ISLAMABAD: A joint sitting of Parliament passed the budget of Baluchistan for 1976-77 and the supplementary budget of the province for 1975-76 at midnight tonight [June 28]. The budget was presented to Parliament because the Provincial Assembly is in suspension since Sept … 1975 and under the Constitution the Parliament has taken on the function of the Provincial Assembly. Earlier … Federal Finance Minister Rana Mohammad Hanif said that the Federal Government was providing the province more funds than its constitutional shares and will try to give it more in future.

He said the present Government was determined to achieve the objective of taking the province out of backwardness… . This objective … will be achieved, irrespective of the resistance to change in the province by vested interests. He said the pace of development in Baluchistan was slow because of such resistance. [He] said the Opposition members’ criticism of Government policy reflected pathological hatred … of this Government. He said Baluchistan is rich in natural wealth but foreign rulers and sardars kept Baluch society isolated by design… .

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2026