• Opening day dominated by political speeches in NA • Achakzai says freezing funds will hit provinces’ health, social sectors • PM defends govt’s approach, highlights Balochistan projects • Supports border fencing for national security; renews offer for talks with opposition • MQM calls for strong local govt system, approval of 28th Amendment ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly on Saturday formally began a general debate on the federal budget for the next financial year, with lawmakers delivering lengthy speeches and mostly raising political and local issues rather than discussing the budgetary proposals presented by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb amid noisy opposition protest on Friday. The highlight of the opening day of the budget debate was a more than hour-long speech by Opposition Leader Mehmood Khan Achakzai and an immediate response from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who attended the sitting for a significant time. In his speech, Mr Achakzai criticised the government’s decision to freeze development allocations for the provinces, contending that it would hit their health and social sectors.