Hamza Shehbaz Sharif protests Faryal Talpur's arrest

LAHORE: Talking to the media on Friday (today), Leader of the opposition in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shehbaz Sharif expressed strong reservations over the arrest of Pakistan People’s Party stalwart Faryal Talpur, ARY News reported.

The Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leader said that he found out about Talpur’s arrest from the media.

Hamza who is out of detention after a production order for his release were issued by the Punjab Assembly were issued by the speaker, Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi on June 13.

Lashing out against the government Hamza said: “This government has nothing credible to show in terms of performance, when people were half asleep the Prime Minister of Pakistan was addressing the nation.”

“The nation was clinging on to false hope that the budget will carry some positives but that was not the case, rather it proved poisonous.”

Digging into the budget the opposition leader said that the poor has been burdened with 16% service tax.

“A person earning Rs. 300 daily has also been levied with a 16% service tax,” said Hamza.

Hamza likened the federal budget to revenge that the government was out to take from it’s own people.

Talking about the agriculture sector, Hamza said: “65% of Lahore’s revenue is directly related to Lahore. A farmer is dependent upon his land to mange finances, the subsidy for the agriculture sector was doubled which proved detrimental,” claimed Shehbaz.

“How will prices of edible items be effected?” Inquired Hamza.

Referencing the budget proposed by PML-N in it’s tenure Hamza said that his party had allocated Rs. 630 billion for development in contrast to the Rs. 35 billion proposed in the current budget tabled by Pakistan Tehreek -i- Insaf (PTI).

“The current development budget is half of what it was during our tenure, a guy who says that he ‘learning’ is made the ruler of Punjab,” taunted Hamza.

Hamza in closing said that he had not seen such economic turmoil in the 70 year history of the country.

It is pertinent to mention here that PML-N stalwart Hamza Shehbaz was taken into custody by the anti-graft watchdog, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on June 11.

Hamza, who appeared before the bench to request an extension in his bail which had expired, was arrested by a NAB team from the court premises following the dismissal of his bail.