Opposition criticises budget just for point scoring: govt.

Byline: Aamir Yasin

ISLAMABAD -- Soon after the press conference of opposition leaders led by Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari in which they rejected the new budget presented by the federal government, the PTI ministers on Sunday termed the opposition stance an attempt to provoke people just for political point scoring.

Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar accompanied by InformAaAtion Minister Shibli Faraz and CommuAnications Minister Murad Saeed criticised the opposition and said that due to them (opposition leaders), the country was facing financial crisis and they were responsible for deteriorating condition of economy.

Mr Azhar, who presented the budget in the National Assembly on June 12, said that for the first time in the country's history no new tax had been imposed in the budget and people had been given relief.

'As per its tradition of political point scoring, the opposition has rejected the annual budget that has provided relief to the poor. We provided relief to 16 million families under Ehsaas emergency programme and three million businessmen have been given exemption in electricity bills to ease difficulties they are facing during the pandemic,' he said.

Ministers say relief has been provided to poor people

He said that the government was expecting that the situation would be different as the country was facing the pandemic, but the opposition was in the habit of looking at their own interests and did not care for people and the country.

The minister said that the government had reduced prices of petroleum products in the past and the recent surge in the prices was due to hike in international market. He said that the opposition should look at the figures in international market.

Mr Faraz said that the federal budget will be approved on Monday (today). 'The opposition's delusions will all be wiped out tomorrow when the budget will be passed.'

He said that the opposition had passed the buck on its incompetence during their tenures and...