Baloch term the budget as "naked exploitation and aggression" against Balochistan
ISLAMABAD: Ugly scenes were witnessed in the Senate on Monday when budget for 2005-06 was tabled in the House, as senators from Balochistan threw the budget documents on the floor of the house after tearing it into pieces and terming it a "Punjab budget."
Many verbal clashes between Baloch and Pakhtoon nationalist senators and treasury benches followed the tearing of the budget documents. The situation got so tense in the Upper House that, at one stage, all the opposition members walked out of the House chanting slogans against the government for its failure to announce the National Finance Commission (NFC) award, and fiscal bill was presented when the opposition benches were empty.
As Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Sher Afgan rose to table the bill in the Upper House after being referred from the Lower House, the opposition walked out.
The senators from Balochistan also accused General Pervez Musharraf of deliberately protecting interests of Punjab, and claimed: "General is only returning favours to the mighty province for giving him votes during his presidential referendum."
However, they claimed, Balochistan and NWFP are being punished by General Musharraf for not giving him votes. However, Chairman Senate Mohammadmian Soomro exercised patience in the face of provocative speeches by the Baloch and Pakhtoon senators. Instead of taking some drastic steps as demanded by the treasury benches, he remained calm and averted any major showdown in the House.
The treasury benches and Dr Sher Afgan praised the chairman for showing democratic spirit.
Earlier, leader of opposition in the Senate Raza Rabbani delivered a hard-hitting speech and accused the government of violating the constitution. He questioned tabling of the budget in the House without formally announcing the new NFC award as required under the law. Secondly, he said, the president’s refusal to address the joint sitting of the parliament was also a violation of the constitution.
Senator Ishaq Dar also lashed out at the government for not announcing the NFC award, and pointed out "many serious constitutional violations" by the government. Pakhtoon Senator Raza Khan Raza, too, was very critical of the government, and alleged that Balochistan was being exploited by Punjab. He claimed that the "depressed nationalities" were being exploited by the Centre, and provinces were not being given their due rights. He lamented that the Balochistan government lacked funds for payment of salaries to employees, and the chief minister had to beg from the centre or borrow from the provinces. He also branded it a "Punjab budget."
Senator Sanaullah Baloch was also very harsh in his speech, as he not only tore the budget documents during his speech but also threw them on floor of the House that led to strong uproar from treasury benches. Even the Senate chairman remarked that act of Sanaullah amounted to "insult of Upper House."
However, Senator Baloch lashed out at Punjab, and alleged that it was bent upon "naked exploitation and aggression" against the smaller provinces. He alleged that Balochistan was being "plundered" by Punjab and "President Musharraf was only helping the bigger province to exploit resources of Balochistan."
Senator Kamil Ali protested against attitude of Sanaullah Baloch, and said he was dishonouring the House. Senator Nighat Agha also objected to Senator Baloch’s act of throwing the budget documents. The chairman remarked that Baloch had hurt feelings of the members of the House.
Senator Mohim Khan Baloch from the treasury benches also protested against non-announcement of the NFC award, and said it would badly hit the poverty-stricken Balochistan. At this stage, opposition walked out of the House.
Senator Pari Gul Agha condemned the act of Sanaullah Baloch, and said he had actually shown disrespect to the names of God written on the documents. Her views were also shared by other woman senators who too criticised Sanaullah Baloch for throwing the documents on floor of the House.
http://jang.com.pk/thenews/
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