Some treasury MPAs join opposition’s anti-budget stance

LAHORE: Members of the Punjab Assembly continued to voice their dismay over the FY2017-18 provincial budget in Tuesday’s session.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl MPA Masroor Nawaz Jhangvi, who belonged to the treasury benches, warned that Punjab would come to a halt if the people of Jhang were deprived of their rights in the budget.

Opposition benches, led by Arif Abbasi, and joined by two members of the treasury, including Jhangvi, boycotted house proceedings.

Delivering a fiery speech on the second day of the ‘general discussion’ on the annual budget, the MPA said the assembly should be closed down if it could not provide basic rights to poor people.

He said the people will not tolerate the cruel attitude of the Punjab government towards the people of Jhang. Meanwhile, a legislator of the treasury benches attempted to interrupt Jhangvi’s speech, but he ignored her, making it clear that nobody could stop him from speaking.



He said the pre-budget speech, annual budget and general discussion on the annual budget for FY2017-18 were nothing more than a joke with the poor masses.

The MPA was outraged that some recommendation that he put forward to the speaker had been ignored and none of them were made part of the budget. Jhangvi said he talked about education, health, clean drinking water, sewerage system and other problems which the people of Jhang were facing, but nothing was allocated in the budget.

“If we are not given our basic rights even after discussing them on this forum, where can we turn to?” he asked deputy speaker Sardar Sher Ali Gorchani

“Our discussion is neither heard here, nor are our demands accepted. Only the whims of the Punjab government are heard or accommodated. If this house is bound to bow down before the wishes of the rulers, then the forums must be closed forever as it cannot hear the grievances of the masses,” he stressed. Jhangvi said if such a system prevailed, it would face stiff resistance. He later tore the copy of the agenda and walked out proceedings.

Meanwhile, the opposition boycotted proceedings as some legislators chanted slogans during the speech of PTI’s Arif Abbasi. The opposition members requested the deputy speaker to intervene, but all in vain. They ultimately boycotted proceedings and chanted slogans against deputy the speaker’s ‘partial role’.

Muhammad Waheed Gull also walked out over the uploading of some pictures of the PM’s son, Hussain Nawaz, on social media. He accused PTI of launching a character assassination campaign against Hussain.

Javed Iqbal Awan of the treasury benches also lashed out at the provincial budget, saying no allocation were made for agriculture in his area of Khoshab. He said girls of his district were daughters of Punjab, but they could not go to school when rains hit due to the poor sewerage and road infrastructure. He said the health, school and road sectors of Khoshab were not discussed in the budget.

Meanwhile, Tariq Masih Gill, Zolifqar Ghauri, Abass Rawn, Madiha Rana and Waris Kahlon applauded the budget.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 7^th, 2017.