Military pension bill Rs72 bn, civilian Rs18 bn, PAC told
ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday stopped short of urging Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to treat the military pension budget as part of the overall defence budget after Secretary Finance Salman Siddique revealed that three million retired armed forces personnel were getting Rs 72 billion annual pension under civilian head as against only Rs 18 billion for 0.5 million retired civilian employees.
The Auditor General informed the PAC that the pension bill for the retired armed forces personnel had risen from Rs 26 billion in 2001 to a staggering Rs 72 billion in 2010. MNA Khawaja Mohammad Asif tried his best to convince his fellow PAC members to recommend to the government to treat Rs 72 billion military pension budget as part of the defence budget (military pension bill was separated on orders of General Pervez Musharraf in 2001 to show decline in defence spending). But Ms Yasmin Rehman, who was presiding over the meeting in the absence of PAC Chairman Ch Nisar Ali Khan, did not agree, saying it would be appropriate to first consult Ch Nisar Ali Khan before taking a decision.
But Khawaja Asif kept on insisting that the PAC should recommend to the government that it should include the pension budget of the armed forces in the main defence budget, saying the people should know how much the military was getting in the name of defence budget. ...
