Islamabad:
The National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq managed on Friday that he had no role in the phenomenal increase in wages for the managers of the top and lower house in parliament and that those who had given this increase could also withdraw it.
Sadiq responded to a comment from the opposition leader in the National Assembly, Omar Ayub, who said during the budget on Friday that the government is talking about savings policy but commits “financial indecency”.
The term – financial indecency – was previously used by the Minister of Defense, Khawaja Asif, to describe a 500% increase in wages for the NA speaker and Vice President and Senate President and Deputy.
A report quoting sources had claimed that Senate President Yousaf Raza Gillani, who belongs to PPP, was chairman of a meeting of the House Finance Committee a few months back to approve the increase in his own salary as well as the Deputy Chairman, Sardar Syedaal Khan Nasar from PML-N
It also claimed that NA speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq from PML-N chaired a similar meeting of NA’s House Finance Committee to “quiet” Greenlight an increase in his own salary and Na-Vice President, a post by PPP’s Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah.
In response to Omar’s comment on Friday, Ayaz Sadiq said neither the financing committees nor they raised their salaries themselves. “Those who have raised our wages can also withdraw this withdrawal. Any increase in our wages can be turned by the government if it wishes,” he added.
Meanwhile, Senate President Yousaf Raza Gilani on Friday also reportedly distanced himself from the massive hike in the salaries of senior parliamentarians, including himself, and said he was not heard until the withdrawal was approved.
A announcement of May 29 revealed that the Senate President and the NA speaker’s salaries had been raised from RS205,000 to RS1.3 million. In addition to 50% of the revised salary (RS650,000) as the buzzing allowance. The hike came into force from January 2025.
