The Punjab Assembly on Wednesday approved 43 demands for grants of over Rs 653 billion, as it passed the Finance Bill 2011-12 with a majority vote. However, the House rejected three cut motions tabled by the opposition. The budget 2011-12was passed with majority vote, however, no PPP member was present in the House during the voting.
A PPP spokesman said they had not opposed the budget on instructions by President Asif Ali Zardari.
But the passage did not came before another sparring between PML-N and PPP legislators over PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif’s statement concerning the Pakistan Army. However Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal’s intervention cooled down the searing disposition. At the onset of the proceedings, Opposition Leader Raja Riaz said on a point of order that Punjab Governor Sardar Latif Khosa had written to the chief minister, demanding an explanation and details regarding the names of the countries as well as organisations from which foreign donations and grants would not be acceptable for the provincial government.
He said the letter also inquired about the details of the foreign-funded projects in the province and their future after the suspension of foreign loans. Riaz said the government should not repeat the mistake done by the previous regime by granting funds to rich institutions, rather funds should be offered to public sector educational institutions instead of private institutions.
He said the PML-N was supporting turncoats who extended their full cooperation to former president Pervez Musharraf. The opposition leader said the PPP helped the Punjab government to get the budget approved only because of President Zardari’s direction and in pursuance of the PPP’s reconciliatory policy.
In response, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said foreign grants were offered against the blood of our countrymen and requested the speaker to reserve a full session to discuss foreign aids. He said he was confident that the House would reject such an aid that entailed shedding the blood of innocent Pakistanis. In response to an objection raised by a member over a grant of Rs 50 million to Chand Bagh School, the chief minister said the school was not owned by an individual, rather being run by a board of governors, adding that children of extremely poor families, destitute and orphans were also enrolled at the school.
