Budget presentation: Opposition cries of ‘shame’ dominate speech

Some MPAs feel the budget is weakest of all four provinces

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly turned into a fish market when the provincial budget for Fiscal Year 2016-17 was presented by the Minister for Finance Muzafar Said on Tuesday.

The opposition Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Awami National Party (ANP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) declared the budget as a failed one.

Throughout the budget session, the opposition chanted slogans of “shame” and ‘Khyber leaks’ and said the allocation was not “nation friendly”. Opposition lawmakers protested and chanted slogans throughout the speech of the finance minister.

PPP MPA Nighat Orakzai said on the occasion that the opposition was unaware that the government was going to present the budget on Tuesday. She added previous governments would call lawmakers of every party and invite them for consultation.

“The incumbent government fears the budget will be rejected by the opposition.” Moreover, she criticised the amount set as minimum wage (Rs14,000).  “The ministers and bureaucrats, sitting in an air conditioned room, cannot say this. This is a budget for the bureaucracy of the province,” she alleged.

PPP’s Sahibzada Sanaullah condemned the budget and said, “Unfortunately, the province is in the hands of a government that doesn’t know how to run it.” He added the allocation was the weakest budget among all provinces.



The PPP MPA said the finance minister could be disqualified under articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution because his name was involved in the Bank of Khyber scandal.

ANP’s lawmaker Sardar Hussain Babak expressed his dissatisfaction over the budget allocation and said the K-P government is dividing funds among influential individuals and coalition partners.

He added the opposing politics of Imran Khan deprived the province of crucial development projects.

PPP Chitral MPA Sardar Hussain said the present budget revolved around just four districts, Dir, Nowshera, Swabi and Charsadda. “The government and coalition parties are going to enjoy the budget, while the general public will be shedding tears.”

Aurangzeb Nalota of PML-N said PTI was taking credit for different development projects, but all of them were part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor. “These are gifts from the federal government
to the province.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^th, 2016.