ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar said on Monday the issue of rehabilitation of flood-affected people in Sindh as well as other parts of the country would be resolved amicably and roughly $11 billion would be spent in Sindh province for the purpose.

Responding to a point of order from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) MNA Dr Nafeesa Shah in the National Assembly, he said a comprehensive roadmap had almost been devised under the directions of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to carry out reconstruction and rehabilitation work in the flood-affected areas. He said immediate relief work had already been done throughout the country with the disbursement of Rs25,000 per family through the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) programme.

He said around Rs100 billion had already been spent in addition to the assistance, extended by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in kind. The finance minister said the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet had recently approved Rs12 billion to replenish the stock of the NDMA, keeping in view the predicted threats of the monsoon and the cyclone.

The finance minister said that following the widespread destruction, caused by the heavy rains and floods, a comprehensive report had been prepared in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), World Bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), European Union and the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives that suggested the economic and physical loses stood at around $30.3 billion.

He said funds amounting to $16.3 billion were required to execute the physical work like repair of damaged houses and infrastructure, under the ‘4RF’ strategy i.e. “Resilient recovery, rehabilitation, and reconstruction framework”.

“The issue will be resolved, as there are no two opinions on rehabilitation of the flood-affected people. Roughly $11 billion, out of $16.3 billion, will be spent in Sindh under the 4RF policy,” the finance minister assured the PPP leadership.

In the general donors’ conference, the minister regretted that less than $400 million were received, while the pledges were made for bearing 50 per cent financing for the reconstruction and rehabilitation work.

The minister said a committee, comprising the Sindh chief minister, and federal ministers including Khursheed Shah, Naveed Qamar and Sherry Rehman, was holding meetings and the roadmap in this regard had almost been devised. He claimed that everything was under planning, and work was going on it; so, there was nothing to worry about. “The work is in progress and hopefully it will be concluded today,” he added.

Ishaq Dar also called for making efforts to finalise a ‘Charter of Economy’ once the federal budget session of the house was over. “I think once the budget is approved, all-out efforts should be made to prepare a ‘Charter of Economy’ to come out of the mess in which the nation had mired lately,” the finance minister said while agreeing with the views of Dr Nafeesa Shah.

He said now the declining graph of the national economy has stopped and it had attained stability; there was a need to make collective efforts to take it towards a growth trajectory, which would be achieved by the grace of Allah Almighty.

He said the current financial crisis was bigger than the one in 1999 when the nuclear tests were carried out, and the country faced international sanctions, adding that the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) government had overcome it in a short span of time.

The minister said that originally the Charter of Democracy (CoD) was signed with the ‘code of conduct’ that whosoever would be elected to power, should not be backstabbed and it followed civil-military relations, constitutional amendments as a result of which 18th Amendment, NFC Award, legal reforms, truth reconciliation commission, saying that he was also part of all the process which continued for four years.

He said all things mentioned in the CoD had been implemented by the Grace of Almighty Allah except for the Constitutional Code and the Truth Reconciliation Commission.

Ishaq Dar said he had constantly been advocating and offering for devising a ‘Charter of Economy’ so that whosoever comes to power followed it in the best national interest.

Dr Nafeesa Shah said the country was facing political and economic crises as a result of the hybrid system, which was created after the 2018 general election.

The PPP parliamentarians, while condemning the May-9 violent incidents, said those involved in unlawful acts should be taken to task as per the Constitution and law of the country. However, they added, there should be no extrajudicial actions.

Nafeesa Shah demanded the formation of a high-powered commission to look into the heinous crime of human smuggling, which also resulted in a tragic boat mishap in Greece. She pointed out that owing to the worst economic crisis, there were reports that around one million Pakistanis had left the country in the last two to three years.

She said that all political parties should sign a political economy charter and Charter of Democracy for all times to come, to bring the country out of crisis. Dr Nafeesa pointed out that different governments had been giving amnesty to different sectors, but no amnesty was ever given to farmers and grower community particularly in the wake of last years’ floods.

Minister of State for Power Division Muhammad Hashmi Notezai, who is from Balochistan, called for solution to missing persons on urgent basis. He said Balochistan was blessed with many natural resources, but the local people were not getting any benefits from them, saying that their livelihood largely depended on agriculture and border trade as there was no industry in the province.

He expressed grief over the boat tragedy observing the people had to opt for illegal ways to reach the European countries for better job opportunities due to increasing unemployment in the country.

Asiya Azeem of the PTI said a meagre amount of Rs5 billion was earmarked for women in the budget, who were 51pc of the country’s population. She suggested that a separate ministry for women should be set up and lauded the government for announcing tax exemption for businesswomen. She also appreciated the government for enhancing salaries and pensions of the employees, however, urged steps to control inflation.

Waheed Alam appreciated increase in the pension of EOBI and the minimum wage to Rs32,000.

Qadir Khan Mandokheil said special steps should be taken to meet electricity requirements and save people from load-shedding in the hot weather of summer.

Begum Tahira Bukhari said providing relief to masses was priority of the government. She said federal employees hailed the increase made in their salaries by the government.

Afzal Khan Dhandla said loans should be provided to farmers on low interest rate. He said the cost of agricultural inputs should also be reduced to enhance the productivity of this sector.

Samina Matloob appreciated increase in the health sector budget She said greater emphasis should also be given to raising awareness about different diseases.

In his address to the National Assembly, MNA Mohsin Dawar said the reason behind his fellow lawmaker’s arrest is not known. Still, reports suggested that the FIA had taken him into custody.

“It is being said that the cyber crime wing had registered a case against him. There’s a session going on and the speaker’s permission wasn’t sought for his arrest.”

This action cannot be called an arrest but “abduction”, Dawar said. “When a National Assembly session is underway, no member of the house can be arrested,” he said.

He urged NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to seek details from authorities about Wazir’s arrest. “For now, we will consider him kidnapped.”

Lamenting that there’s “no rule of law” in the country, Dawar said 25 agencies are functioning in Pakistan; they can stop crimes.

At the outset, the House offered Fateha for the departed souls of Pakistani migrants who died in a boat incident near the coast of Greece as well as those who died in other accidents in the country.