Opposition’s vociferous protest gives CM Murad Ali Shah hard time in budget speech

The opposition legislators registered a vociferous protest in the Sindh Assembly on Wednesday during the speech of Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to announce the budget of his government for the fiscal year 2020-21.

Holding placards inside the assembly, the lawmakers of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, the Muttahida Quami Movement-Pakistan, and the Grand Democratic Alliance kept shouting slogans in the house throughout the CM’s budget speech.

Around 25 per cent lawmakers were present in the assembly, while the rest of the legislators attended the session via video link given the coronavirus emergency. Due to the strong protest and sloganeering by the opposition members, the CM had a difficult time in reading out his budget speech in the house.

Some of the protest placards displayed in the house demanded water supply and transport facilities for the people of Karachi. A placard displayed by an opposition legislator of the PTI, Raja Azhar, demanded justice in the case of Pakistan-based American blogger Cynthia Ritchie. Other placards condemned “corrupt practices” of the Sindh government.

At the outset of the proceedings of the house, opposition leader Firdous Shamim Naqvi, who belongs to the PTI, objected to the presentation of the budget by the CM in the house. The opposition leader said the presentation of the budget by the chief minister was meaningless when reports had not been submitted to the house pertaining to the financial expenditures of the provincial government during the previous two quarters.

He said a violation of the rules of procedure of the provincial assembly had taken place as the house was not granted the opportunity to review and discuss the financial reports pertaining to the working of the Sindh government related to the past two quarters.

Speaker Agha Siraj Khan Durrani advised the opposition leader to raise his objections later on when he was given opportunity to speak in the house on the new budget. Later on, outside the assembly building, the lawmakers and activists of the PTI set on fire effigies of the Sindh CM, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, and former president Asif Ali Zardari to register their protest against an incident earlier in the day in Larkana where people alleged to have been the affiliated with the PPP torched the effigy of Prime Minister Imran Khan during his visit of the city.

Speaking on the occasion, PTI leader Haleem Adil Shaikh said an FIR of “the sorrowful incident” in Larkana should be lodged against the Sindh CM and PPP chairman. He said the Larkana incident was highly condemnable. He said the CM House and the Bilawal House in Karachi were situated in the electoral constituencies represented by PTI legislators.