Following a week of ruckus in the National Assembly, the government and opposition finally agreed not to disrupt a debate on the federal budget — presented on June 11 — giving Leader of the Opposition Shahbaz Sharif the opportunity to open up the general discussion on Wednesday.
PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari spoke briefly at the start of today’s session, urging Speaker Asad Qaiser once again to issue the production orders for former president Asif Ali Zardari, PML-N’s Saad Rafique, and North Waziristan MNAs Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar.
Making the most of the opportunity, Shahbaz delivered a speech which went on for more than 3 hours, and touched upon a number of topics, including PML-N government’s performance, state of economy, International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan, foreign debt, rate of US dollar — and the budget.
Shahbaz began his speech by first addressing the chaos the assembly had witnessed in its last three sessions, expressing regret over “wasting days”. “It [the pandemonium] was against the traditions of this house, it does not add to its glory.”
He also backed Bilawal’s demand for the production orders of the four MNAs.
Friday, May 8, 2026
