Behaving like a know-all.

During the second sitting of the general discussion on budgetary proposals, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari surely delivered a comprehensive and engaging speech Tuesday. The operative part of his speech clearly revealed a compassionate heart, deeply worried about the massive and multiple forms of misery, COVID-19 has brought to our luckless country.

Expressing anxiety in the given context, the youthful Chairman of the PPP, could not stop himself from comparing his worries with allegedly the casual approach, he believed, the Prime Minister appeared to have adopted to deal with an ongoing pandemic. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was equally worried about the possible impact of the locust attack, expected to start from Balochistan by the end of this week.

He presented a plethora of valid sounding points to build the case that instead of sincerely helping the PPP-led government in Sindh to firmly combat Corona, the Federal Government rather continued to create problems for it. The PTI leaders stoked near-rebellion sentiments in that province to weaken the strategy of a strict lockdown. Instead of enhancing the Sindh government's capacity to manage the pandemic, the federal government behaved callously stingy when it came to sharing resources. The story didn't end there.

The PPP Chairman strongly believed that the Imran government had certainly decided to deny the Sindh government its 'due share,' appropriately allotted through the National Finance Commission (NFC). With the said intent a new

NFC had been constituted, close to presentation of the coming financial year's budget. After passionate elaboration of his grievances, he finished with a defiant message.

His speech certainly deserved thorough reporting and analysis. The first 20 minutes of the Tuesday sitting, however, have made me extremely depressed. With a hurt heart I was forced to conclude that the national assembly of these days has been completely taken over by a significant number of reckless types. They remain callously indifferent to the gravity of the ongoing pandemic and continue to obsessively promote narratives of their respective parties, which aim at nothing but throwing mud at each other.

The either/or mindset often force many honorable members of this house to brazenly behave like the schoolyard bullies. Please consider these twenty 20 minutes to fathom my pain.

At the outset of Tuesday sitting, Syed Navid Qamar of the PPP raised a pertinent question. While presenting budgetary proposals...