Pakistan approves federal budget as several opposition lawmakers absent from parliament 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s National Assembly on Tuesday approved the Finance Bill 2021-22 during a session which was also attended by Prime Minister Imran Khan, though not the opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif and several other leaders of his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party.
Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin dismissed the opposition’s criticism of the government’s economic policies, saying the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had to seek financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to deal with the fiscal deficit accumulated by previous governments.
The federal budget was passed after several tumultuous sessions in which members of the treasury benches sometimes impeded opposition politicians from delivering critical speeches and protesting the government’s economic policies.
According to the local media, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry applauded the “huge development budget,” saying that the government managed to get it approved “with great ease.” 
He said Shehbaz Sharif’s absence from the National Assembly probably owed to a leadership tussle within the largest opposition party.
The non-attendance of the leader of the opposition from the final budget sitting was also highlighted by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari who slammed the government for “depriving” the provinces of their financial share by neglecting the National Finance Commission (NFC) award.
The absence of several opposition lawmakers from the National Assembly session stood in stark contrast to the opposition’s earlier decision to forcefully oppose the approval of the finance bill.
However, PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal told local media that Sharif was absent from the session since his cousin had passed away.
He also added that a “vast majority” of his party members were present during Tuesday’s session.
Earlier this month, the government presented a deficit budget with a total outlay of $53.93 billion, a revenue generation target of $37 billion and a growth target at 4.8 percent of the country’s total Gross Domestic Product.