Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah Wednesday termed the budget for fiscal year 2018-19 unconstitutional and announced to reject it. "We consider this budget totally unconstitutional and reject it," he said while opening debate on the budget in the National Assembly.
Shah said that the government has also violated the Debt Limitation Act as the debt to gross domestic product (GDP) stands at 70.1 percent while the ratio was 60 percent in 2013. He said that the government is bound to take the Parliament into confidence over increase in debt to GDP ratio by 60 percent, but it did not do this.
The opposition leader also criticized elevation of Miftah Ismail to federal minister, saying the government has wrongly interpreted the Constitution to appoint Ismail as the minister. He said that the government has breached privilege of the Parliament and also negated narrative of its leader Nawaz Sharif by appointing Ismail as the federal minister.
Pakistan is a federation and the government is trying to weaken it through its actions, he said, adding that it is not the criticism but a statement based on facts. He said the government has not mentioned any step in the budget to control the rising population that is going to turn into a "super atom bomb" if not controlled with help of the provincial governments.
Shah said the government is spending a meagre 0.9 percent on health and 2.2 percent on education while it had made tall claims in its manifesto to increase budget for education and health sectors.
He also highlighted the government''''s negligence regarding environmental degradation, deaths of children due to consumption of polluted water and rapid spread of Hepatitis B and C in the population.
Shah claimed that Sindh province is way ahead in spending on the education and health sectors while Pakistan''''s first technical university has also been established in Sindh.
The foreign exchange reserves are falling rapidly while the government has taken no practical step to revive the industrial sector, especially the textile industry, he said.
The opposition leader said that there is need to fix priorities for development and prosperity of Pakistan, adding that the PML-N government had claimed to finish the circular debt once for all, but it has again reached Rs 514 billion.
He also pointed out the promises made by the PML-N leadership in its manifesto for the 2013 elections and its failure to fulfill them during the five-year tenure of the government.
Earlier, the House adopted a unanimous resolution condemning the recent abusive language used by the PML-N ministers against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf women.
The resolution put forwarded by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmaker Shireen Mazari was changed thrice on the objection of Speaker Ayaz Sadiq before it was passed unanimously.
The first draft of the resolution named PML-N ministers Rana Sanaullah and Abid Sher Ali, which were taken off on the objection of the speaker.
Mazari demanded that the lawmakers should apologize for their derogatory remarks on the floor of the House.