LAHORE:
The Punjab Assembly’s budget debate on Sunday was dominated by harsh criticism from the opposition and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), which described the document as a collection of misleading statistics and expressed reservations over development priorities and allocations for southern Punjab, agriculture, health and education.
On the other hand, members of the Treasury defended the Government’s actions and accused the opposition of turning the Chamber into a platform for political rhetoric instead of debating the budget.
When proceedings began about an hour and a half late on the third day of general budget discussion, there were only 30 lawmakers present in the 371-member assembly, including 18 from Treasury and 12 from the opposition.
Opening the debate, opposition MP Ejaz Shafi alleged that the budget figures were a “numbers game” and claimed that allocations for agriculture, school and higher education, health and special education had actually been reduced despite the government’s claims of increased spending.
He questioned the use of last year’s development funds and criticized what he called a decline in investment in public welfare sectors.
Apart from budgetary criticism, he also raised the cases of imprisoned PTI leaders and workers, insisting that they were being denied justice.
PPP lawmaker Wasif Mazhar Ran echoed concerns over the budget and wondered how the government could claim to have presented a tax-free budget while projecting a 65 per cent increase in revenue collection. He urged the government to prioritize health and education.
Opposition members repeatedly argued that southern Punjab had been ignored in the provincial budget. PTI MPA Nadeem Qureshi claimed that only Rs 96 billion had been allocated to southern Punjab out of a development budget of Rs 752 billion, even though the region contributes around 40 per cent of Pakistan’s agricultural production.
It alleged that allocations for higher education and agriculture had remained disproportionately low. He also criticized the government for objecting whenever opposition members raised political issues, noting that politicians could not be expected to avoid politics in the assembly.
Another opposition member, Ali Imtiaz Warraich, argued that the Punjab budget could not be understood without examining the federal outlay, alleging that the province had transferred Rs 546 billion to the federation without properly entrusting the assembly.
He criticized the government’s overall economic model, alleging that it had failed to improve public services, particularly in southern Punjab.
Opposition speeches frequently moved from the budget to politics. Several PTI legislators claimed that the party remained the most popular political force in the province despite its leaders being imprisoned.
PTI MP Farrukh Javed Moon challenged the government to hold transparent elections in Lahore, claiming that the ruling PML-N could not win a fair contest. He denounced widespread corruption in departments, criticized the outsourcing of public schools, questioned wheat procurement policies and accused the government of making false promises during the election campaign.
MPA Saima Kanwal said voters had elected her party to seek the release of jailed PTI founder Imran Khan and demand the return of what she described as the party’s “stolen mandate”.
He criticized the government’s spending priorities, claiming that public funds were being used for luxury rather than well-being.
MPA Zarnab Sher also criticized the budget, alleging that development spending remains limited compared to total expenditure, while accusing the government of reducing allocations for health and education but increasing spending on administrative offices and the Chief Minister’s Secretariat.
The debate also briefly turned to law and order after opposition leader Moin Riaz Qureshi raised the murder of an Australian-Pakistani boy during a police operation in Chakwal.
He raised the question of why similar incidents involving Pakistani nationals had not received the same attention.
President Malik Muhammad Ahmad Khan agreed that an impartial investigation was necessary and ordered the government to present details of both the Chakwal incident and another reported from Bhakkar before the assembly.
