Lack of funds for merged districts: Tribal MPAs walk out of KP Assembly

PESHAWAR: The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday received a blow when lawmakers from newly merged districts including members of treasury benches and a provincial minister staged a walkout of the budget session against the federal as well as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments.

The general debate on the annual budget for 2022-23 remained incomplete when the budget session was adjourned due to a lack of quorum as the majority of the ruling party members remained absent from the session.

The non-seriousness of the ruling party in the budget session could be gauged from the fact that even Finance Minister Taimur Salim Jhagra was not present in the House. Deputy Speaker Mehmood Khan, who was presiding over the session, left the business to the panel of chairman Idrees Khattak in the middle of assembly proceedings.

Provincial Minister for Social Welfare Anwarzeb Khan, elected on the PTI ticket from Bajaur, in his budget speech said the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments did not honour commitments about the provision of development funds to execute uplift projects in the merged areas.

“The federal government reduced the development budget for the newly merged districts in the annual budget for 2022-23. It also stopped funding to the health insurance cards for the tribal people,” he said.

He added the provincial government must take up this issue with the federal government on a priority basis. “The opposition parties in KP that are now ruling partners in the federal collation government must support the tribal lawmakers in their protest against the federal government,” Anwarzeb Khan said.

He announced that the elected MPAs from tribal districts would boycott the budget session until they got assurance about the provision of funds for uplift schemes. The lawmaker claimed the elected MPAs from the tribal districts were not consulted about the projects reflected in the annual budget for their constituencies.

“The ministry has no importance for me and I stand by my people who voted for me,” the provincial minister said while leaving the House along with other lawmakers from the tribal districts including PTI MPAs.

Ghazi Ghazan Jamal, a former provincial minister and PTI MPA from Orakzai, said the government had promised the tribal people that Rs100 billion would be allocated for the development of tribal districts in the annual budget for the next 10 years.

However, he said the federal, as well as provincial governments of the Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan, even did not agree to provide three per cent shares in the National Finance Commission (NFC) award for the tribal districts.

“Even the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has reduced its budget for the merged districts from Rs71 billion to Rs50 billion in the current annual budget,” he said. He added that elected tribal MPAs had no option but to hold protest sit-ins in Islamabad and Peshawar.

The MPA said the tribal people were deceived in the name of merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as they were left in the lurch. He said the government reduced funds for rehabilitation and reconstruction in the former tribal areas in the annual budget for the next financial year.

Criticizing his own government, PTI MPA from South Waziristan Naseer Khan Wazir said the tribal people suffered as the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments blamed each other for their deprivation.

“After the merger, we are now part of the province. Now the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government must allocate funds for health insurance schemes and other projects,” he demanded. He warned the tribespeople would be compelled to demand the creation of a separate province if the government remained indifferent to their problems.

Earlier, participating in the general discussion on the annual budget, members of the opposition parties including the Awami National Party, Pakistan People’s Party and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl criticised the PTI government for presenting an ‘unrealistic, imbalanced and deficit budget’. ANP MPAs Khushdil Khan Advocate, Shakeel Bashir Khan Umarzai, Faisal Zeb Khan, Shahida Waheed, PPP MPAs Sher Azam Wazir, Nighat Yasmin Orakzai and JUIF MPA Ranjeet Singh participated in the general debate.

In the absence of the finance minister, provincial minister Akbar Ayub and Kamran Bangash were supposed to wind up a general debate on the annual budget for 2022-23 but the provincial assembly was adjourned due to a lack of quorum after the walkout of tribal MPAs.

The opposition parties in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly also supported the lawmakers from tribal districts and walked out of the House. The session was adjourned till Tuesday afternoon.