Punjab PA passes budget with majority

PML-N MPA raises concerns over arrest of party workers

LAHORE:

The provincial government passed, with majority votes, its budget of Rs2.65 trillion for the next financial year 2021-22 in the Punjab Assembly.

Provincial Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht moved the Punjab Finance Bill 2021 which later the government passed with the majority votes. Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar was also present in the house.

As the House proceedings started, the PML-N’s lawmaker Toufeeq Butt, on point of order, wished to express his concerns.

Read Sindh Assembly passes Rs1,477bn budget amid protest

At which the Speaker Punjab Assembly Chaudhry Pervez Elahi allowed him. MPA Butt said his party’s workers were being harassed and arrested by the police in Gujranwala. He claimed police raided their homes, arrested them but did not mention their arrest in relevant documents of the police station.

He said the ‘crime’ of his party workers was that they were wiring content against PTI on Facebook. “If speaking or writing against PTI is a crime then will the whole nation be arrested?” he asked.

Finally, the Speaker directed the PML-N’s senior MPA Sami Ullah Khan to forward the names to Law Minister Basharat Raja after collecting them from the MPA Butt who according to him had been maltreated and illegally arrested.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2021.