ISLAMABAD: The debate on budget 2021-22 was opened by opposition leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif, on Monday, but his speech was disrupted by treasury benches, forcing him to stop his speech due to sloganeering from both sides.
When the session started with NA Speaker Asad Qaiser in the chair, the treasury members - in retaliation of opposition's sloganeering against Prime Minister Imran Khan during budget session on June 11 started chanting slogans against the opposition leader, forcing the speaker to suspend the House for 20 minutes, which continued for about half an hour.
Meanwhile, the NA speaker summoned senior members from both the treasury and the opposition to his chamber but it did not work, forcing him to adjourn the House without any discussion on the budget.
Earlier, Sharif while speaking amid pandemonium in the House, lashed out at the government, saying it is deceiving masses by disclosing "fake" numbers in the budget.
"The pockets of the masses are empty and the budget figures are fake," he added.
He continued that the poor were suffering from poverty, while the government claimed it was on the path to economic growth and prosperity.
"If the country has seen growth, only a handful elite and those residing in Bani Gala residence of [the Prime Minister] Imran Khan have availed that prosperity," he claimed.
Taking a jibe at the prime minister, he said that the poor people are starving to death and people who never exhaust while giving example of Riasat-e-Madinah simply do not care about the plights of widows, orphans, and the destitute. Later, talking to journalists outside the Parliament House, Chairman Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that the experience of running the government from the container has failed.
"Today, the opposition leader was not allowed to tell the nation the realities of the economic situation. The government did not show the figures of inflation and unemployment in the Economic Survey of Pakistan, so that it can hide its failure," he added.
He said that every citizen is suffering due to inflation by the Imran Khan's government and knows the failure of the government, adding this is the real face of Imran Khan's "change".
The government cannot hoodwink the people despite its childish behaviour, he lamented.
Bilawal said that the NA speaker and the deputy speaker are not playing their role and the PPP offers all members to the opposition leader in the no-confidence motion against them.
Talking to journalists, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmoodaccused the opposition of creating ruckus in the House.
He said that the attitude and the environment the opposition created during the finance minister's speech during the budget session, shows who creates pandemonium in the house. "The government doesn't do sloganeering as it's the opposition disrupting the smooth running of the house," he added.
Speaking at a presser in the Parliament House along with Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Ahsan Iqbal said that even Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood was "hooting" when the opposition leader was speaking in the House.
"Today was a dark day in the history of the parliament as treasury benches disrupted opposition leader's speech through hooting. And they did it because they'd no courage to listen to the truth as they've made compromises on dignity and sovereignty of the country," he added.
He accused the government of hijacking the parliament, and said that we would not allow anyone to turn the Parliament House into Bani Gala residence of Imran Khan.
"The way NA speaker conducted the session today, is tantamount to compromising on the dignity of the House...it never happened in the past that an opposition leader was barred from delivering an important speech on the budget and he [Shehbaz Sharif] will deliver his speech on Tuesday, no matter what," he added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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