PTI and PPP oppose bill seeking raise in salaries of parliamentarians

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.

امید ہے کے جو اخباری خبریں پارلیمنٹ کے ارکان کی تنخواہ بڑھانے سے متعلق سینیٹ کی قرارداد کے متعلق آ رہی ہیں وہ درست نہیں. ان حالات میں بلکل بھی مناسب نہیں کے عوامی نمائندے اپنی مراعات میں اضافہ کریں. اگر خزانے میں گنجائش ہے تو اس کو عوام پر بوجھ کم کرنے کے لئے استعمال کرنا چاہیے

— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) February 2, 2020

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.

We will not support the bill on the salary increase for parliamentarians.This is a time of great economic crisis for the people of Pakistan and not the time to for us to start matching r salaries with the region or others. Public money needs to be spent on public relief right now

— SenatorSherryRehman (@sherryrehman) February 1, 2020

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.