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PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar said the PML-N-led government's fiscal plan offered no meaningful relief to the public. He described the budget as disappointing and said the party had no expectations from the government.
He added that there had been no notable improvement in governance over the past four years, alleging that instead of reducing expenditure, the government had relied on repeated borrowing. Gohar said government mismanagement and extravagance had increased, stressing that a budget should provide real relief to citizens and reduce economic hardship.
On political engagement, he said efforts were ongoing for meetings with party leadership and contacts were being made wherever there was any possibility of progress, but no positive response had been received so far. He added that the public was under severe economic pressure while the government continued to invite the opposition for engagement. "The PTI would not attend meetings for photo-ops". He sought serious political progress.
Separately, PTI Central Secretary Information Sheikh Waqas Akram said the budget was effectively a typical PML-N document, alleging that it reflected an "elite-friendly" approach in which the poor were given only "crumbs" while the wealthy received relief.
He alleged that the 2026-27 budget was based on manipulation of figures and focused on harassment of honest taxpayers rather than genuine reforms. He also criticised the introduction of faceless audits, saying they were being used to target legitimate businesses.
Akram said the government had imposed taxes across multiple areas in recent budgets while continuing to manipulate figures, adding that the latest financial plan followed the same pattern. He claimed the budget punished honest taxpayers while ignoring large-scale tax evasion, describing it as deceptive and anti-public.
The All Pakistan Clerks Association (APCA), teachers' organisations, and the Education Pensioners Association have rejected the 2026-27 federal budget, terming it a continuation of the economic exploitation of government employees and pensioners.
In a joint statement, teachers' leaders said soaring inflation, rising petroleum prices, unaffordable gas and electricity bills, and the continuous increase in the prices of essential commodities had made life extremely difficult for employees and pensioners.
They said the proposed salary increase of only 7 to 10 per cent was not only inadequate but amounted to adding insult to injury for the affected classes.
The leaders noted that while the ruling elite had increased their own salaries, perks, and official benefits by 600 to 900 per cent over the past three years, millions of government employees, teachers, and pensioners across the country had been given only a nominal increase. They described this as a clear example of double standards and economic injustice.
Teachers, clerical staff, Class-IV employees, technical personnel and labour organisations jointly on Friday rejected the interim relief of seven percent and announced a long march from PIMS Hospital Chowk to Parliament House against low perks and privileges and inflation on the day the Federal Budget 2026–27 is presented.
Leaders of the All Government Employees Grand Alliance (AGEGA), APCA, Punjab Teachers Union, Educators Association and Pensioners Association - including Shahzad Manzoor Kiani, Basharat Iqbal Raja, Chaudhry Mubashir, Malik Amjad, Shafeeq Bhalwalia and Ramzan Inqalabi - said they would no longer accept what they described as "token measures" from the government.
Speaking to Media ,the leaders demanded that salaries and pensions be increased in line with inflation and that all employee allowances be substantially enhanced.
They questioned what they termed the selective application of austerity measures, arguing that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raises no objections when ministers, members of the National Assembly and senators receive salary increases running into hundreds of thousands of rupees, yet opposes even modest pay rises for government employees.
"Such an approach is no longer acceptable," they said. "If the country is facing a fiscal and economic crisis, why were new expensive aircraft purchased? Government employees and pensioners cannot continue to bear the burden alone."
The employee representatives demanded a 100 per cent increase in salaries and pensions and called for all ad hoc relief allowances granted in previous years to be merged into basic pay scales.
They announced that employees from across the country would begin arriving in Rawalpindi on the eve of the federal budget. On budget day, participants will gather at PIMS Hospital Chowk before commencing a long march towards Parliament House ahead of the Finance Minister's budget speech.
Upon reaching Parliament House, demonstrators intend to stage a sit-in and will remain there until the government formally accepts their Charter of Demands. The organisers said the protest would include both male and female employees representing a broad spectrum of public-sector departments and pensioners' organisations.