PESHAWAR, June 21: Opposition lawmakers on Monday accused the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government of political discrimination, saying it had deprived opposition members of development funds in the new budget.

Starting the budget debate, Pakistan Muslim League-N leader Anwar Kamal Marwat said that his constituency had been allocated money for the construction of 17km road in last year's budget. "The government has reduced that sum, which is sufficient only to build 7km road," he said.

"This is enough to test the MMA government's vision," he remarked. He said the budget document usually reflected the economic agenda of a government, but last year's as well as this year's budgets had no distinctive stamp of the MMA government, which called itself a 'poor people's government'.

The provincial government shared only 10 per cent of the budget through its own meagre tax collection, the remaining 90 per cent it sought from the federal government and foreign donors, he said.

"The donors do not dole out funds for the directives issued by the chief minister, who had issued about 1,200 directives last year. The government had to drop more than 900 schemes last year. But the new budget reflects 983 old schemes. This means the government is not willing to execute the new ones," Mr Khan added.

He said his party had extended support to the MMA government on all the genuine and real issues, but it would not endorse its ill-conceived social and economic policies.

He told the house that the annual development programme was devised for a year, but the MMA government had spread it over a span of many years. "The government asked us on June 2 to submit our schemes, while it was going to present the budget on June 18. It shows the level of their wisdom," Mr Khan added.

The MMA government, he said, had projected umbrella schemes in the budget which didn't indicate their breakdown. He refused to buy the idea that the MMA was faced with difficulties when it was engaged in budget-making. The MMA had cordial and good relations with President Pervez Musharraf, how could it be in trouble, he inquired.

Israrullah Gandapur of the PPP (Sherpao) said that he praised the nationalist and pro-Pashtun stance of the chief minister, but he "seeks God's help from his (CM's) way of justice".

He said that an autocratic government was in place in the NWFP, with one man calling the shots in the name of Islam and Shariat. The MMA was in power, he said, but it could not be declared a representative of the masses, as it had failed to do anything for the people so far.

The finance minister had promised that pleasure trips would be arranged for tourists in the northern parts of the province, but MMA workers were opposed to all such things, he added.

The MMA government, which had endorsed Jihad in Afghanistan and Kashmir, should have done something for the relatives of martyrs, he said. Pir Mohammad of the MMA said the government had given him not a single school for his backward area this year.

He warned that he would resign if the government failed to meet his demands. Bashir Ahmed Bilour of the ANP, Maulana Ismatullah of the MMA, Jamshed Khan of the PPP (S) and Amanat Ali Shah of the MMA also spoke on the budget. Maulana Ismatullah blasted the opposition for criticizing the MMA and its government.