Says federal budget approved with Sindh CM’s consent n Murad’s objections over budget removed by economic team n Some funds were also increased in the budget on CM Murad's demand.

ISLAMABAD   -   Amid differences among the rul­ing partners over the federal bud­get, Federal Minister for Planning and Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal on Sun­day advised coalition partners not to criticise government decisions in political rallies and raise the issues in cabinet meetings. Referring to the Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s statement indicating that his party would not vote for the bud­get unless their concerns were ad­dressed, the planning minister said that 2023-24 federal budget was ta­bled in the National Assembly last week with the consent of Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah.

Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Chairman and Foreign Minister Bila­wal Bhutto-Zardari had publicly crit­icised the government’s economic team on Saturday saying promised funds for flood victims were not allo­cated in the budget.

“I have no doubt on prime minis­ter’s intention...but members of his [PM Shehbaz Sharif] team are not fulfilling their promises and prime minister should hold them answer­able,” the PPP chief had remarked at the public gathering in Swat.

He also warned that his party, which is a key ally of Pakistan Mus­lim League Nawaz (PML-N)-led coa­lition government at the Cen­tre, cannot vote for the budget in parliament without the al­location of funds for flood vic­tims rehabilitation.

Responding to Bilawal’s warn­ing earlier in a conversation with media, the planning min­ister said the PPP-backed Sindh CM’s objections over the budget were removed by the econom­ic team. Iqbal said some funds were also increased in the bud­get on the demand of CM Mu­rad and added that most of the Rs80 billion funds for flood vic­tims was given to Sindh.

He questioned why objections were being raised now when the budget was approved with consensus in the National Eco­nomic Council (NEC) meeting.

Similarly, he said the federal cabinet also approved the bud­get. He said the prime minister had promised to keep funds for the rehabilitation of flood-hit people in the budget, but some members of his team “were not fulfilling those promises”. He further claimed that the bud­get presented in Parliament had very little input from the PPP, especially on the issues of climate change and rehabilita­tion of those affected by floods, for which sufficient funds were not allocated. In an apparent re­sponse to the foreign minister, Iqbal asserted that the prime minister always resolved con­cerns raised by coalition part­ners. “We should all refrain from talking in rallies and instead dis­cuss [issues] in official meetings of the cabinet so that political uncertainty — which was [PTI Chairman] Imran Khan’s forte — is avoided,” he said during a ceremony in Narowal.

“When Imran’s front is closed, we should refrain from open­ing another front between us … It is our responsibility to act as a team and take Pakistan out of this crisis,” he said. During his address, Iqbal highlighted the importance the premier gave to his coalition partners.

“Under the PM’s leadership, we strive to take all the deci­sions after consultation. When there is a coalition [govern­ment], there are both advantag­es and disadvantages.

“Consultation takes time. But the advantage is that the deci­sions are backed by support. That’s why PM Shehbaz always includes coalition partners in all policy decisions,” the minis­ter said. He added, “Even during the budget preparation and ap­proval, all the coalition partners were involved.”

Iqbal maintained that the government always aimed to take decisions after consensus. “Therefore, it is the responsibil­ity of everyone to guard these decisions and take equal own­ership,” he added.

“When the climate disaster hit last year in Sindh and Baloch­istan, the government, despite limited resources, disbursed more than Rs80 billion through the Benazir Income Support Programme to the flood victims.

“Even the National Disaster Management Authority spent Rs15-20bn on procuring tents, and items of need were sent to provinces apart from for­eign aid,” he said. Iqbal conclud­ed that the issue of flood vic­tims in Sindh and Balochistan was also raised in Geneva and it was decided to expedite the re­lief efforts. He said the input of all allies were included in the preparation of the budget. Fi­nance Minister Dar unveiled an Rs14.5 trillion (around $50.5 billion) budget on June 9, with over half set aside to service Rs7.3 trillion of debt, raising concerns from various stake­holders about the economy’s fu­ture. The foreign minister had previously also raised his res­ervations against the feder­al government over the issues of funds for flood affectees and their relief and rehabilitation.

Fissures within the ruling co­alition were visible in the Na­tional Assembly on Friday when lawmakers belonging to the PPP, while taking part in the de­bate on the federal budget, as­sailed the ruling PML-N for not providing promised funds to the Sindh government for rehabili­tation and reconstruction of the flood-affected areas and “deny­ing” the province its due share from the tax amount.

The PPP lawmakers in their speeches had blamed the PML-N for not taking sufficient measures to provide relief to the poor, reduce prices and re­solve the energy crisis and ex­pressed concern over the am­biguity regarding the allocation of development funds. Holding the PML-N responsible for all the ills and defects in the bud­get, the PPP lawmakers had claimed that the credit for the increase in salaries and pen­sions of government employees went to former president Asif Ali Zardari upon “whose insis­tence the government agreed to give the raise”. Similarly, a num­ber of PPP MNAs had praised FM Bilawal for a “successful” foreign policy and for getting assistance for the flood-hit ar­eas while effectively raising the climate change issue at the in­ternational forums.