NA budget debate descends into political sparring

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly descended into familiar political polarisation during a federal budget debate on Wednesday, as lawmakers traded sharp personal attacks, disputed electoral mandates and argued over a newly announced US-Iran security agreement.

The session, chaired by NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, highlighted deep fractures not just between the treasury and opposition benches, but also underscored the complex political dynamics between the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and its coalition ally, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan opened the session by calling for political reconciliation, while questioning the government’s sincerity regarding a recent dialogue offer made by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

“We welcome the prime minister’s offer of dialogue,” Khan told the floor. “But if the government is serious, let us know — what is the delay?”

The fragile consensus was quickly upended as Federal Minister for Food and Security Rana Tanvir Hussain, a staunch PML-N loyalist closely aligned with the Sharif family, shifted the focus to national security.

Hussain praised the prime minister’s domestic standing and touted Pakistan’s role in brokering a purported peace agreement between the United States and Iran, claiming the country’s defense capabilities had left global powers viewing it in a “different light.”

However, the PML-N’s governance faced sharp criticism from within its own ruling alliance.

Pakistan People’s Party lawmaker Shazia Marri launched a scathing attack on the federal budget’s economic targets and the government’s reliance on International Monetary Fund (IMF) mandates.

“The government dumps the debris of its failures and the entire burden of inflation on the public in the name of the IMF,” Marri said.

She strongly criticised the federal poverty threshold established in the budget, calling it unrealistic.

Marri congratulated Pakistan and Iran over the upcoming agreement involving the United States, and said the country had consistently supported peace.

She said Pakistan had always believed in responding firmly to terrorism and the nation had shown resilience in the fight against militancy.

She said the people of Pakistan had bravely confronted terrorism and the country continued to stand for peace.

Referring to Gilgit-Baltistan elections, she said the legacy of PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto still lived on in the hearts of people in the region, adding that her party had granted the territory its current constitutional status.

Marri said the PPP believed in mutual respect for political mandates and would not allow any reduction in provincial shares under the National Finance Commission (NFC) award.

She quoted PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari as saying there would be no compromise on the financial rights of provinces.

She said the federal government had sought provincial financial contributions for national defence needs.

Commenting on the budget, she criticised the classification of a person earning Rs8,483 per month as “poor,” calling it unrealistic, and challenged the government to run a household on Rs10,000 per month.

Marri said that if lawmakers continued to insist that “all is well” in the House, conditions would never improve, adding that the government often shifted the burden of inflation onto the public in the name of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

PPP lawmaker Naz Baloch launched a thinly veiled attack on the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), invoking Karachi’s history of political violence, extortion, and illegal land plotting (“China cutting”) during the 2000s.

Meanwhile, senior PTI leader and former National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser used his floor time to hit back at Defence Minister Khawaja Asif over allegations of clandestine political maneuvering.

Qaiser challenged Asif’s own electoral legitimacy from the February 2024 general election, which the opposition maintains were heavily rigged.

“If his conscience is burdened, he should resign from his stolen seat,” Qaiser said, challenging Asif to re-contest his seat against PTI-backed candidate Rehana Dar.

PTI lawmaker Amir Dogar complained to National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq that opposition members were not being given adequate time to express their views during the budget session.

Speaking on the floor of the National Assembly, Dogar said opposition lawmakers were being deprived of “proper time” to present their arguments and express their views.

Responding to the remarks, Speaker Ayaz Sadiq said that previously even when additional time was allotted, former members Shafqat Mahmood and Shireen Mazari, used to complain that they were not given enough time.

He said Dogar was “repeating the same old arguments” on the floor of the House.

The speaker added that despite giving the opposition double time, the same complaints about insufficient speaking time continued.

The session concluded without significant legislative progress on the fiscal budget, as Speaker Ayaz Sadiq dismissed opposition complaints regarding the rationing of speech timings, noting that the opposition had already been granted double their allocated floor time.