It emerged on Wednesday that the Pakistan Peoples Party would be boycotting the joint meeting of the opposition after witnessing the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s “lack of seriousness” during yesterday’s budget session in the National Assembly.
Tribune reported that decision was taken after the absence of the PML-N President and Leader of the Opposition in the NA Shehbaz Sharif during the budget session in spite of Shehbaz’s earlier claims of the opposition working collectively to stop the “anti-people budget”.
During the proceeding, the government showed its strength and defeated the opposition when Minister for Finance Shaukat Tarin moved a motion for taking up the bill with a majority of 172 against 138 votes.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari while calling the budget approval “unconstitutional and illegal” said “all the PPP members are present” and that “I am responsible for my own party.” The PPP chairman said that he will raise the issue of absence of a number of opposition members with Shehbaz Sharif.
According to reports, party sources maintained that the absence of more than 14 PML-N NA members, including the opposition leader, during the session was a “sign of lack of seriousness”.
While addressing the house today, the PPP chairman said that the absence of the PML-N members made it easier for the treasury to approve the budget FY22.
Bilawal said NA Speaker Asad Qaiser had robbed the members of their votes, adding that what had happened in the National Assembly on Tuesday had set a bad precedent.
The PPP chairman said the speaker verbally approved the bill and when he challenged a voice vote, the speaker violated the rules and deprived him of his right.
“It is sad to say that the speaker has violated the sanctity of the parliament,” Bilawal said. “Today’s budget approval is unconstitutional and illegal and will remain illegal if this mistake is not rectified.”
Commenting on the absence of Shehbaz and others in a Twitter post, Bilawal’s sister’s, Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari, said her father – former president Asif Ali Zardari – attended both a court hearing and the NA session “despite underlying health conditions.”
“So did 54 out of 56 PPP members (missing two had Covid). We remain in Pakistan. [However, only] 14 out of 84 members from the PML-N came to oppose the PTI-IMF budget,” she wrote.
Responding to the criticism, PML-N Secretary Information Marriyum Aurangzeb also took to Twitter to clarify that the opposition leader could not attend the session due to the death of his cousin, Mian Tariq Shafi, as he was busy with funeral rites in Lahore.
