Pandemonium breaks out over budget proposals in Pakistan National Assembly, session adjourned

The sitting of the Pakistan National Assembly was adjourned till Wednesday after the Opposition parties attacked the Imran Khan government's budget proposals saying that it had failed to provide relief to the masses from unemployment and inflation.

"The Sitting of the National Assembly has been adjourned to meet again on Wednesday, the 16th June, 2021 at 2:00 p.m," National Assembly of Pakistan wrote in a tweet.

During the National Assembly sitting, members of the treasury created chaos on the floor and started making noise and abusing each other. The lawmakers were seen fighting and throwing copies of the budget.

In a viral video in Twitter, Pakistan National Assembly member, Ali Nawaz Awan was seen using derogatory words after an argument on a certain topic began. Federal minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was standing by his seat.

Chaos broke out in the National Assembly on Tuesday when the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif addressed the house.

According to Geo News, as soon as the PML-N president started speaking, he was greeted by jeers, slogans and whistles from the treasury members.

"Imran Khan Niazi promised 10 million jobs. Where are those jobs?" asked Sharif. "Where are the USD 300bn that was supposed to be brought back to the country from abroad?"

Continuing to lash out at the government, he said that PM Imran Khan's claims of eliminating corruption from Pakistan were hollow.

"Pakistan is suffering from the worst form of corruption today," he said. "No act of posting or transferring someone these days is done without an element of corruption these days," added Shahbaz.

He criticised the government's budget, saying that it had failed to provide relief to the masses from unemployment and inflation, Geo News reported.

Earlier this week, Pak Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin presented the budget for 2021-22.

Speaker Asad Qaiser kept on interjecting, requesting lawmakers on the treasury benches to refrain from shouting while the leader of the Opposition spoke.

However, no one listened and the Opposition leader continued to speak, wearing headphones to drown out the noise.

The leader of the Opposition was resuming his speech from the other day, when he had attempted to criticise the budget before the National Assembly, Geo News reported.

"If the country has seen growth, have only the elite and those residing in the palaces of Bani Gala availed that prosperity?" the Opposition leader had asked, amid the ruckus.

The PML-N president said poor people were "starving to death" in the country. Taking a jibe at the prime minister, Sharif said he wished those who cited the example of Riyasat-e-Madina would pay heed to the "dismal state of the widows, orphans and the destitute."

( With inputs from ANI )