K-P Assembly passes supplementary budget, opposition stages walk out

Treasury benches show fists to opposition benches during the session

PESHAWAR: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa Assembly has passed the 2019-18 supplementary budget with total outlay of Rs 27 billion and over Rs920 million on Friday, while the opposition walked out of the assembly session over the speaker’s usage of special power for dismissing the cut motion moves of the opposition benches during the budget procedures.

The session of the K-P Assembly resumed with the Speaker Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani in the chair after a delay of one and half hour, while the treasury and opposition leadership had a meeting, in which the government requested the opposition leadership to retake their cut motions, which were accepted by the opposition.

While the opposition benches expressed their concern on changing the name of medical college in Bannu from the government side, the treasury benches showed fists to opposition benches during the session, and opposition leader Akram Khan Durrani warned the m that they (the opposition) did not believe in power politics, if such attitude was adopted by the treasury they would use same tactics during the session.

The leader of the opposition in K-P Assembly Akram Durrani has also warned that if the name change takes place, they wouldn’t let the Shaukat Khanum to run, but in reply to that the senior minister for K-P, Muhammad Atif Khan made it clear to the house, that they were going to introduce a new legislation in the house that one couldn’t name an institution, after a person who was still alive.

Addressing the assembly opposition leader Akram Khan Durrani also stated that K-P Assembly has its own history wherein the  speaker never utilised their own power for eliminating the cut motions and blamed that supplementary budget of total out lay of 27 billion rupees would be spent at the constituencies of Chief Minister and ministers.

He has also criticised the provincial government for lesser allocation to the south districts, while due to discriminatory policies of the provincial government; the constituencies of the opposition were also being deprived of their development budgets, while funds to fewer constituencies are also halted on the directives of the Chief Minister and its ministers.

The PTI led ministers shouldn’t terrorise us over showing fist to opposition benches during the assembly session,

My party has rendered scarifices for the country before the creation of Pakistan, while ANP leaders have also shared the burden of jails and imprisonment for democracy,” he said

Durrani further said that Pakistan Peoples Party has a history of being targeted for democracy, while Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leadership was sent to exile for view of political issues.

After the speech the speaker ended all the cut motions of the supplementary budget by using his power which enraged the opposition benches which walked out of the session, while the treasury benches have passed 44 demand grants and speaker adjourned the session until July 5.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29^th, 2019.