ISLAMABAD: The government’s high-handedness towards protesting farmers cast a long shadow over parliamentary proceedings on Friday, as the opposition walked out from both houses of parliament to protest the treatment meted out to those who “drive the country’s economic progress” and “fill its breadbaskets”.

Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah set a new precedent when he spoke briefly on the issue before the finance minister’s speech.

At the outset of Friday’s National Assembly session, Mr Shah rose in his chair and asked Speaker Ayaz Sadiq to allow him time to speak.

The speaker told him that this was highly irregular and that the opposition had never been allowed to speak before the budget speech in all parliamentary history. This galvinised the opposition benches and members rose in their seats, demanding the opposition leader be heard.

The speaker reluctantly gave the floor to Mr Shah after Finance Minister Ishaq Dar interceded on his behalf.

The opposition leader immediately raised his voice for the Kissan Ittehad Council, saying the opposition had no intention to disrupt the budget session, but that the government had created an issue for itself.

When he finished, Mr Dar resumed his budget speech amid hooting and jeering from the opposition benches. Jamshed Dasti and a number of other MNAs walked to the speaker’s dais and tore up budget documents, after which the entire opposition filed out of the house.

A team of government ministers, however, succeeded in convincing them to return to the house, where they patiently heard the minister’s budget speech.

Similar scenes were witnessed when the finance minister came to the Senate to present the finance bill. The opposition walked out of the upper house when PPP leader Taj Haider rose in his seat to say something but was not allowed to by the chairman.

The lawmakers exited the chamber, chanting anti-government slogans and turning a deaf ear to Raza Rabbani’s directions not to chant slogans in the house.

Regretting the opposition’s attitude, Mr Dar said he felt disappointed with the way they had acted. “This is not my personal budget, or the PML-N’s budget; it is Pakistan’s budget,” he said, calling on the opposition not to politicise it.

He called environment in the house “strange” and asked the opposition what message it wanted to send.

But Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani told him this was part of parliamentary practice. In response the minister said that the government was doing good work for the nation and the matter should be taken in this spirit.

The Senate chairman gave members until May 29 to give recommendations on the budget, saying that all proposals should be submitted to the Senate Standing Committee on Planning and Development, which would submit its report to the Senate Standing Committee on Finance within seven days. The finance committee will have ten days to finalise its recommendations.

Both the Senate and the National Assembly will start discussion on the budget from Monday (May 29).

The controversy over police action against farmers also echoed in the upper house. Immediately after the session, PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar submitted a calling-attention notice on the subject with the Senate secretariat.

Reaction to budget

Meanwhile, the opposition made no secret of its disdain for the proposed budget.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf called it “a tale of atrocities and oppression inflicted on the masses”.

Islamabad MNA Asad Umar, reacting to the budget speech, said that the PML-N government had adopted a “reverse Robin Hood strategy” in its four-year reign, where money was being snatched from the pockets of the poor and middle-classes to enhance the wealth of the unproductive elite.

Mr Umar said that PM Sharif made tall claims of ending loadshedding, but after holding the reins of power for four years and spending billions on advertisements, the shortfall in May 2017 was more that in May 2013.

He said that the PML-N government had not only failed to eliminate loadshedding, but had also increased electricity tariffs by imposing four types of new surcharges.

The PTI leader also criticized the claims of self-reliance, noting a surge in the national debt.

He said the external debt had increased from $61 billion to $76 billion in less than four years; the collapse of exports from $25billion to $20billion in this period was a major reason.

Speaking to reporters outside Parliament House, PPP Senator Rehman Malik said the budget was “anti-people and anti-poor”. He said the 10pc increase in government employees’ salaries on an ad-hoc basis was “a cruel joke”.

Published in Dawn, May 27th, 2017