PPP Delegation Led by Bilawal Meets Pak PM Sharif to Resolve Budget Disputes

Islamabad: A delegation of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) headed by its chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Thursday met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to sort out differences over the budget.

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb presented the federal budget on June 12 but PPP, which is the major ally of the government, was not happy as it was not apparently consulted when the budget was being prepared.

As the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government lacks majority, there is a genuine concern that the government may not be able to get the budget passed in the parliament if not supported by the PPP.

Prime Minister Shehbaz had promised to address the complaints of the PPP and the meeting was part of those efforts.

Officials said the PPP delegation also included Chairman Senate Yusuf Raza Gilani, former premier Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and senior leaders Syed Khurshid Shah, Syed Naveed Qamar and Sherry Rehman.

The discussion focused on the “national political issues” and it was agreed that further consultation would be held with the PPP regarding the budget 2024-2025, sources said.

It was also decided that further consultation on the budget would continue through committees of the parties.

Bilawal complained about the alleged neglect towards some projects in his home province of Sindh and that his party was not taken on board about the Public Sector Development Programme.

The prime minister on his part said that positive news was coming with regard to the economy, as the historic boom in the stock market was an endorsement of the budget. He urged all political parties to work together for national development, according to the sources.

Speaker National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, Information Minister Ataullah Tarar, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah, Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Ali Pervez Malik and former minister Khawaja Saad Rafique were also present in the meeting.

Meanwhile, debate on the budget formally opened today in Parliament with Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly and PTI leader Omar Ayub Khan making a blistering attack at the budget, terming it “economic terrorism”.

“The budget is a fraud with the people. This is a highway robbery against the people of Pakistan. This budget in actuality is economic terrorism against the people and the future of the country,” he said.

Khan said the budget was prepared with the help of “economic hitmen who want to shake the foundation of this country” and alleged that the same “economic hitmen” were also involved in the toppling of the Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in April 2022.

He said the government had overburdened the people and no investors would come to invest in a country where there was “no rule of law”.

Khan said the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had clearly instructed the government to talk to other stakeholders.

The opposition leader also questioned if the PPP would vote for the budget. “Would you vote for it with the government or not?,” he asked, and added that the budget won’t be passed without support of the PPP.

The government must get the budget passed by June 30 when the current fiscal year would end, making way for the new 2024-25 fiscal year. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Republic and is published from a syndicated feed.)