Budget 2019-20 'enemy of the people, will try our best not to let it pass': Shehbaz
June 17, 2019
LAHORE: Opposition leader in the National Assembly, Shehbaz Sharif, on Monday termed Federal Budget 2019-20 as an "enemy of the people" and vowed to "try our best not to let it pass".
Sharif, also the president of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), was heading and addressing the party's joint parliamentary meeting. Leaders of the allied parties were also present during the discussion.
According to sources, various matters, including Pakistan's political and economic conditions as well as a plan of action for the Opposition's protest campaign. A strategy to deal with the Federal Budget 2019-20 being passed in the Parliament was also contemplated.
Addressing the meeting, Sharif, the former chief minister of Punjab, termed the Federal Budget 2019-20 as the "enemy of the people" and said they would come with full force to not let it pass.
It is the first time in the parliamentary history that an incumbent government itself was not letting a review of the budget start, Sharif said, and it was a deliberate plan.
Noting how a multitude of rumours about him have been circulated around, the PML-N leader said he met former prime minister and his brother, Nawaz Sharif, who he said was in high spirits but concerned about the conditions in the country.
'Quicksand of economic deterioration'
Earlier, on Sunday, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz Sharif pondered on a decisive campaign against the incumbent Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in a meeting held in Raiwind.
Bilawal had travelled to Lahore on Maryam's invitation to meet her and discuss, as per sources, the contemporary political situation following the announcement of Federal Budget 2019-20. They had agreed not to let the Federal Budget 2019-20 be passed and decided to develop a plan of action in this regard.
The PPP and PML-N leaders had concurred that only upholding the Constitution of Pakistan and sticking true to democracy can take the country forward. They had also decided to go ahead with their political strategy in line with the spirit of the democratic constitution.
A joint notification issued shortly after the Maryam-Bilawal meeting had mentioned that the two "agreed that all aspects of life in the country are on a downtrend.
"Country is being pushed into deep quicksand of economic deterioration and all economic indicators pointing to an extreme crisis," the notification added.
'Lengthy political innings'
The same day after meeting the PML-N VP, the PPP boss had said he would start a movement on June 23 from Nawabshah where a rally will be held in commemoration of the birthday of late former prime minister and his mother, Benazir Bhutto.
"We won't let the Parliament pass the 'enemy of the people' budget," the PPP chief had said.
"The PTIMF budget is the enemy of the people," he noted, referring to a portmanteau of the abbreviations of the ruling PTI and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which had earlier confirmed a staff level agreement on a bailout package worth $6 billion for a period of three years on May 12 to support Pakistan’s economic reforms.
"We will also get in touch with the parties that have formed alliances with the government," he had said, adding that he and his allies would talk to the people, go door-to-door and house-to-house, and out on the streets.
Bilawal had noted that he would follow up with Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rahman about the Opposition parties' All Parties Conference (APC).
"We have already given a chance to the [incumbent] government and we are giving them another one now," he said, adding that he hoped that Maryam would "join us with her honesty".
"We, the young leaders, including Maryam and I and others, are going to play a lengthy political innings," he had vowed.
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