Discrimination in distribution of development funds: opposition protests against Punjab government's attitude

Opposition benches in the Punjab Assembly strongly protested the discriminatory attitude of the Punjab government in distribution of development funds and boycotted the House's proceedings on Monday. On a point of order, the leader of the Opposition Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed said the current financial year has almost concluded and during this time not once the members of the opposition benches had been invited to the meetings of District Co-ordination Committees (DCCs) and they have also been totally ignored in the distribution of development funds.
He continued that the constituencies of the opposition parliamentarians are deprived of development work. "Such discriminatory behaviour is unimaginable in a democracy. The government is only paying lip service to the House when they say they are upholding democratic norms and taking the opposition along," he added.
He reminded the House that three months ago they had moved a privilege motion in this connection, but no action was taken, and they had not been invited to the meetings of DCCs so far. He warned that if the government persisted with the discriminatory attitude then the treasury benches would find hard to smoothly run the remaining days of the ongoing and the budget sessions.
With this warning, the opposition benchers boycotted the House. Acting Speaker Sardar Sher Ali Gorchani paid no attention to the boycott and continued with the House's business.
In the absence of the opposition benchers, Punjab Law Rana Sanaullah responded to the criticism by accusing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) of playing negative politics and added they are trying to create chaos in the country. He claimed that the PTI's negative politics was helping the enemies of Pakistan in destabilising the country. He also objected to the opposition leader's walkout from the House without hearing his response to his (opposition leader) criticism and hence questioned his democratic behaviour.
The Minister told the House that to settle the issue of development funds he had arranged a meeting between the Punjab Chief Minister and the opposition legislators, but when the meeting time drew nearer the PTI backed out. "Only the members of the PPP and PML-Q met the Chief Minister. In the meeting, they took up the issue of development funds and also conveyed the problems their constituencies faced," he added.
"The CM told the members of the PPP and PML-Q that development fund was not a privilege of the parliamentarians, however he suggested to them to identify development schemes for their constituencies and they will be executed," he added. The Law Minister maintained that development works are being carried out in the constituencies of the opposition members, but the PTI was making objections for their development schemes were not identified by them.
Earlier, the opposition leader advised Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to remain focused on the core issues (Kashmir, water and Indian interference in Balochistan) during his visit to India and not divert his attention to trivial matters. In response, Rana Sanaullah in a teasing tone advised the PTI to keep its focus on negative politics and the leave the serious business with the PM; he is a seasoned politician and hence he knows how to handle the Indians.
Later, in the absence of the Opposition leaders, the House passed the Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology, Rahim Yar Khan Bill 2014. Also, on the occasion the House took up answer-question session on labour and human resources and social welfare departments. However, the House's business could not be completed in the absence of the opposition benches. On the request of the opposition, a time was fixed for a general discussion on health. Hence, the Acting Speaker repeatedly requested the opposition leader to return to the House, but he refused to end the boycott. Left with no other option, the Acting Speaker adjourned the House till Tuesday morning.