QUETTA:Budget session in Balochistan Assembly was delayed due to protests by the opposition lawmakers. The Opposition members locked all four entry gates of the Provincial Assembly in which members of the Provincial Assembly (MPAs), journalists and all those going to the Assembly were trapped outside of the Assembly.
Following repeated requests by the officers, the police opened an assembly gate with an armored vehicle. Two opposition members, Abdul Wahid Siddiqui and Babu Rahim were injured during the protest.
Meanwhile, Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan and provincial ministers were under tight security, as soon as they reached the assembly through the red zone. The Opposition members intensified their protest on the arrival of the Chief Minister to the Assembly and started sloganeering besides inflicting damages to the Assembly building. On which the police forcibly dispersed the demonstrators.
On this occasion, Opposition leader Malik Sikandar Hayat Advocate said that the government did not take us into confidence regarding the budget and their four-day protest was not taken seriously. Today, we were forced to close the gate, he expressed.
On the other hand, Balochistan government spokesman Liaquat Shahwani said, “We will present the budget at any cost today.
The Opposition members have crossed all the boundaries of morality and have locked the doors and taken the Assembly hostage. The sanctity of the Assembly has been violated by immoral acts, Shahwani maintained.