PESHAWAR: An All Parties Conference (APC) on Saturday rejected the federal budget and held the government responsible for the spread of coronavirus.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, President Humayun Khan convened the APC. The representatives of Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Qaumi Watan Party (QWP), Jamiat Ahle Hadith (JAH), National Party Pakhtunkhwa Wahdat, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan (JUP) attended the moot. The APC appreciated the Sindh government for its measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic and held the federal and other provincial governments responsible for the spike in the cases of the Covid-19. It also demanded Shuhada compensation package for the health workers fighting on the frontlines against the deadly disease. Demanding immediate relief and concession in air tickets for overseas Pakistanis stranded in the Gulf countries, the APC asked the government to make proper arrangements to facilitate their return home. The APC noted that the federal government was conspiring against the 18th Amendment because it did not want to strengthen the federating units.
It demanded reconstitution of the National Finance Commission (NFC) as per the Constitution and increase in the share of provinces from federal resources. It demanded true representation of KP in the NFC, saying a person hailing from KP should be included in it. The APC demanded natural gas facility for the people of South Waziristan and payment of its royalty for the people of gas-producing Karak district. It demanded the government to restore internet facility in the newly merged districts. Terming the budget anti-people, the APC asked the government to increase the salaries and pensions in proportion to the price hike. The APC held the rulers responsible for shortage of petrol and for failing to handle the locust attacks.
The APC demanded Rs500 billion from the federal government for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as its share and arrears from net hydel profits. The participants maintained that wrong policies of the rulers caused spread of coronavirus and affected businesses. Condemning the silence of all the accountability institutions over the mega corruption scandals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the APC demanded action against all those involved in corrupt practices. The APC observed that the government was interfering in the affairs of religious seminaries in the name of reforms, saying it was not acceptable to them. It made it clear that the government would not be allowed to reverse the 18th amendment.
