By: Zulfiqar Ali (Kashmir Investigation Team)
MUZAFFARABAD (Kashmir English): The Secretary of the Azad Kashmir Legislative Assembly, Chaudhry Basharat Hussain, has proposed increasing the salaries of the Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) to match the salaries of the Members of the Punjab Assembly.
Hussain, who also serves as the Secretary of the Finance Committee of the Assembly, stated that an amount of Rs. 453.84 million would be required to increase the salaries of Speaker, members of the assembly, and ministers.
This proposal comes at a time when a coalition of civil society organizations, the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee, has been demanding the reduction of perks and privileges of the political and administrative elite.
The region primarily depends on taxes and Pakistan’s grants, yet there is a deficit in service delivery in health, education, and a growing issue of unemployment and poverty.
In his proposal, Hussain mentioned that the last increase in the salaries and allowances of the Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly members was in 2014. At that time, the basic salary of the assembly members was 45,000 rupees (which is still the same today), which he argues is extremely low in today’s era of inflation.
The proposal further stated that recently, the salaries of the National Assembly of Pakistan, the Senate, and members of the Punjab Assembly were increased in proportion to inflation. Since the Azad Kashmir Assembly’s parity is with the Punjab Assembly, Basharat believes that the salaries of Azad Kashmir’s members should be equal to those of Punjab’s members.
The proposal explained that in Punjab, the salaries of assembly members have been increased from 76,000 rupees to Rs. 400,000, the salaries of ministers have been increased from Rs. 100,000 to Rs. 900,000, while the salary of the Speaker has been increased from 125,000 to Rs. 950,000.
Additionally, the proposal mentioned that the salary of the Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker has been raised from 100,000 to 775,000 rupees. Furthermore, the salaries of advisors, special assistants, and parliamentary secretaries have also been suitably increased.
The proposal concluded that since the parity of the Azad Kashmir Assembly is with the Punjab Assembly, the salaries of Azad Kashmir Assembly members should be increased in line with the salaries of Punjab Assembly members.
