KP Assembly witnesses uproar over non-release of oil, gas royalty

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Tuesday witnessed uproar and disorder on the second consecutive day when members from the treasury benches including two cabinet members spoke against their own government for not releasing funds on account of oil and gas royalty.

Former provincial minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) dissident MPA from Kohat Amjad Afridi continued his unique protest which he had started on Monday by blowing a whistle in the House. He had adopted this unique method of protest when he didn’t get the floor for raising the issue of non-provision of royalty fund for the oil and gas produced in Kohat division.

Advisor to Chief Minister on Prisons, Malik Qasim Khan Khattak, who hails from Karak district, sided with Amjad Afridi and said they would continue their protest until the government ordered release of funds to Kohat division.

Special Assistant to Chief Minister for Population Welfare and Family Planning, Shakeel Ahmad also criticised his own government for not giving royalty to Malakand district on account of the electricity generated from the Malakand-III project. He too belongs to the PTI.

“I am not interested in the assembly proceedings but I have to speak for my people and constituency as they are not getting their share in oil and gas royalty,” said Amjad Afridi, who had served as cabinet member in the incumbent PTI government but was removed for not supporting party candidates in the local government election in Kohat.

Amjad Afridi said that Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and Finance Minister Muzaffar Sayyid had made commitment for the release of developmental funds to his Kohat constituency about six months back but they didn’t honour their promise.

“I am compelled to lodge my protest in the assembly and would continue it till my demands are fulfilled,” he said. He added the party leadership had removed him from the cabinet, not from the party.

Finance Minister Muzaffar Sayyid, Minister for Public Health Shah Farman and Minister for Higher Education Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani couldn’t convince the protesting PTI MPAs to stop their protest even though offered them that the issue would be taken up with the chief minister.

However, Amjad Afridi and Malik Qasim suspended their protest after Deputy Speaker Dr Mehr Taj Roghani, who was chairing the session, ordered formation of a parliamentary committee comprising all parliamentary party leaders to resolve the issue of oil and gas royalty, electricity and tobacco cess of the concerned districts.

Finance Minister Muzaffar Sayyid assured the members that he would discuss the matter with the chief minister and inform the House about it in the next sitting.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz parliamentary party leader Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha, Awami National Party’s Sardar Hussain Babak, Pakistan People’s Party’s Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha, Qaumi Watan Party’s Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli and Jamiat Ulema-e- Islam-Fazl’s Mufti Syed Janan also criticised the PTI-led government for not releasing development funds to their constituencies.

PPP MPA Fakhar Azam Wazir came hard on the Chair for deferring the question-hour related to the Health Department due to the absence of concerned minister.

He said that he had raised some important questions against the provincial Health Department but it had been deferred for the fourth time on different pretexts.

On Tuesday, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Local Government (amendment) Bill 2017 related to utilisation of local government funds in Kohistan district where local bodies’ elections were not held.

The provincial assembly also passed a resolution asking the federal government to provide diplomatic and legal assistance to hundreds of Pakistani labourers being jailed, harassed or deprived of their hard-earned money in Saudi Arabia by different companies, agents and Saudi government.

Jamaat-e-Islami MPA Mohammad Ali Khan presented the resolution, which generated heated debate against the Saudi government and other Arab countries.