bound to happen.
Baloch said that holding both government and party offices by the same person had done great harm to politics and the democratic process, which had paved the way for adventurers.
