LAHORE: On Thursday, the opposition leader temporarily appointed by the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) had a photo of PTI founder Imran Khan on his desk, prompting the MPs from the treasury benches to momentarily “boycott” the Punjab Assembly proceedings.
Ahmad Khan Bhachar, the leader of the opposition, was supposed to start the public discussion on the province government’s budget for 2023–2024.
But the opposition and treasury MPs spat over the photo, with the SIC parliamentarians saying no one could dare touch it and the PML-N members demanding its removal.
Following a lengthy period of heated debates and sloganeering against one another, PML-N MPA Malik Muhammad Waheed Khan threatened to leave the meeting with other party members if the SIC members did not take down the image.
Sami Ullah Khan, a PML-N MPA, attempted to diffuse the tension, but Food Minister Bilal Yaseen gave Waheed Khan the signal to leave once the Treasury members had left.
Following the walkout, Deputy Speaker Zaheer Iqbal Channar postponed the house sessions for ten minutes.
Finance Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman made it clear that no government official had left the building when the meeting got back underway.
Opposition Leader Bhachar branded the budget as anti-people and cast doubt on its legitimacy at the outset of the discussion.
He claimed that the government was not required to present the budget for the more than four months of the previous caretaker administration.
He claimed that schooling in isolated places had received no attention. He claimed that the pitiful Rs57 billion allotted for elementary education amounted to making a joke of the industry. He emphasized that the funds should go toward supporting the schools in outlying locations.
The opposition leader bemoaned the fact that just Rs200 million had been set aside for the 700 million young people in the province to develop their skills. Consequently, the sum drops to Rs. 2.75 for each young person.
He claimed that the administration was not serious about finishing the project in ten years because it had only chosen to create a cancer hospital with a pitiful Rs440 million.
The government was also chastised by him for allocating Rs 440 million for an air ambulance service. The administration was claiming to be launching an air ambulance, but he said that there was not even an ambulance available at the district and tehsil hospitals.
He noted that despite the government’s claims to have proposed a budget that is people-friendly, certain segments of society were denied access to basic rights such as infrastructure, health care, and education.
The leader of the opposition claimed that the Ramazan bundle was only available on social media.
He claimed, “With cameras and pictures, the deserving masses are being disgraced and their dignity is being compromised.”
He stated that although the government had promised to give the public 300 free electrical units, its officials had instead received billions of rupees for their homes.
In reference to the Rs. 1 billion set aside for the welfare of journalists, he stated that they required freedom of speech and an environment free from political influence, wherein they could not all be assassinated as senior journalist Arshad Sharif.
The opposition leader claimed that the growth of agriculture was impacted by faulty official policies.
While few speakers from the ruling parties addressed the budget criticism, most of them concentrated on political speeches. Several members of the SIC and PML-N also took part in the discussion.
