Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has clarified that his statement regarding parliamentarians performing Hajj was “misconstrued” and claimed that the government did not bear their expenses for the holy journey.

“Yesterday I said the government has made a special arrangement for Hajj, relating to the last flight. To a great extent, this has been misconstrued by the general public,” he said during the budget session on Sunday. “Only a flight has been arranged.”

Dar in his NA speech on Saturday said that the government has arranged a special flight for lawmakers going to perform Hajj on June 25 (today) that was not allowed after June 23. It was an early morning flight.

He expressed hope that MPs’ prayers during the holy journey would help Pakistan in this difficult time when the country is desperate to have the IMF deal finalised. Many analysts shared this chunk of Dar’s speech on social media and took a jibe at the government’s strategy to deal with the economy.

Though the timing could not be confirmed, the ruling alliance made last-minute changes to pass the budget in the National Assembly on Sunday. Relaxing the condition for income tax on the super-rich, introducing new rules to lower the pension bill of the country, and hiking the petroleum levy from Rs50 to Rs60 were some of the changes to clinch an IMF deal.

The government has also increased tax collection targets by Rs215 billion to accommodate IMF demands. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has expressed hope that the IMF deal would be finalised this month.

The finance czar claimed that he was receiving requests from many members for sending them on Hajj for “free”.

He explained his clarification after answering a query on the budget from lawmakers in Sunday’s session.

Dar said that the government had requested the top officials of Saudi Arabia to allow a special Hajj flight from Pakistan after the cut-off date as some lawmakers, according to him, was scheduled to leave on June 22, prompting them to skip the budget session.

“Today many of our participants and Hujjaj might have left [for the holy journey]. All of them have paid their official and personal expenses and also paid for their air tickets. So I want to clear up this misunderstanding. The government only sought special exemption from the Saudi Arabia government for the timeline,” he said.

He claimed that the lawmakers have asked him to skip Hajj for the session. Dar was satisfied that the budget was passed and the MPs were able to perform Hajj.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif also spoke about similar confusion. over the

“They [parliamentarians] were not provided any facility from the government] except that the last flight had gone and a special flight had left so that they can leave after the completion of budget proceedings,” he told the National Assembly on Sunday.


The defence minister clarified and added that they went to the kingdom like a “common passenger” via a PIA flight. He clarified that impression that the government bear the expenses was not true.

Asif opposes bills on perks for Senate chief

PML-N leader Asif urged the lower house of Parliament to not support bills, seeking to increase the perks of former and future heads of the upper house.

Among other privileges, the draft law envisioned the provision of a full security detail of at least ten personnel to former chairmen, provisions for government-sponsored travel of their domestic staff as well as family members. As per the new bill, monthly expenses of chairmen or deputy chairmen offices have been increa­sed from Rs6,000 to Rs50,000.

The draft law proposed the provision of a lifetime full security detail of at least 10 persons to all former Senate chairmen. It also proposed that the government bear expenditure on travel of their domestic staff as well as family members.

“Under the circumstances, where Pakistanis are living and not just people but our businessmen… our difficulties are more than the Himalayas right now. In these situations, such privileges in the future… there will be good times and there will be some stability in our economic situation, we will be afforded then we can give facilities. But this lifetime… aeroplanes and helicopters, cars…,” he said.

The defence minister said he could defend such a bill as the country was “poor” and dependent on loans from international institutions.

He urged the House to not support it as they cannot oppose it and advised the House to distance itself from it.

He called for not using the protocol as the same police “gets behind them” after leaving the public office. Asif added that such practices were not appreciated by the people and the leaders should realise that.

“Only a single policeman can sit with you in the car. Rest of the things are frivolous. If you fear for your life then leave it and spend live as a normal MNA,” Asif said.