June 04, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 29, 1429

ISLAMABAD, June 3: Pakistan People’s Party’s lawmakers have complained that they have not received copies of the 18th amendment bill prepared by the party.

They were speaking at a parliamentary party meeting held here on Tuesday before the start of the session to discuss the constitutional amendment package.

PPP’s parliamentary secretary Izhar Amrohi told Dawn that some lawmakers also complained about that only two ministers attended the meeting.

The meeting was presided over by chief whip Syed Khurshid Shah in place of Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.

Insiders said that without copies of the draft, they could not respond to people’s objections.

Some of them said they had been kept in the dark about details of budget estimates while others said projects in their areas had not been included in the budget proposals.

It was announced at the meeting that the budget would be presented in the National Assembly on June 10, and not on June 7 because the prime minister would be gone abroad on an official tour.