The chief executives of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan, and the finance ministers of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab rebuked the coalition government on Monday for depriving their people of their rightful share by withholding funds.
\nThe censure came at a press conference held in Islamabad and attended by KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, KP Finance Minister Taimur Khan Jhagra, GB CM Khalid Khurshid Khan, AJK Finance Minister Abdul Majid Khan and Punjab Finance Minister Mohsin Leghari.
\nAt the outset of the press conference, the KP CM complained that the provincial government had written several letters to the federal government, apprising it of its financial issues and asking it to resolve them.
\n\u201cBut there has been no reply from their side,\u201d he said.
\nHe went on to say that the KP government had announced a budget of Rs1.3 trillion for the current fiscal year. The budget was focused on investing in the people and development schemes that were near completion in line with PTI chief Imran Khan\u2019s vision, he said.
\n\u201cUnfortunately, we haven\u2019t received these funds,\u201d he regretted.
\nMahmood went on to say that his provincial government was facing difficulties since the incumbent dispensation, led by the Pakistan Democratic Movement, came into power in April.
\n\u201cI am warning the federal government today to give us our dues, our money, which is our right. We are not asking for charity,\u201d he said, claiming that the funds to be paid had reached Rs189 billion in December.
\nHe also stressed the need to release funds for merged areas. Not releasing funds for these areas is \u201cdangerous\u201d, he said, alleging that the federal government had placed a \u201cconsiderable cut\u201d on the budget for these areas.
\n\u201cThe current budget [for merged areas] is Rs60bn while our requirement is Rs85bn,\u201d he said. Moreover, he said, the KP government is also being deprived of Rs4.5bn set aside for the Sehat Card programme in merged areas and Rs17bn for displaced persons.
\nHe alleged that all the projects allotted for KP under the federal government\u2019s Public Sector Development Programme (PDSP) during the PTI government\u2019s tenure had been \u201cwashed out\u201d and the province\u2019s allocation under the initiative was significantly reduced.
\n\u201cAnd they are also not giving us sovereign guarantee so that we take loans from a third party. Where do we go then?\u201d
\nThe KP CM went on to claim that the province had also not been the Rs10bn promised by the federal government to cope with the aftermath of the devastating floods.
\nHe called on the federal government to pay the KP government\u2019s dues, saying: \u201cIs KP not a part of Pakistan? If it is, give us our right. And if they won\u2019t, we will stage a sit-in outside the National Assembly.\u201d
\nThe CM said they had the opposition\u2019s support in KP for the intended move and if KP\u2019s funds were not released even after the sit-in, \u201cwe will gather people from KP and bring them to Islamabad\u201d.
\n\u201cIf they will not give us our right, we will snatch it,\u201d he warned, adding that the KP government was open to talks with the federal government on the matter.
\nMeanwhile, GB chief executive Khurshid said the development budget for all other regions was increased this year but for GB, it was reduced from Rs40bn to Rs25bn.
\n\u201cThis has never happened in our history,\u201d he remarked, terming the move \u201cenmity with the region\u201d.
\nMoreover, he continued, the federal government released a mere Rs2.8bn under the Annual Development Programme (ADP) for GB in the first six months of the current fiscal year \u2014 an amount insufficient to run the administrative unit.
\nCM Khurshid also regretted that not a single project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was launched in GB, which had a significant capacity to produce electricity.
\nNow, he said, the area was experiencing hours-long loadshedding. \u201cAnd the GB government has also run out of money to run diesel generator sets\u201d to reduce the duration of loadshedding,\u201c he added.
\nHe also rued that the federal government had reduced the wheat subsidy for GB. \u201cFrom where do we arrange for electricity and wheat now?\u201d he questioned.
\nThe CM also decried that GB had not been given funds to deal with the flood aftermath. \u201cThey committed to give us developments funds worth Rs40bn and they did not even honour that,\u201d he added.
\nCM Khurshid said his government was left with no other option but to go on strike.
\n\u201cWe will hold a strike across GB and then, if possible, we will also bring people here (Islamabad). We will hold a cabinet meeting outside the National Assembly. They have made a joke out of this.\u201d
\nFor his part, Punjab Finance Minister Leghari said the Centre had to pay an outstanding amount of Rs176.4bn to the province and the federal government had also failed to pay its share under a tripartite agreement with the Punjab government and State Life Insurance for the Sehat Card programme.
\nThe provincial minister also claimed that no funds were issued to Punjab for flood relief while the province was excluded from projects approved for infrastructure rehabilitation projects approved during a recent Executive Committee of the National Economic Council meeting.
\nWith regard to sovereign guarantees, he criticised the federal government for not signing an agreement for a loan by the Asian Development Bank for constructing Greater Thal Canal \u2014 a project he said held immense significance for improving food security.
\nLeghari complained that the federal government was not cooperating with provinces, \u201cas if we are at war\u201d.
\nAJK Finance Minister Abdul Majid Khan said the PDM government had \u201chit AJK\u201d first after coming to power and failed to pay its complete variable grant under the 2018 financial agreement.
\nDecrying a lack of funds, he said the AJK government would soon run out of funds to pay salaries.
\nHe recalled that Imran Khan\u2019s government had announced a \u201cLine of Control (LoC) package\u201d under the development budget for AJK.
\n\u201cThis Line of Control is our first defence line [\u2026] and the civil population living along the Line of Control is your first defence line [\u2026] The significance and sensitivity of [development along the LoC] should be realised,\u201d he said, adding that after the PDM government came to power, the allocation for the LoC was significantly reduced.
\nSimilarly, he decried a \u201creduction in PSDP funds for AJK\u201d. The AJK minister said they had run out of patience and were left with no other option but to stage a peaceful protest.
\n\u201cAnd if demanding rights for our people is rebellion and the federal government disapproves of it \u2014 we will do it repeatedly,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The chief executives of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan, and the finance ministers of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab rebuked the coalition government on Monday…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3560,"comment_status":"registered_only","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news-updates"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diplomacypakistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}