Country needs new mandate, says opposition.

Byline: Amir Wasim

ISLAMABAD -- Rejecting the federal budget 'unanimously, entirely and forcefully' and calling Prime Minister Imran Khan a 'national liability', the opposition parties on Sunday vowed to explore all 'constitutional means' to oust the government, saying 'the country needs a new mandate'.

After having hectic consultations almost throughout the day, the opposition parties having representation in parliament came out with an eight-page joint statement citing 19 reasons for the decision to reject the federal budget.

'Prime Minister Imran Khan has become a national liability and he is leading the country to a disaster. The sooner we get rid of him, the more chances we have of salvaging bacha kucha Pakistan,' said parliamentary leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the National Assembly Khawaja Asif while speaking at a news conference with Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and representatives of other opposition parties at Sindh House.

'The united opposition will make a joint policy...and fight for the people of Pakistan at every front,' the PML-N stalwart from Sialkot said after Mr Bhutto-Zardari announced that his party had decided to postpone its proposed multi-party conference (MPC) till the complete recovery of ailing opposition leader and PML-N president Shahbaz Sharif.

A senior PML-N leader told Dawn that the opposition would lodge a protest in the National Assembly at the time of the passage of the federal budget and in the presence of Prime Minister Khan on Monday. He, however, said the mode of the protest would be discussed before the start of the NA sitting. He ruled out the possibility of staging a walkout from the assembly as it would provide an opportunity to get the budget passed smoothly.

The decision to reject the budget has been endorsed by nine parties, including the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), which had recently quit the ruling coalition over the Balochistan issues. Besides the BNP-M, the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI), which had stayed away from previous MPCs of the opposition parties at the time of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam's (JUI-F) long march in October last year, also came to the opposition-fold.

Besides the signatures of Mr Bhutto-Zardari and Khawaja Asif, the joint statement also carries the signatures of representatives of the JUI-F, JI, BNP-M, Awami National Party, Qaumi Watan Party, National Party and Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement-backed independent MNA Mohsin...