The chief ministers 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, a private TV channel reported.
The 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.
The chief ministers threatened the federal governments with strikes and sit-ins outside the National Assembly if their dues were not paid at the earliest.
Addressing the presser Chief Minister KP Mehmood Khan said that they have been going through a tough time since the PDM government took over. He warned the federal government to pay the rightful dues and funds to the KP government. The central government owes Rs189 billion to the KP government as of December.
He added that the central government has not paid them the essential funds for the merged FATA districts that are vital to Pak-Afghan border security. The government has cut the budget significantly as the current budget is Rs60 billion compared to the required budget of Rs85 billion. The government allocated Rs55 billion in terms of the development budget for the merged districts but has only issued a total of Rs5.5 billion to date. The government is unable to pay salaries let alone spend on any development, CM KP added.
The CM urged the federal government to pay estimated dues of Rs189 billion, including Rs4.5 billion for FATA Sehat Card, Rs17 billion for the Tribal Districts IDPs, and Rs61 billion under the NFC. The central government washed all PSDP projects, and did not even pay the promised Rs10 billion for flood rehabilitation, Mehmood Khan added.
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.
“This has never happened in our history,” he remarked, terming the move “enmity with the region”.
Moreover, 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 – an amount insufficient to run the administrative unit.
CM 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.
Now, he said, the area was experiencing hours-long loadshedding. “And the GB government has also run out of money to run diesel generator sets” to reduce the duration of loadshedding,” he added. He also rued that the federal government had reduced the wheat subsidy for GB. “From where do we arrange for electricity and wheat now?” he questioned.
The CM also decried that GB had not been given funds to deal with the flood aftermath. “They committed to give us developments funds worth Rs40bn and they did not even honour that,” he added.
CM Khurshid said his government was left with no other option but to go on strike. “We 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.”
Finance Minister Punjab Mohsin Laghari also addressed the press conference saying the Punjab government is waiting for the payment of outstanding dues worth Rs176.4 billion from the federal government. The federal government, violating agreements, has not given Punjab its share of the Health Card and flood relief funds, he added.
“I agree that floods have caused severe damage in Sindh and Balochistan but KP and GB have also been devastated by the calamity,” he added.
The provincial finance minister added that their project to build the Jalapur canal could not be materialised due to non-cooperation by the federal government. Laghari accused the federal government of not cooperating with federating units, especially in financial issues, adding that they feel like they are not part of the country.
AJK Finance Minister Abdul Majid Khan said the PDM government had “hit AJK” first after coming to power and failed to pay its complete variable grant under the 2018 financial agreement.
Decrying a lack of funds, he said the AJK government would soon run out of funds to pay salaries.
He recalled that Imran Khan’s government had announced a “Line of Control (LoC) package” under the development budget for AJK.
“This Line of Control is our first defence line […] and the civil population living along the Line of Control is your first defence line […] The significance and sensitivity of [development along the LoC] should be realised,” he said, adding that after the PDM government came to power, the allocation for the LoC was significantly reduced.
Similarly, he decried a “reduction in PSDP funds for AJK”. The AJK minister said they had run out of patience and were left with no other option but to stage a peaceful protest.
“And if demanding rights for our people is rebellion and the federal government disapproves of it – we will do it repeatedly,” he added.
