Ijaz Kakakhel Islamabad
As soon as Minister for Finance Shaukat Tarin began his budget 2021-22 speech in the National Assembly on Friday, lawmakers belonging to the opposition parties, including Pakistan Muslim League-N, Pakistan People’s Party and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F, started shouting slogans to register their protest against the money bill.
Later when PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari reached the House, members of the opposition rose to their seats and clapped and resorted to sloganeering.
Lady lawmakers, belonging to the opposition, stood in front of the treasury benches to vent their anger at the government.
Banners, inscribed with anti-government slogans, were also distributed among the PML-N legislators on the occasion who kept displaying these during the budget speech.
Later, PPP leaders, including Shazia Marri, Saeed Ghani, Nasir Shah and Murtaza Wahab, addressed a press conference.
Speaking on the occasion, Shazia Marri said the figures given in the economic survey were not factual.
“According to the constitution, every province has its share fixed under the NFC Award, and the Sindh’s hunch is that it is not being given its due share,” she said, and added, “Sindh is being discriminated against.”
Shazia further said not only Sindh, but the other three provinces were also being kept deprived of their share as guaranteed by the constitution, but the problem was their voices had been stifled.
PPP leader said NEC approved PSDP at its meetings. “The body should meet at least twice in a year, but unfortunately PSDP is approved only at NEC’s single sitting,” Shazia regretted.
She said that some of the bills which were passed in the National Assembly on Thursday (June 10) were not even referred to standing committees for vetting. “PTI has changed the parliamentary culture,” she opined.
Shazia said another fraud committed with Sindh was that a ‘controversial’ census was got passed from the Council of Common Interests.
