LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz on Tuesday made her first public appearance about three weeks after her surgery and attended the budget session in the provincial assembly for an hour amid protest by opposition Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) members.
Ms Nawaz had undergone a “major surgery”, reportedly related to her throat glands at Sharif Medical City Hospital, Lahore, in the last week of May. During her recovery period, the CM’s core team mainly looked after the affairs of the province under her online guidance.
Following the arrival of the CM in the House, Finance Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman began the budget speech. The treasury members thumped desks to accord the CM a warm welcome. On the other hand, the PTI members chanted slogans in favour of their jailed leader Imran Khan.
A picture of PML-N president and former premier Nawaz Sharif, who returned to Lahore after his over 10-day Switzerland tour, was placed next to the finance minister. Similarly, a couple of PTI MPAs also carried Imran Khan’s picture, demanding his release.
The opposition members gathered around the speaker’s desk and chanted slogans against the budget, terming it anti-people.
As the Punjab Assembly, for the first time, distributed the budget’s soft copies in the House, the opposition members could not get a chance to tear its pages and throw them in the air as a mark of protest. The opposition also staged a demonstration outside the assembly against the government’s budget priorities.
During the CM’s stay in the House, PML-N member Saqib Chadhar approached her at her desk and talked to her about some issue. The CM apparently questioned him. Chadhar has recently been booked by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) for allegedly harassing television actor Momina Iqbal. He is currently on bail.
As CM Maryam left the House, most of the PML-N and PTI lawmakers also followed suit. The finance minister continued delivering the budget speech for over an hour amid a “very thin” attendance in the House.
The chief minister also attended the PML-N’s parliamentary party meeting. Speaking on the occasion, Ms Nawaz thanked the lawmakers for the reception accorded to her in the assembly, saying the third budget presented by her government had been the most challenging one so far. “Punjab has to provide a grant of Rs546 billion to the federal government, while the provincial budget remains focused on the social sector and infrastructure development. Despite difficult financial conditions, we have not reduced allocations for the education and health sectors,” she said and added that the public money is meant solely for the people’s welfare.
“For the first time, development schemes are being implemented without any discrimination, and the entire province is benefiting from the development plan,” she said.
The CM also presided over a cabinet meeting that unanimously adopted a resolution on the Iran-US peace agreement, paying tributes to the premier, field marshal and finance minister for their role in the diplomatic breakthrough.
Provincial Finance Secretary Mujahid Sherdil briefed the cabinet on the Rs5.903 trillion budget for the fiscal year 2026-27.
Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari termed the budget “historic surplus” saying it was presented under exceptionally difficult economic circumstances.
PA opposition leader Moin Riaz Qureshi said the government had completely failed to prepare a people-friendly budget. “This budget proved to be anti-people, anti-farmer, and anti-labour,” he alleged.
Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2026