Peshawar -On first day before starting debate on the provincial budget, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Thursday witnessed rumpus as lawmakers from both treasury and opposition benches exchanged hot words. Soon after the recitation from holy Quran, the proceedings of the assembly began with acting speaker Shahid Imtiaz Qureshi in the chair. The treasury and opposition shouted slogans of shame, shame against each other.
The united opposition was quick enough to rise up against Health Minister Shaukat Yousafzai when he pointed out to the chair as to whether the PPP MPA Nighat Orakzai was speaking on a point of order or delivering her speech on the budget. In her speech, Nighat condemned the killing of innocent people and newly elected MPA Imran Mohmand and deplored the existing miserable condition of the government’s hospitals.
On this occasion, Shaukat Yousafzai, while pointing to the attitude of PPP MPA, said as it looked like doomsday arrived then opposition stared shouting against the minister, asking him to take his words back. The minister repeatedly withdrew his words and sought apology, saying he did not mean it what the members had perceived.
He said he was not mentioning the tragic killing of people but about the hospitals.
The PTI lawmakers shouted against the opposition members with shame, shame when the minister recalled that Nighat had supported military dictator General Pervez Musharraf for 10 years.
On this occasion, former minister Yousaf Ayub urged the speaker to invite members to debate the provincial budget.
The speaker first invited the former chief minister and newly-elected joint opposition leader Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan to start debate on budget. Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan requested both government and opposition benches to demonstrate patience.
In his speech, Mehtab said the budget did not reflect any vision of the new rulers who formed the government on their much talked about slogans of change and revolution.
He challenged the government’s claims to reduce 50 per cent poverty within three years, saying it could not reduce its even 10 per cent. He said 90 per cent of the so-called increase for health and education would go in salaries.
ANP Parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak said no nation could make progress without peace.
He said the donors would not invest in such a province where the rulers could not ensure security of its two members. The PPP Parliamentary Leader Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha said his party would support the government but would oppose its anti-people policy.