‘Don't sell Pakistan’, Khawaja Asif asks govt for mercy on Pakistanis

Islamabad: Former defence minister and Pakistan Muslim League-N senior leader Khawaja Asif has asked the incumbent government for mercy on the people of Pakistan on Thursday. 

He said while speaking to floor of the NA when Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin presented the mini-budget Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2021 in NA session. 

"You're giving SBP's control to IMF. Please have mercy on the people of Pakistan. Don't sell Pakistan. You allowed people to loot the country for three years," the PML-N leader said.

Khawaja Asif said the government had violated the Constitution by presenting an ordinance that had already lapsed and expired.

"You're giving SBP's control to IMF. Please have mercy on the people of Pakistan. Don't sell Pakistan. You allowed people to loot the country for three years," he said.

He urged the House to not let Pakistan surrender its sovereignty. "Surrendering Pakistan's economic sovereignty is more dangerous than that of the surrender in 1971," he said while referring to the East Pakistan debacle.

He said the whole nation was ashamed of what was happening in the parliament.

On the other hand, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin presented the Finance (Supplementary) Bill 2021 — or the mini-budget as the opposition calls it — in the National Assembly amid uproar from the opposition benches.

It is pertinent to mention here that the bill was originally scheduled to be presented in parliament but the cabinet had deferred its approval due to desiring a threadbare discussion on it.

A session of the National Assembly is continued under the chair of NA Speaker Asad Qaiser. Speaker Asad Qaisar said the bill will not be forwarded to the standing committee concerned. The House also adopted the resolution seeking extension in The Election (Third Amendment) Ordinance for 120 days.

During the session, the Lower House of the Parliament approved passed a resolution moved by Babar Awan, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs, to suspend the rules. Later, Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin introduced the Supplementary Finance Bill 2021 (Money Budget) in the National Assembly.

Opposition staged protest and called for a boycott of the assembly and chanted anti-government slogans.