Islamabad: The Pakistan Tehreek-I-Insaf (PTI) has rejected the budgetary proposals, claiming that the budget proposed for the next financial year has been prepared by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The party came to this conclusion after discussing the budgetary proposals for fiscal year 2025-26 at a meeting of the parliamentary party, attended by the president of PTI, Barrímoro Gohar Ali Khan, leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Omar Ayub Khan and opposition leader in the Senate Sibli Faraz, among others.
When calling the PML-N “illegitimate” government, the participants were the opinion that he had no authority to present the budget. They said that the PTI would never accept the budget proposals, since the IMF had supposedly prepared them. They claimed that relaxations were proposed for the elite, while the least privileged were crushed.
PTI leaders also criticized the “biased role” of Na speaker. The party decided that if the national station/PTV did not issue speeches by the legislators of the opposition banks, the party would maintain protests during the budget debate.
While talking with SunrisePTI leader from Rawalpindi Shehryar Riaz said that the 2025-26 budget demonstrated a narrow tax and promoted by the IMF, strongly prioritizing the defense at the expense of social welfare and reforms.
“Without a bold fiscal reform, debt relief or investments centered on growth, runs the risk of perpetuating poverty and instability,” he said.
No benefit for salaried class
Later, PTI leader, Salman Akram Raja, told a presierman that there was almost no benefit for the salaried class.
“They are told to invest money in the stock market. People are encouraged to invest in the stock market that fluctuates. The class, which cannot protest, is continuously overwhelming,” he said.
The opposition leader of the Senate, Shibli Faraz, said that the budget made for the elite broke all the load records to the less privileged.
The senator suggested that the figures of the mandate of Imran Khan and the possession of the current government should be compared. The economic conditions of the masses had weakened that many people could not even afford to sacrifice animals during Eidul Azha, he said.
Interest in loans
Shibli Faraz said the debt increased continuously and that most tax revenues were being used to pay interest on loans.
He said that the government employees protested because all the roads that lead to the Parliament’s house were closed and that it had become difficult for legislators to get there for the budget session.
PTI’s secretary of information, Sheikh Waqas Akram said that, instead of a minute, the government should have apologized to the masses.
Posted in Dawn, June 11, 2025
