Pak PM Imran Khan's mini-budget may lead citizens to a 'miserable death, PML-N chief says

The Imran Khan government's mini-budget will force poor Pakistanis to die a "miserable" death because the bill proposes to raise taxes in a variety of sectors, opposition leader Shahbaz Sharif said. The Pakistan Muslima League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief made this remark on January 13 as Pakistan's National Assembly passed the Finance (Supplementary) Bill, according to local media reports.

The PML-N chief Shahbaz Shari was quoted by the News International, as saying,  "Imran Khan has been imposed on the country and leading the country towards destruction, pushing the poor to the brink of death."

People would have to take to the streets to fight inflation, according to the PML-N leader. "We will have to get the country out of economic misery," he said adding that during Nawaz Sharif's period, there was no inflation and electricity was cheap. Moreover, he emphasised that the Pakistan mini-budget would push the poor people into "miserable" death, according to the News International report.

Opposition stages protest in front of Pakistan's Parliament House

Moreover, according to local media reports, opposition parties staged a protest in front of Parliament House on Thursday, protesting the "mini-budget" and soaring prices. Outside Parliament House, the PPP staged a demonstration against the government's "flawed" economic policies. PPP leaders Sherry Rehman and Nayyar Bukhari told reporters that they would make their party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's cause succeed no matter how much violence the PTI-led government inflicted on their members.

They went on to say that attempts were being made to ram the mini-budget through Parliament and that the PPP will protest both within and outside the House, according to Tribune Express. The leaders of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) stated that the crisis in Pakistan was in the public eye and that the country was being handed over to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). They stated that the PTI-led government would topple because of the mini-budget.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government, according to the leader, is the most incompetent government in Pakistan's history. According to a report by Dawn, Pakistan's National Assembly passed the controversial Finance (Supplementary) Bill, also known as the "mini-budget," and the State Bank of Pakistan (Amendment) Bill 2021 during an hours-long session on Thursday, despite significant resistance from opposition benches.

(With inputs from agencies, Image: PTI)