PTI asks PPP to boycott budget

ISLAMABAD: Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervez Ashraf has told PTI’s Asad Qaiser that though the PPP has reservations and concerns about the budget, it is a collation partner of the government.

While talking with The News, Raja Pervez Ashraf said during an informal meeting Asad Qaiser proposed developing a joint strategy to boycott the budget but he was told that the PPP is in alliance with the government. “We also have many reservations and concerns on the budget but we are coalition partners of the government,” he said.

Ashraf, who is also President of PPP Central Punjab, said in the Parliamentary Party meeting of the PPP, reservations and concerns of our MNAs especially from the Sindh and Punjab were raised and those will be definitely discussed with the government. Asked whether Chairman PPP will return prior to the passage of the budget, he respond in affirmative.

Ashraf, however, told Qaiser he would put the PTI’s proposal before the party’s Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and promised to let the PTI know about their strategy concerning the budget.

Meanwhile, PTI parliamentary leader in the Senate Barrister Syed Ali Zafar Monday said his party would not be part of voting on the budget, claiming that the budget passage would lead to Pakistan’s destruction.

The Pakistan People’s Party has slammed the federal budget 2025–26 as exclusionary and unjust while calling it a “dangerous game” being played against Sindh.

Speaking to journalists outside Parliament after the meeting of the Parliamentary Party of the PPP Parliamentarians held on Monday, Spokesperson PPP Parliamentarians Shazia Marri accused the coalition government of deliberately undermining Sindh’s constitutional rights. “Under the guise of budgetary allocations, a systematic conspiracy has been hatched by transferring Sindh’s development schemes under PWD to federal ministries instead of the province itself,” she said. “Sindh is a constitutional unit — any attempt to divide it along urban-rural lines will not be tolerated.” She warned that if Sindh’s development schemes are not handed back to the province, the PPP would not hesitate to take extreme measures. “We will not compromise on the unity of Sindh,” she stressed.

Shazia Marri said the PPP had initially refrained from reacting harshly in the hope that ongoing talks with the ruling party would yield results, particularly regarding Sindh’s Public Sector Development programmeme (PSDP) commitments. “However, it’s now evident that not just Sindh but even Punjab — especially Central Punjab and the South Punjab — have been ignored,” she added.

Highlighting disparities in development allocations, she explained that Chief Minister Sindh had continuously represented the province’s position during federal consultations. “Yet, as noted by Naveed Qamar, the treatment meted out to Sindh in the PSDP is discriminatory,” she said. Marri argued that Sindh was clearly not treated equally. “PWD was abolished, and its schemes were transferred to the provinces — Punjab, KP, and Balochistan. But Sindh’s schemes, except for a few rural ones, were transferred to the federal Ministry of Housing and Works,” she said. Transferring urban PWD projects to the federal housing ministry has also violated provincial autonomy, she added. Shazia Marri further alleged that PPP lawmakers in Punjab were also denied funds, and higher education institutions in the Seraiki belt have received negligible allocations.

Similarly the Sindh’s educational institutions had been overlooked she said. “Instead of the committed Rs4.8 billion, only Rs 2.5 billion have been allocated for the universities.” The PPPP spokesperson also noted that despite PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto’s proposal to allocate Rs25 billion for solar panels in Sindh, the federal government continued to ignore the province in budgetary planning. “For the Rs 400 billion-Sukkur Motorway project only a paltry Rs15 billion has been allocated. That’s peanuts.” Criticizing taxation policies, Shazia Marri said the imposition of an 18pc tax on solar panels was unacceptable.

Earlier, during the PPP parliamentary party meeting, some members suggested boycotting the budget approval process. Shazia confirmed this, saying, “The party’s objections will be raised at various forums, and the final decision will be made in consultation with Chairman Bilawal.” “We have discussed a tough strategy,” she concluded, “and if the government does not take us seriously, our response will be equally firm.”