A Freedom and Justice Party lawmaker has proposed a bill that would increase military officers' salaries by 400 percent.
MP Farid Ismail, deputy chairman of the lower house's Defense and National Security Committee, said military salaries are too low and need to be increased, as was done for the police.
Ismail said during a committee meeting Tuesday that comparing police and armed forces salaries reveals an obvious parity and that the bill he submitted to the Proposals and Complaints Committee is similar to the one recently approved for police pay.
He said the armed forces' cohesion can be guaranteed by giving military personnel their due rights.
"Having political disagreements with the ruling military council does not mean we ignore soldiers' right to a dignified life, especially since many of them suffered under the old regime, just like the rest of Egyptians did," he said.
Ismail said the proposed increase is not inordinate, noting that it would be calculated from the basic salaries.
Major General Hassan Bassiouny, an official from the Defense Ministry's Public Services Sector, welcomed the proposal, describing it as a step toward social justice.
The transitional period after the end of former President Hosni Mubarak's rule has seen political rivalry between the Muslim Brotherhood's FJP and the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
