Opposition parties to protest during today's budget session
April 27, 2018
ISLAMABAD: The opposition parties have decided to lodge a strong protest in the National Assembly during the budget session today.
The lower house of Parliament will meet at 4:30pm today where the government will present the budget for the fiscal year 2018-19.
Miftah Ismail, who was appointed finance minister on a day earlier, is expected to present the over Rs5.5 trillion budget.
The opposition would also protest against the budget during today's Senate session.
The protest has been planned as opposition parties, including both the major political parties — Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf — believe that the outgoing government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has no justification for presenting the budget for the whole year.
The government completes its tenure on May 31 after which elections are expected to be held in the last week of July.
According to the opposition, the incumbent government should instead present the budget for four months, till the next government takes over after the general elections.
The incumbent government is expected to conclude its five-year term on May 31, after which the caretaker government will take over to hold the general elections – expected to be scheduled in the last week of July.
About the budget dispute, PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said the PML-N government had no right to present it for the entire fiscal year.
While addressing the media in Islamabad recently, Bilawal said the PML-N would be usurping rights of the new government and Parliament. “New budget is the right of the new government that forms after the elections.”
The PML-N should only present the budget for the next few months, the PPP chairperson suggested.
Moreover, the federal government is also at odds with the provinces over the budget. The chief ministers of all four provinces believe they should have been consulted when the federal government was deciding on allocating funds.
Since this did not happen, chief ministers of three provinces walked out of the recent National Economic Council meeting as a sign of protest.
After the meeting, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah alleged that the federal government had been taking unconstitutional measures and said the ministers recorded their reservations over new development schemes.
Shah said quorum of the NEC meeting broke after their walkout, which is why the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) could not be designed. However, he added, if the PSDP budget was approved even after their walkout then it would be illegal.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak said they would not agree with the federal government over the development budget as the latter was including projects of their choice.
Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Quddus Bizenjo, who also walked out of the meeting, said they want the budget to be presented for only the next two to three months. He added the budget for the remaining months should be left for the new government to decide.
