The government has approved a significant salary increase for the Senate chairman and National Assembly speaker, raising their monthly salaries from Rs 205,000 to Rs 1.3 million, according to a news report.
The increase, which also includes a 50% sumptuary allowance (Rs 650,000), was made effective from January 2025, according to a notification issued on May 29.
This marks the first salary increase for these positions since January 2016, as confirmed by a senior official from the National Assembly Secretariat.
The decision comes on the heels of a similar increase in the salaries of federal cabinet members in March 2025, where their pay was raised by up to 188%.
The pay raise for the Senate chairman and NA speaker has been met with backlash from within the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party.
Senior PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique criticised the move, calling it “incomprehensible” and lacking moral justification. He expressed his concerns on social media, stating, “A sudden increase of many times in the salaries of the Chairman Senate and Speaker National Assembly, along with a 50 percent increase in allowance, is an incomprehensible move.”
