Opposition leader terms budget ‘economic terrorism’

Omar attributes deteriorating economic conditions to ‘prevailing lawlessness’

ISLAMABAD:

Opposition leader in the National Assembly Omar Ayub on Thursday said that the federal budget for 2024-25 was “illegal and anti-people budget”, which would not work, terming it “economic terrorism” against the masses.

Opening the budget debate in the National Assembly, Ayub demanded of the government to reveal the budget of spy agencies. He said that the story of the budget “began with ‘respect for the vote’ but ended in ‘respect for the boot’”.

“The budget is actually economic terrorism against the people and the future of Pakistan. This is a fraud with the public. It has been a robbery,” the PTI leader told the house. “This budget is prepared by economic hit men, who want to shake the foundations of the country.”

The opposition leader praised former prime minister Imran Khan for “his far-sightedness that he did not order lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic”. The PTI government, he said, brought the country to economic stability.

Referring to the removal of the PTI government through a no-confidence motion in April 2022, Ayub said that there was a conspiracy against Pakistan, adding: “At the time our government was ousted, the GDP [gross domestic product] growth rate was 6%.”

He said that the foreign investment hit 50-year low during the PDM-1 [the Pakistan Democratic Movement-led coalition from April 2022 to August 2023] government, then during the caretaker government and now during the PDM-2”.

He said that only old projects were continuing as no new projects were included in this budget. “The country has a deficit budget of Rs8,500 billion, and over 90% of this deficit will be financed through bank loans. Loans will have to be taken at high interest rates.”

The opposition leader warned that inflation would get out of control because of this budget. “Lending to the private sector has gone down because the demand for goods, including cement, has fallen. If new currency notes are printed, a wave of inflation will come,” he said.

He attributed the deteriorating economic conditions to the “prevailing lawlessness” in the country. “Where there is no rule of law, investor runs away. In this budget, they themselves dug a hole but fell into it. Now they are shouting for someone to save them,” Ayub said.

“The person who could save the country is one, and his name is Imran Khan. The entire nation will stand behind him when he takes difficult measures,” he said, adding that if Imran told the people to do something, the masses would rally behind him.

He also termed the budget papers “illegal documents” presented in the house, because they did not contain the details. “There is no detail about the security agencies in the budget documents. “The budget details of the agencies should be brought forward, at least to the cabinet committee.”

Ayub also raised the question whether the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) – an ally of the government – would support this budget, saying that only a few PPP lawmakers were present in the house at the time of the budget speech last week.

The opposition leader strongly criticised Defence Minister Khawaja Asif and said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader had spoken against the military in the past. He demanded to present the report of the Abbottabad Commission to the House Standing Committee on Defence.

Responding to the speech, Khawaja Asif said that if Ayub had been made the opposition leader, then he must look at the his past. He said that Ayub referred to his father, Gohar Ayub; but in fact, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif made Gohar Ayub the speaker of this house.

Criticising the PTI leader, he said that he was changing the track. “They saw the failure of their efforts [against the government] and now they had come down to Imploration. He also charged that the picture of a necklace on a shop in New York belonged to their leader.

This led to protest by members of the Sunni Ittihad Council (SIC). However, Asif continued his speech. He said that if the economy was good during the PTI-led government, then were the 10 million job opportunities and 5 million houses.

He also criticised the opposition over the May 9, 2023 violence. He said that those people had switched parties four times. “I don’t know how they are trained. More than 75% of them have switched loyalties.” Later, the session was adjourned till Friday morning.