NA rejects opposition’s amendments on mini-budget

ISLAMABAD: The opposition received a setback after their amendments were rejected by the lower house of the parliament with a vote of 168-150 on the Finance Supplementary Bill – known as mini-budget – on Thursday.

The opposition members proposal to take mass opinion in their proposed amendment was rejected by the house members at a time in the session when as many 23 members of the National Assembly did not attend the session, including 11 members of the treasury benches.

Meanwhile, Speaker Asad Qaisar rejected the opposition’s demand for a recount. Speaking in the session, Finance Minister Shaukat Tareen rejected the opposition’s reservations over the bill by saying that the government intends to expedite the process of documentation.

“200 billion of 343 billion will be refunded. This not tax but documentation of economy,” he said. “The opposition is crying foul that the poor have been devastated but let me assure them no new taxes are being imposed.”

We are not imposing taxes on bakery items, milk, solar panels and laptops, he said.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Ahsan Iqbal said that while the finance minister maintained that the mini-budget was inevitable and he received the economy in a bad condition, why did he claim that the country’s economy was on a road to progress six months back.

Iqbal said that due to the bad policies of the PTI government, the country is facing massive inflation and unemployment. “Because of fake cases against opposition leaders and civil servants, the bureaucracy has stopped working. The people of Pakistan are now commuting from cycle due to high fuel prices.”

The PML-N leader demanded the government to take back taxes on renewable energy sources, agriculture, and IT.