Opposition protests against absence of ministers in Sindh Assembly

Issue of low allocation for women in budget raised by MPAs

KARACHI: During a discussion on the budget, opposition members protested in the Sindh Assembly session on Wednesday against the absence of ministers and bureaucrats in the official galleries.

"We are discussing the budget, but no one is here to listen to us," lamented Sheharyar Mahar of the Pakistan Muslim League - Functional (PML-F), starting his budget speech with these remarks.

"After the budget, it is the right of the members to highlight different aspects of the budget and give suggestions, but no one from the bureaucracy is available in the House and neither is a single minister available," Mahar lamented.

The opposition members from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) - Pakistan, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) endorsed Mahar and stood at their seats in protest.

Irum Azeem Farooque of the MQM-Pakistan said that the finance department portfolio is with the chief minister (CM) who, along with his secretary and officers, was also absent. "No one is here to take notes," she said.

Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani, addressing Mahar said, he should not create pandemonium here. "This is not a fish market. Please stop chanting slogans. You are given time to speak on the budget," Durrani commented.



Responding to Durrani, Mahar said that it was a futile exercise if no one from the government heeds them. However, Durrani repeated his remarks saying that the opposition members had turned the House into a fish market. This irked the opposition MPA, who renewed his protest.

This was the third consecutive day that members from the opposition and government discussed the budget, but the government's lukewarm response could be gauged from the empty bureaucratic gallery where the finance, planning and development and other department officers were supposed to be available to hear the discussion and take notes.

After the protest, however, Mahar continued his speech and said there should be a focus on education and health sectors, which according to him, have collapsed in the last 10 years of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)-led government. He said that the Rs1.14 trillion budget presented by the CM will not give relief to the people unless it is properly utilised with 0% corruption.

"The education minister said he was not involved in corruption. I agree that he is not directly involved, but he is a facilitator of corruption," Mahar remarked.

He was of the view that the PPP government promoted beggary in the province by launching the Benazir Income Support Programme as most people rely on the meagre grant and do nothing.



Bilqees Mukhtiar of MQM-Pakistan, who defected to the Pak Sarzameen Party, went on to say that Karachi, Mirpurkhas and Nawabshah have been neglected in the budget. "Karachi is the economic hub of the country, but unfortunately its citizens have no potable water to quench their thirst," she said.

No relief for women in the budget

Rana Ansar of MQM-Pakistan raised the issue of low allocation for women in her budget speech. "PPP is the party of Benazir Bhutto, who was the first female Muslim prime minister, but unfortunately, the PPP government has not worked to further her vision of promoting the rights of women in the province," said Ansar.

"There are around 10 million women in Sindh, but no important schemes have been announced for them," she said, adding that the budget was nothing but a jugglery of words.



Ansar, who belongs to Hyderabad, referred to Hazrat Ali's (RA) footprints in Hyderabad and said, "Garbage is piled up around the footprint of Hazrat Ali (RA) and no one bothers to take notice of it."
PPP MPA Owais Shah, defending his government, said that the PPP has broken the past record of development by completing around 714 development schemes in the current fiscal year. "Such a huge development budget of Rs343 billion has been given by the government for the first time in the history of Sindh," he said.

Instead of speaking on the budget in his speech, he mainly chose to criticise the PML-N and its government.