ISLAMABAD: The joint opposition in the National Assembly, on Friday rejected the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government's budget and joined forces "to do everything they can to block passage of the 'PTIMF' 'anti-people' budget." The joint opposition, as agreed in a meeting of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari as well as senior members from both the parties earlier in the day, started a noisy protest as soon as Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin started the budget speech.

The PTI female lawmakers also scuffled with the PML-N members in the House, who virtually attacked the opposition members and tried to snatch the posters with anti-government slogans carried by the PML-N lawmakers.

Keeping the differences at the platform of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) aside, the PPP chairman along with the senior party members, attended a meeting of the joint opposition chaired by Shehbaz, in which they agreed to work together for giving a 'tough time' to the government and to block passage of the budget.

The meeting was also attended by Awami National Party's (ANP) Amir Haider Khan Hoti, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) lawmaker Asad Mahmood, Pashtun Tahafuz Movement's (PTM) Mohsin Dawar, and others.

Talking to the media along with PPP chairman after the meeting, the PML-N president said the opposition would join hands and give a tough time to the government during the budget session and will expose their 'fudged' figures.

"When poor people are dying of hunger, unemployment and inflation are skyrocketing, how can they claim that the country is witnessing economic growth?" Shehbaz posed a question before the media.

Responding to a question about the no-confidence motion against Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri, the opposition leader said opposition parties would devise a joint strategy for the no-confidence motion.

Bilawal, on the occasion, said the differences among the opposition parties aside, they will collectively respond to this 'selected and incompetent' government's budget.

"I reiterate my promise that all the PPP MNAs will entrust their votes to the opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif to use against this 'PTIMF' budget." He added that the people did not deserve this budget given 'historic' inflation, unemployment, and poverty.

"The prime minister and the finance minister's claims of economic growth are baseless and just lies in such a historic inflation," he said, adding that Prime Minister Khan and his finance minister's claims with regard to figures of the country's economy are tantamount to "rubbing salt into the wounds" of the people who are suffering due to the government's 'incompetence.'

Later, addressing the protesting federal government employees outside the Parliament House, who were demanding 25 percent pay raise as promised with them by the government, Bilawal joined hands with the employees to reject the 10 percent increase in salaries, saying that increase should have been given at the proportion of the inflation - a minimum 30 percent.

He promised to the employees to raise their demands on the floor of the house.

"Now the burden of 'PTIMF' deal is borne by the poor and the middle class. We will effectively raise their voice to block passage of the 'PTIMF' budget," he said, adding that the PTI government was doing injustice with the employees for the last three years.

He vowed to block the passage of the budget together with the other opposition parties.

Bilawal further stated that the PPP's government had given 175 percent increase in the salaries of the armed forces defending our frontiers and also demand an appropriate increase in salaries of the armed forces.

The protesting employees had gathered outside the Parliament House blocking the Constitution Avenue to press the government to honour its earlier written promise made with them to end disparities among the salaries of various government departments such as the FBR, the President and the Prime Minister house, the OGDCL, the OGRA etc as well as pay raise at proportion to the inflation during the past three years.

Giving his party's reaction, the PML-N secretary general Ahsan Iqbal rejected the proposed 10 percent increase in salaries and termed it a 'worst joke.'

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021