Govt faced mafia in passage of budget: Firdous

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said Saturday that the government team faced a mafia in the process of the federal budget passage.

Talking to media here outside the Parliament House, she said that the opposition parties focused on their personal agenda instead of the national one. “Opposition confined itself to lobbies and then went away, pocketing TA/DA,” she alleged.

The entire nation, she pointed out, witnessed that those, who attended the National Assembly session on the basis of production orders, had no sympathy whatsoever with the masses and they wanted projection on the media instead of focusing on the national issues. The special assistant to PM said that with the cooperation of the allied parties, the budget was passed and the opposition met failure, which had repeatedly threatened to impede its passage. About the amnesty scheme, she maintained that no final decision had been taken regarding extension in the final date. She expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Imran Khan for giving an economic roadmap to the nation.

Regarding Leader of Opposition Mian Shahbaz Sharif’s announcement to quit as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, she said that a decision had been taken to bring in his replacement.

The government’s chief whip in the National Assembly, Amir Dogar said that for the first time in the parliamentary history, budget sessions continued for 13 hours continuously and it was also for the first time that a threadbare budget discussion was held, which lasted for over 56 hours. He noted that despite issuance of his production order, PML-N MNA Khawaja Saad Rafiq did not utter a single word on the budget. He also said that despite facing criticism from the opposition, NA Speaker Asad Qaiser conducted the assembly proceedings as per the rules and regulations. He thanked the media for giving coverage to the budget session.

Earlier, in tweets, Dr Awan said that the federal budget was a step towards the goal of a prosperous, self-reliant and developed Pakistan. She said passage of the budget was defeat of the opposition. She added the government would take steps in the best interest of country and the nation, and the opposition will suffer defeat on every front.

She maintained the upcoming months and years would take the nation and the country to the destination of development. While reiterating the government's resolve to achieve the objective of prosperity for people, she said the government of the people was taking bold decisions for their bright future.