Budget 2025-26: PTI gears up for protest
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has decided to launch a strong protest campaign against the upcoming federal budget for the fiscal year 2025-26, both inside Parliament and on the streets.
Party sources say a high-level strategy meeting has been scheduled for today (Tuesday) at 3 PM to finalise the protest plan.
All senior PTI leaders have been directed to attend the meeting, where they will chalk out the party’s response to the budget 2025-26, including in-house opposition and public demonstrations.
Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Omar Ayub, criticising the budget proposals, said that the entire budget has been dictated by the IMF, economic survey is like Form-47.
Citing recent reports, Omar Ayub claimed that 45 per cent of Pakistan’s population is now living below the poverty line. “This entire budget has been drafted by the IMF,” he said. “It’s not an economic survey—it’s a Form-47 style economic plan.”
The PTI leaders added that over 30 million people in the country are struggling to survive under the poverty line. “There has been no earthquake, no flood, and no natural disaster in the past three years, yet the agriculture sector is in decline,” Ayub questioned.
Sheikh Waqas Akram accused the government of hiding the real economic picture and said that the burden of current economic policies is falling directly on the poor.