ISLAMABAD: The opposition parties on Friday criticized the government for presenting an “anti-people” budget for the fiscal year 2021 while terming the revenue and non-revenue targets “unrealistic” which would further increase financial burden on the masses.

The opposition members protested against the budget in the National Assembly while Minster for Industries Hammad Azhar unveiled a Rs 7.13 trillion financial plan for the next fiscal year, claiming that no new taxes were imposed to provide some relief to the people.

“This government has failed to impose taxes on rich and wealthy people,” Senator Mushahidullah Khan, a senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader, told Arab News after the budget session. “If anything, it is trying to further squeeze the poor to increase revenue.”

He said that government employees were expecting a significant raise in their salaries and pensions keeping in view the soaring inflation and economic situation, but they were ignored.

Khan said the government was hiding behind the coronavirus outbreak in the country, but “the reality is that they destroyed the country’s economy much before the emergence of COVID-19.”

“This is an anti-people budget and we totally reject it,” he continued. “We will keep pressing the government to announce incentives for the poor before the final approval of the budget document.”

Prime Minister Imran Khan was present in the House during the budget speech while leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Shehbaz Sharif, could not attend it after testing positive for COVID-19. The attendance from both the treasury and opposition benches was low to ensure social distancing and prevent spread of the virus.

The opposition members were carrying placards and kept chanting slogans against the government during the budget session.

Commenting on the budget, Pakistan Peoples Party’s senior lawmaker Syed Naveed Qamar said that the government had presented “unrealistic” budgetary targets which would ultimately burden the masses in terms of mini-budgets during the financial year.

“We were not expecting a people-friendly budget from the government keeping in view its past year’s performance,” he told Arab News, adding that the government should have raised salaries and pensions of the government employees to provide them relief in these testing times.

Qamar said that government employees would be spending at least ten percent less as compared to the previous year due to lack of increments.

He said the government had also failed to mention the development expenditures that it would carry out in coordination with the provincial governments.

“This is not a budget, but a recipe for disaster for people,” he said.

Muhammad Aslam Ghauri, deputy secretary general of the Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Islam (JUI-F) party, said that his political faction along with other opposition parties would give “viable proposals” to the government to provide relief to the general public.

“This budget is nothing short of a joke,” he told Arab News. “The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had made tall claims before coming into the power, but were now disappointing the public on a daily basis.”

Ghauri said the government should have reduced taxes on daily use items and increased them on luxury products to create a balance among the poor and the rich.

“We still expect it to review its monetary policies before people begin to pour out into streets,” he added.