Islamabad, June 14: Amid boycott by opposition parties over President Pervez Musharraf's constitutional amendments, Pakistan's national assembly today passed the Rs 805 billion budget with a simple majority.q The Jamali government, which has a simple majority in the house, managed to get the budget ratified after the opposition staged a walkout.
Ever since the budget was presented on June seven by finance minister Shoukat Aziz amid uproarious scenes, the opposition has only briefly attended the house to shout slogans against Musharraf.
The national assembly has for the time conducted legislative business ever since it was constituted after last year's general elections.
In another development, the Jamali government has rejected the opposition demand to discuss the financial allocations for the defence budget. The government has increased the defence budget to Rs. 160 billion from Rs. 146 billion last year.
"None of the articles of the constitution say that the defence budget should be brought in parliament for discussion," Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told reporters yesterday.
The combined opposition had demanded that the government discuss the defence budget on the floor of the parliament at a joint press conference by MMA leader Maulana Fazl-ur-Rahman, Pakistan Peoples Party leader Makhdoom Amin Fahim and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader Makhdoom Javed Hashmi yesterday.

Bureau Report