Federal govt urged to reconsider cut in AJK budget

Islamabad : Finance Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Abdul Majid Khan has urged the federal government to reconsider the issue of cutting the AJK budget.

Abdul Majid Khan, addressing a news conference in Islamabad on Sunday along with Parliamentary Secretary Transport Javed Butt, said if the federal government did not reconsider the issue of cutting, the AJK government will present such a budget in which it will not be able to allocate funds for development work and increase salaries. He said under the financial agreement, the federation owes Rs74.320 billion for the next financial year at a rate of 3.64 per cent, while the federation said it would pay only Rs60 billion. If such a cut is made then the development process will come to a halt, he added.

He deplored that for the first time it was happening that a cut was being made on an abnormal budget. The government of Pakistan should review this matter, he stressed. The AJK Finance Minister said the previous government of Pakistan gave the LoC package but the current federal government has also withheld the funds for the LoC package. He said Azad Kashmir is an area affected by Indian firing.

He said that he associated his future with Pakistan before the establishment of Pakistan. The sanctity of Pakistan, he said, is important to him. “Governments are a continuation of governments,” he added. He said, “We are aware of the financial condition of Pakistan but it should review the cut in the budget of Azad Kashmir.”

Abdul Majid Khan said Azad Kashmir has become a victim of financial imbalance due to budget cuts, adding the federal government has also cut the LoC package which has also stopped the work on the LoC. He said there is a financial agreement between the AJK government and the government of Pakistan. “We do not get shares from NFC because we are not involved in it. Our normal budget has been cut by Rs. 14 billion. While our normal budget was cut. He said that we were called on May 13 but that meeting was also canceled. We were told that at that time you cannot give more than 60 billion rupees,” he lamented.