ISLAMABAD: In a rare sight, the lower house of Parliament’s all-important budget session was marked with a drastically-low turnout of attendees coupled with a lack of interest amid a total absence of the opposition.
The two lawmakers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) - Mohsin Leghari and Nadeem Khan Khayal - also skipped the budget session while the PTI dissidents led by their opposition leader Raja Riaz remained tight-lipped throughout the budget speech by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
In the session which started after a delay of almost two hours — the finance minister began his speech with a scathing attack on the previous government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), putting all the blame for the economic mess on Imran Khan-led PTI government.
The only one who seemed interested from head to toe in the otherwise dull NA meet-up was none other than the leader of the house – Shehbaz Sharif – who was seen enthusiastically thumping the desk in demonstration of his excitement to each and every word his economic czar uttered regardless of the credibility of his claims.
The Pakistan Peoples Party’s father-son duo – Asif Ali Zardari and his son Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari – seemed to have eloped for better options without giving a shred of importance to the budgetary buzz. Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb who occupied a chair next to Dar before he started his budget speech, remained aloof to what was going on around her as she remained busy playing her all-time favourite pastime Candy Crush.
Raja Riaz, who is believed to be the most friendly opposition leader in the history of the National Assembly, did not earn the privilege to shake hands with the prime minister who deliberately ignored him upon his entry into the hall.
As the prime minister comfortably got seated in his privileged parliamentary slot, the opposition leader who expected to be accorded a warm greeting ahead of Dar’s budget speech had all his hopes dashed and opted to play games on his expensive “Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max,” giving the very look of an embarrassed child who just received a dressing down from his angry father for scoring so low in the exam.
The remaining members belonging to both treasury and the PTI dissidents including the flamboyant Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Noor Alam Khan also did not bother to pay any heed to the finance jugglery Dar was so indulged into.
Far removed from the parliamentary hall where the budgetary melodrama was on, the journalists in the press gallery were amused by the antics of the so-called elected representatives of the nation.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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