Opposition members in the Sindh Assembly disrupted Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah’s budget speech on Friday. They protested aiming to drown out his words.
The legislators associated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, and Jamaat-e-Islami, gathered close to the CM’s seat. They raised their concerns to express their objections during the session.
Opposition lawmakers held up placards to criticize what they described as the provincial government’s failure to serve the people of Sindh. Mohammad Farooq, the JI’s only MPA, carried a placard accusing the Sindh government of introducing an anti-public budget.
During their protest in the house, opposition lawmakers ripped apart copies of the new provincial budget. Despite loud protests from the opposition, the CM delivered his budget speech to the end.
After the budget session, Ali Khursheedi, the opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly from MQM-P, spoke to reporters. He said his party rejected the new budget proposed by the provincial government because it excluded improvement projects suggested earlier by opposition lawmakers.
He told journalists that the ruling party in Sindh had failed to ease the burdens faced by the public. He also accused the Sindh CM of breaking promises made to opposition members during the House pre-budget discussions to include their ideas.
Khursheedi pointed out that the budget ignored the development needs of Sindh’s urban areas. He held the Sindh CM responsible for what he described as the province’s current poor condition.
He stated that the opposition would block the provincial government from passing the new budget just because it held a majority in the House. Khursheedi mentioned that the MQM-P highlighted the concerns of neglected urban Sindh residents in the House. He said lawmakers from his party would keep bringing up these issues during the general talks about the new provincial budget.
