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.