Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif.—File Photo

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has lauded the role of doctors in the improvement of health sector and provision of medical facilities to the patients and said that the striking doctors should immediately call off their strike unconditionally.

He was addressing a meeting of senior doctors, vice chancellors, principals and professors at Chief Minister’s Secretariat on Wednesday.

He said that negotiations with the doctors could only be held if they ended their strike. He said that if the doctors called off their strike and assumed their responsibilities, their genuine demands would be considered with the consultation of senior doctors.

The chief minister constituted a committee comprising senior doctors, public representatives and senior government officers and directed it to submit its recommendations as early as possible.

Senator Pervaiz Rashid, Provincial Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan, Special Assistant Kh. Salman Rafiq, Zaeem Hussain Qadri, Chief Secretary and Secretary Health were also present on the occasion. Senior doctors made a unanimous appeal to the chief minister to pardon the striking doctors.

The Pildat presentation said that a balance must be made between the Parliament’s role in scrutinising the budget and the government’s job in preparing it. — File photo

ISLAMABAD: Parliament’s most important responsibility is to scrutinise, pass and oversee the spending of the budget while it is the government’s job to prepare the budget.

Without creating a balance in these constitutional roles, public representatives will remain outside the loop of crucial policy making on budget.

The amendment approved by the National Assembly Standing Committee on Rules must be passed by the House urgently to allow committees to effectively scrutinise departmental budget in detail.

These views were expressed by various speakers and analysts at the briefing session organised by Pildat today on Understanding Budget 2012-2013 ahead of the budget debate beginning in the two houses of Parliament today.

Mir Aamir Ali Magsi, MNA chaired the session while the key speakers included Mr. Nohman Ishtiaq, Financial Expert, Air Vice Marshal (Retd.) Shahzad Chaudhry, Defence analyst, Ms. Anjum Ibrahim, Resident Editor, Business Recorder and Ms. Aasiya Riaz, Joint Director, Pildat addressed the participants at the session.

Delivering his key-note presentation, Nohman Ishtiaq discussed in detail the parameters of the federal budget. Presenting a detailed overview of the Federal Budget 2012-2013, he said that it is important to keep in view the economic, political, and defence-related context of the country in mind.

Speaking on the occasion, Anjum Ibrahim said that while in the UK, the coalition government consulted its coalition partners while making the budget, Pakistan’s government did not consult its coalition partners including the ANP, MQM and the PML.

“MQM even outlined its own shadow budget which speaks volumes about the lack of consultation with the government and with the coalition partners,” she said.

She also highlighted data integrity as an issue evident both in the Economic Survey of Pakistan as well as in the budget documents.

Speaking on the topic of Demystifying Defence Budget, Air Vice Marshall (Retd.) Shahzad Chaudhry said that contrary to the popular perception, the armed forces follow a strict procedure, much like any other ministry, through which the defence budget is prepared.

He said political parties must work to change the mission of the armed forces or change the threat level to the country or consider reducing the size of forces.

Members of Parliament present on the occasion deeply appreciated Pildat’s initiative and raised various questions relating to the budget.

It’s where the citizens of this country have come to protest on many an occasion; to have their voices heard over matters such as the restoration of the Judiciary among others. Some voices louder than others. However, the question remains: why is it that in a “Democratic” country in today’s day and age, where the people elect their representatives, do they have to come to this Shahra again and again to protest issues such as the killing of journalists who convey the truth to the masses?

In any democratic country, the most basic right of the people is freedom of speech and the security of its citizens. And yet, every time a person speaks the truth, they tend to get muted under mysterious circumstances. Fingers get pointed towards the security establishments and agencies but the truth is never made available to the public.

In the past three years, 48 journalists have been abducted and killed with the most recent one being Salim Shehzad. Out of these 48 cases, not even one has been thoroughly investigated and no reports have surfaced. So then, is it the security agencies that are to be blamed? Each time a finger gets pointed towards these agencies, the person pointing the finger is termed as “anti-state” and “anti- establishment”. Leaving some room for the benefit of the doubt, it makes one wonder why the agencies are so resilient over conducting these investigations.

Even if one of such pending investigations is carried out in a 100 per cent transparent manner, the masses may start respecting and trusting these agencies again. It is unfortunate for the citizens of Pakistan to know that the agencies that they are affording each year through hefty budgets are the ones that cannot be trusted. A little more time spent doing their actual job, which is to protect the people, may actually help our agencies in getting their credibility back.

Also, the responsibility naturally gets extended towards the “friendly opposition” sitting in the parliament. It is their job to press the government on issues that are ignored rather than thinking up ways to regain the “Kursi”.

“Izhar-e-Yakjehti” to the extent of making appearances and political “bayans” backed by a political agenda to gain limelight does not do any good. Fortunately, even the public is now well-aware of these facts, which is why there is a common dislike for politicians not just in the educated, but also in the lower-income class of Pakistan. Having said that, it makes one wonder, how these representatives of the public get elected over and over again.

What is “Dastoor” to us then? A question hard to answer by any Pakistani at the moment. The only thing evident is that we’re in dire need of it. It is “Dastoor” which will bring our country back in order, put electricity into our fans, put sugar into our cups, put deserving candidates in the parliament seats, put competent officers in the security agencies and hopefully put sasti or at least affordable roti into the mouths of the millions that are starving at the moment. It may also put a liking for political parties and the establishment back into the hearts of the people of Pakistan and bridge the ever-expanding gap between the public and their representatives.

The writer is a student at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.

The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily represent the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.