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PML-N, PPP unite to stop approval of budget

PML-N, PPP unite to stop approval of budget
June 19, 2019
ISLAMABAD (92 News) – The Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) have agreed on a joint strategy to prevent the government from passing the budget for the new fiscal year. PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari met PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif in the opposition chamber at the National Assembly. Both the leaders discussed current political situation of the country. According to the sources, the opposition parties formed a committee of opposition lawmakers for preventing the approval of federal budget. The meeting lasted for over an hour during which the two sides exchanged views on the political and economic situation, the opposition’s All Parties Conference (APC) and the budget for the new fiscal year. The participants of the meeting observed that the budget was ‘anti-poor’ and agreed on a joint strategy to stop the government from passing it in its existing form. They formed a committee comprising opposition lawmakers for the purpose that will reach out to the coalition partners of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). PPP leaders Khursheed Shah, Sherry Rehman, Naveed Qamar, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Shazia Marri and Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar and PML-N leaders Ahsan Iqbal, Rana Sanullah, Javed Murtaza Abbasi, Marriyum Aurangzeb were also present in the meeting.
Opp, govt coalition members sign petition for Zardari’s production order
Speaking to the journalists after the meeting, Bilawal Bhutto said the second letter written to the National Assembly speaker for issuing the production orders of detained lawmakers also carried the signatures of MNAs belonging to the PTI’s coalition partners. Bilawal said the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), a coalition partner of the ruling party, had signed the letter for the issuance of the production orders. He added that Moonis Elahi of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) had also assured him that his party supported the opposition’s stance on the matter. The PPP chairman accused the government of resorting to dirty tactics to have the budget passed, noting that the opposition leader in the National Assembly was not even allowed to speak in the house.