LAHORE (Dunya News) – At the time of Pakistan’s creation in 1947, members of the country’s first Constituent Assembly did not receive a monthly salary. Instead, they were paid a daily allowance of Rs21 for days on which the assembly met. With travel allowance included, the amount came to Rs45 a day. Nearly eight decades later, the basic monthly salary of a member of the National Assembly stands at Rs600,000, alongside a range of allowances, travel privileges and other facilities.
The transformation in parliamentary remuneration has unfolded against a very different economic backdrop. Pakistan’s federal budgets have frequently been presented with sizeable deficits, while the Pakistan Economic Survey 2025-26 says consumption-based poverty rose to 28.9 percent in 2024-25, with rural poverty at 36.2 percent and urban poverty at 17.4 percent.
The increase in lawmakers’ pay and privileges therefore spans a remarkable timeline, from modest daily payments in the early years of the country to a compensation structure that now includes business-class travel, annual travel vouchers, office and telephone allowances, medical facilities and payments for parliamentary sessions and committee meetings.
Parliamentary pay begins
The formal system of monthly salaries for parliamentarians began with the Members of the National Assembly (Salaries and Allowances) Act, 1956. Under the law, an MNA received Rs400 a month. The amount was intended largely to meet office-related expenses.
The same legislation also provided for a committee to frame rules covering additional facilities, including travelling, house rent and medical allowances.
During President Ayub Khan’s era, the Members of the National Assembly (Salaries and Allowances) Act, 1966 increased the monthly salary by Rs100, taking it to Rs500.
The more significant change, however, came through the accompanying benefits. Members received travel allowance while attending assembly sessions and were also provided free travel vouchers worth Rs6,500 a year. These vouchers could be used by the member or eligible family members. For journeys by road, members received 50 paisa per mile.
Once salary and allowances were combined, the monthly value of the package was around Rs1,041.
The constitutional framework changed in 1973, when Pakistan’s current Constitution came into force and the Senate was established as the upper house of Parliament. Under the 1973 Senate Order, senators became entitled to the same salary, allowances and privileges available to members of the National Assembly.
A year later, the Members of Parliament (Salaries and Allowances) Act, 1974 brought another substantial increase. The monthly salary was tripled from Rs500 to Rs1,500, while free travel vouchers were raised to Rs6,600 a year.
Road travel compensation also increased to Rs1 per mile. A servant was added to the list of eligible family travel benefits, allowing one member of an MNA’s household staff to use the free travel facility. Members were also given a telephone allowance of Rs2,400 a year.
Taken together, salary, allowances and travel benefits brought the monthly value of the package to about Rs2,250.
Allowances start expanding
For the next 11 years, the basic salary remained unchanged. The 1985 amendment, however, substantially expanded the benefits.
Annual travel vouchers for members and their families more than doubled, from Rs6,600 to Rs15,000. Road travel compensation rose to Rs2 per kilometre. The telephone allowance increased from Rs200 to Rs500 a month, while a new office allowance of Rs750 a month was introduced.
The combined monthly payment reached about Rs4,000.
In 1988, the basic salary was raised to Rs3,000 a month. Free travel vouchers doubled to Rs30,000 annually, equivalent to Rs2,500 a month when spread across the year. The telephone allowance rose sharply from Rs500 to Rs2,000 a month, while the office allowance increased to Rs3,000.
With these benefits included, the monthly package reached about Rs10,500.
Another amendment in 1993 introduced a monthly sumptuary allowance of Rs2,000. The telephone allowance increased to Rs4,000 and the office allowance to Rs5,000 a month. The combined monthly salary and allowances reached Rs14,000.
In 1996, the basic salary rose from Rs3,000 to Rs5,000. Annual free travel vouchers were increased to Rs50,000, equivalent to about Rs4,166 a month, while the telephone allowance climbed to Rs4,600. The resulting monthly package was approximately Rs13,766 according to the historical figures in the remuneration record.
Salary increases accelerate
The pace of increases became more pronounced after the turn of the century.
In 2003, the monthly salary was fixed at Rs15,000, accompanied by a Rs5,000 monthly sumptuary allowance. Annual free travel vouchers rose to Rs100,000, equivalent to about Rs8,333 a month. Telephone allowance reached Rs10,000 and office allowance Rs8,000.
The combined monthly value reached approximately Rs46,333.
A 15 percent ad hoc allowance, worth Rs2,250, was added in 2004, taking the monthly amount to about Rs48,583.
In 2005, the basic salary increased to Rs17,250. Members also began receiving a Rs1,000 daily allowance for assembly sessions or meetings and Rs5 per kilometre for road travel. The 15 percent ad hoc allowance introduced in 2004 remained in place, bringing the monthly package to approximately Rs50,833.
In 2007, the monthly salary increased by 15 percent to Rs19,837, taking the total monthly package, including allowances, to about Rs53,420.
Another 20 percent increase in 2008 pushed the basic salary to Rs23,805 and the combined monthly amount to approximately Rs57,387.
In 2009, a further ad hoc allowance equal to 15 percent of basic salary, or Rs3,570, was approved. The total monthly package reached about Rs60,957.
The following year brought another major increase. In 2010, a 50 percent ad hoc allowance worth Rs11,902 was added. With salary and other benefits included, the monthly amount rose to approximately Rs72,859.
By then, lawmakers had increasingly argued that their salaries lagged behind those of the federal bureaucracy.
That argument was followed by another major revision in 2012. The basic salary was increased to Rs27,377 a month. A 15 percent ad hoc allowance of Rs3,571 was added, while the 50 percent ad hoc allowance introduced in 2010 continued.
Members also received a Rs5,000 monthly sumptuary allowance, Rs1,750 daily allowance for sessions and meetings, and Rs10 per kilometre for road travel.
Annual travel vouchers increased to Rs300,000, equivalent to Rs25,000 a month when averaged across the year. Telephone allowance stood at Rs10,000 a month and office allowance at Rs8,000.
Another 20 percent ad hoc relief allowance, worth Rs5,475, was approved in 2012. The combined salary and allowances reached approximately Rs96,324 a month.
A further 10 percent ad hoc allowance of Rs2,737 was approved in 2013, taking the monthly package to about Rs99,061.
Another 10 percent allowance in 2014 raised the figure to approximately Rs101,798.
Rs600,000 monthly salary
In 2016, the basic salary was nearly doubled, rising to Rs44,631. A further 10 percent ad hoc allowance of Rs4,463 was added, while the 50 percent ad hoc allowance from 2010 remained in place. The combined monthly salary and allowances reached about Rs108,997.
Then came one of the sharpest increases in the history of parliamentary pay.
In 2018, the basic monthly salary jumped from Rs44,631 to Rs150,000, an increase of roughly 236 percent. A 10 percent ad hoc allowance worth Rs15,000 was also added, taking the combined monthly salary and allowances to approximately Rs213,000.
The next major leap came in 2025.
Under the amended Members of Parliament (Salaries and Allowances) Act, the basic monthly salary of an MNA was increased fourfold, from Rs150,000 to Rs600,000.
The National Assembly’s official March 2025 document lists the current monthly salary at Rs600,000, along with Rs35,000 for office maintenance, Rs35,000 as telephone allowance and Rs35,000 as sumptuary allowance. This puts the fixed monthly total at Rs705,000 for an ordinary MNA, before session, committee and travel-related payments.
The increase came as Pakistan continued to face economic pressures, with the government pursuing measures aimed at controlling expenditure and improving fiscal management.
Parliamentary perks expand
The benefits extend well beyond the fixed monthly payment.
Members are entitled to Rs300,000 in annual travel vouchers or a cash allowance of Rs90,000, as well as 30 business-class open-return air tickets a year, or their equivalent value in travel vouchers.
For parliamentary sessions and committee meetings, members receive daily allowances depending on the applicable category. They are also entitled to Rs2,000 a day as conveyance allowance and Rs2,000 a day as housing allowance under the relevant rules.
Housing allowance can apply for three days before and three days after a session, and two days before and two days after a committee meeting.
Travel by air is provided at business-class level, while road travel attracts Rs25 per kilometre. Medical facilities are available on the same basis as those provided to a BPS-22 officer of the federal government.
Members also have access to official or gratis passports under the parliamentary privileges framework.
The scale of the benefits can increase considerably for lawmakers attending frequent parliamentary and committee meetings because daily, housing, conveyance and travelling allowances are paid in addition to the fixed monthly package.
Standing committees provide another layer of payments. Members attending committee meetings can receive the applicable session-related allowances, while the rules also provide for travel and accommodation arrangements around committee meetings.
The Public Accounts Committee provides an illustration of how such payments can accumulate. According to figures supplied for parliamentary year 2025-26, the main committee and its subcommittees held 140 meetings.
Members attending those meetings were reported to have received approximately Rs3.15 million each in annual travel-related payments and about Rs2.156 million in allowances. Together, the figures amount to about Rs5.306 million a year, equivalent to roughly Rs442,166 a month when spread across 12 months.
Pakistan versus South Asia
The comparison with other South Asian parliaments puts Pakistan’s lawmakers’ remuneration into a broader perspective.
Figures cited in the comparison put monthly compensation at about $600 for a Nepali parliamentarian, $1,180 for a Sri Lankan member and around $1,400 for a Bangladeshi parliamentarian. India’s figure is cited at about $2,913 a month, while Pakistan’s overall monthly compensation is cited at more than $3,500.
However, comparisons can vary significantly depending on whether they include only basic salary or also allowances and other benefits.
A March 2025 comparison by Business Standard, using exchange rates at the time, put Pakistan’s proposed basic monthly salary of Rs600,000 at about $1,852, compared with $1,665 for an Indian MP and $455 for a Bangladeshi MP when comparing salary alone.
Once allowances were included, the figures varied because each country structures parliamentary compensation differently.
Pakistan’s official schedule, for example, separately provides 30 business-class return air tickets, annual travel vouchers and session and committee-related payments.
Pay and parliamentary output
The debate over parliamentary remuneration also intersects with legislative output.
During parliamentary year 2025-26, the supplied figures put National Assembly legislation at 46 bills and Senate legislation at 91 bills, with 40 bills becoming law after presidential assent.
The wider regional figures cited in the comparison put the number of bills becoming law in India at 39, while Bangladesh’s parliament passed 101 bills during 2026 up to the point covered by the comparison.
Sri Lanka passed 25 bills in 2025, while Nepal’s parliament, despite being dissolved in September 2025, passed 34 bills during the preceding nine-month period.
Official parliamentary records show that Pakistan’s legislative activity has continued into 2026, with bills covering areas including taxation, telecommunications, aviation, financial institutions and other sectors.
Questions about the quality and pace of legislation have accompanied the discussion over parliamentary privileges.
One recent example involved the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organisation) (Amendment) Bill, 2026. The National Assembly passed the bill in June, but concerns were subsequently raised over provisions concerning rights of way and private property.
The issue came under further scrutiny in the Senate, where members raised objections to provisions affecting private land. The government subsequently agreed to revise the provisions to require property owners’ consent before telecommunications infrastructure could be installed on private land.
The episode reflects the legislative process through which a bill can undergo further scrutiny after passing one chamber, with the second house and parliamentary committees examining provisions before legislation is finalised.
From a Rs21 daily allowance in the first years of Pakistan’s parliamentary history to a Rs600,000 basic monthly salary, lawmakers’ remuneration has expanded through successive amendments, adding office, telephone and sumptuary allowances, free travel, business-class flights, daily payments, medical facilities and other privileges.
The National Assembly’s current official schedule places the fixed monthly salary and listed allowances at Rs705,000 for an ordinary MNA, before session, committee and travel-related payments are added.