QUETTA: Pashtunkhawa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Chairman Mehmood Khan Achakzai on Thursday rejected the federal budget for fiscal year 2025-26, calling it an “anti-poor, pro-elite” plan to safeguard the interests of the privileged class.

Speaking at the PkMAP’s Central Cabinet and Central Working Committee meetings, Mr Achakzai said the budget “represents an unfair distribution of resources and has no connection to the needs of the general public”.

He pointed to a recent World Bank report indicating that nearly 45 per cent of Pakistan’s population lives below the poverty line, arguing that “public welfare is nowhere among the priorities of the ruling elite”.

He demanded that all “all fabricated and politically motivated cases” against political leaders and workers, including PTI founder Imran Khan, be immediately withdrawn, and called for free and impartial elections be held without delay.

He described Pakistan as a country where the constitutional and legal framework has collapsed due to “the persistent grip of undemocratic forces on power”.

On foreign policy, Mr Achakzai praised China’s efforts to improve relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, calling the move “highly encouraging and commendable”.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2025