Pakistan - Budget an attempt to break federation, says Bilawal

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Tuesday rejected the federal budget for fiscal year 2016-17 terming it an attempt to break the federation.

“[It] seems this budget has been designed to break the federation. We reject one unit budget for Punjabistan,” the PPP chairperson tweeted.

BilawalBhuttoZardari 

✔@BBhuttoZardari

Seems this budget has been designed to break the federation. We reject one unit budget for Punjabistan.

3:45 AM - 7 Jun 2016

Bilawal’s statement comes days after the federal government unveiled Rs4.42 trillion federal budget in the National Assembly on Friday.

The government further proposed a massive increase in direct and indirect tax rates under the guise of making the lives of non-filers of income tax returns miserable. The new tax measures include limiting tax-free cash withdrawal facility and banking transactions facility to just one account.

The opposition on Monday accused the government of fudging figures, exaggerating economic gains and ‘presenting an unrealistic and directionless budget’. The government also drew flak on what the opposition called its ‘flawed economic priorities’.

Bilawal’s remarks on budget follow Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan’s response to the former’s statement that the latter “failed in his attempt to become PM” during Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s absence.

Responding to the PPP chairperson’s comment Nisar said, “Bilawal might have grown up, but he has still not learnt anything about politics.”

On Thursday, Bilawal had said Nisar has failed in his plan to become prime minister of the country. “Chaudhry Nisar’s campaign to become PM is not going as well as planned and he is getting frustrated,” Bilawal tweeted.

Bilawal’s remarks had coincided with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s successful open heart surgery in London where the prime minister remained hospitalised for a whole week after the procedure.

The premier has travelled to London for medical treatment several times over the past year and was accompanied on this trip by his brother, Shahbaz Sharif, who is chief minister of Punjab, and several other family members.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/1117896/budget-attempt-break-federation-says-bilawal/