TIMERGARA: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Senator Sirajul Haq on Friday said the government had broken all records of horse-trading during the voting on no-confidence motion against Senate chairman Sadiq Sanjrani.

“Horse-trading in the Senate vote will be remembered as a black scar on the face of our democratic system,” he told the JI Lower Dir monthly congregation here.

The JI leader said the government had won the election but democracy and politics had lost.

He said the senators involved in horse-trading should be held accountable.

Mr Siraj said greed, fear and harassment turned the obvious Senate majority into a minority.

He said the people were not concerned about the fate of the Senate chairman but they were concerned about the escalating prices and unemployment.

The JI chief said his party’s both senators didn’t participate in the Senate vote and stood firm on its stand on the no-confidence motion against the Senate chairman despite frequent contacts by both treasury and opposition.

He said the record hike in the prices of consumer goods had distressed the poor people.

“People are struggling to earn livelihood due to the growing fuel prices and rupee devaluation,” he said.

BUDGET: The Khall tehsil council on Friday approved Rs63.63 million tax-free budget for financial year 2019-20.

The council met here on Thursday with convener Malik Asad Khan in the chair.

Presenting the budget, tehsil nazim Yousaf Adil said Rs24.33 million had been allocated for non-development expenditure, while Rs39.3 would be spent on development projects.

He said Rs12.2 million had been set aside for ongoing projects and Rs27 million for new one.

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2019