In absence of cut motions, Sindh Assembly passes budget in no time

KARACHI: Taking advantage of divided opposition and lack of coordination between the main opposition parties, PTI and MQM, the Sindh Assembly was able to pass the new budget of the provincial government on Friday in a few minutes as the opposition failed to submit any cut motion.

Traditionally, passing the budget is a much tedious and lengthy process when opposition lawmakers actively participate in the budget session and oppose the budgetary proposals.Though the opposition legislators were present in the house but except raising slogans to register their protest, they couldn’t do anything worthy as the treasury benches easily managed to pass Rs1,477.904 billion budget for the next fiscal year.

In addition, the Sindh Assembly also passed the supplementary budget of Rs95.345 billion for the outgoing fiscal year. The Leader of Opposition in the house, Haleem Adil Shaikh from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, failed to deliver his speech on Thursday in the house on the new provincial budget owing to serious pandemonium by the opposition legislators.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, several provincial ministers, and parliamentary party leaders of the opposition parties also didn’t get the chance to take part in the general discussion in the house on the new provincial government budget owing to volatile situation in the assembly during the last few days.

It was like a smooth sailing for the ruling Pakistan People’s Party to pass the budget in the absence of cut motions as there was no coordination between two main opposition parties PTI and MQM-P. It was unprecedented in the history of Sindh Assembly that the budget was passed without cut motions whereas, the general discussion on the budget also remained inconclusive.

The session commenced on Friday in a tense situation as the opposition legislators from MQM-P once again stood on their seats and resorted to protest by holding placards in their hands.Amid commotion in the house, Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani asked the Sindh CM to present the budgetary proposals in the house for approval.

While the lawmakers on the treasury benches were busy in passing the budget, the opposition kept on raising slogans.The lawmakers of ruling Pakistan People’s Party surrounded the Sindh CM for his safety from the agitating opposition parliamentariansduring the process of passing the budget.

The speaker after passage of the budget adjourned the session till June 28.Meanwhile, criticising Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) for restraining the opposition leaders from speaking on the floor of the house during the concluding budget session, the opposition leader in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh on Friday said that the leadership of the ruling party in the province not only strangulated democracy but also set wrong trends and norms in the Sindh Assembly.

Speaking to journalists in the Sindh Assembly, along with MPAs of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Grand Democratic Alliance, Shaikh outright rejected the budget 2021-22 and said that the opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly and parliamentary leaders of main opposition parties, including PTI’s Bilal Ghaffar and GDA’s Hasnain Mirza, were barred from speaking on the floor of the assembly during the budget session. He claimed that it happened for the first time in the parliamentary history of Pakistan.

“PPP leaders should now stop calling themselves to be the followers of Benazir Bhutto since they have crossed all limits of decency and democratic norms,” Central Vice President of PTI Sheikh said.

Sheikh hinted that CM Sindh Murad Ali Shah and his cronies were afraid of the opposition that they would expose him and his boss Asif Ali Zardari. He alleged, “The people like Murad Ali Shah, Nasir Hussain Shah and others wanted to please his corrupt boss Asif Ali Zardari who is now sitting in Lahore and hatching new conspiracies.”

Sheikh asserted that they had repeatedly requested Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani to act wisely, but he did not honour his status.

“The Speaker of Sindh Assembly, Durrani, on the behest of CM Shah Syed Murad Ali Shah and his party leadership decided to restrain the opposition leaders, particularly the opposition leader from speaking, whose speech during the budget session is pivotal to the democratic process,” he said. Sheikh termed the move as the worst-ever act by the so-called champions of democracy.

He asked the PPP leaders to stop trumpeting the drums of democracy after they stifled their voice by not allowing them to speak during the concluding session on the fiscal budget. He added that they would not only challenge the such illegal, immoral, and undemocratic move in the Supreme Court, but would also erect their statues at every nook and corner of the province to register their protest against the corrupt practices of PPP leadership.

Sheikh said the speaker of National Assembly showed grace by allowing Opposition Leader Mian Shehbaz Sharif to speak on the floor, but Agha Siraj Durani acted otherwise and set the worst example of impartiality. He further stated that corruption had hit the last nail in the coffin of democracy and provincial government. GDA’s parliamentary leader in Sindh Assembly Barrister Hasnain Mirza said that PPP had set a worst undemocratic precedent by not allowing them to speak in the assembly.

He said that it was the same party, who’s leaders had created ruckus in the Sindh Assembly during the budget seasons when the party was in opposition. He said that PPP leaders damaged the very spirits of democracy and were exposed for their nefarious designs in an attempt to muzzle their voice.

The GDA leader said that PPP leaders had committed the shameful acts in the past when they had disrespected the then Deputy Speaker Rahila Tiwana and set on fire the budget documents inscribed with sacred words.