Two provinces and one administrative region on Monday warned the Center that it would stage a massive protest before Parliament if the latter continued to drag its feet on releasing its (provincial) billions in arrears.
Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Mahmood Khan, Chief Minister Gilgit-Baltistan Khalid Khurshid and Punjab Finance Minister Mohsin Laghari held a press conference in Peshawar on Monday expressing concern over the central government’s non-cooperation, especially on financial issues.
The chief ministers threatened the federal governments that if their dues were not paid soon, they would go on strike and stage sit-ins outside the National Assembly.
Chief Minister KP expressed his concerns.
Chief Minister KP Mehmood Khan while addressing the press conference said that ever since the PDM government assumed power, they are going through a difficult time.
The chief minister warned the federal government to pay the due amount and funds to the KP government. The central government owes the KP government Rs 189 billion as of December.
He further said that the central government has not paid him the necessary funds for the merged FATA districts which are essential for the security of the Pak-Afghan border. The government has significantly reduced the budget as the current budget is Rs 60 billion as against the required budget of Rs 85 billion. The government allocated Rs 55 billion as development budget for the merged districts but has released only Rs 5.5 billion in total so far. Chief Minister KP further said that the government is unable to pay the salaries.
The chief minister urged the federal government to pay the estimated dues of Rs 189 billion, including Rs 4.5 billion for FATA health card, Rs 17 billion for IDPs in tribal districts and Rs 61 billion under NFC. are Mehmood Khan added that the central government had washed away all the PSDP projects, and had not even promised Rs 10 billion for flood relief.
Chief Minister GB made a noise on the budget cut.
Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Khalid Khurshid also expressed his concern over the financial pressure from the federal government. The Chief Minister said that Gilgit was not in the NFC award due to which it was given a special grant which was peanuts compared to the NFC award.
He further said that in the budget of 2022-23, the budget of all institutions has increased by 17-25 percent. However, the budget of Gilgit-Baltistan was reduced from 40 billion rupees to 15 billion rupees. GB has never faced such hostility from the center in the history of Pakistan.
Chief Minister GB said that the federal government has released a development budget of only 2.8 billion rupees for the province. How can anyone govern an area of 73,000 square kilometers with just 2.8 billion rupees? he questioned.
FM Punjab says that the units are feeling isolated.
Punjab Finance Minister Mohsin Laghari also addressed the press conference and said that the Punjab government is waiting for the payment of dues of 176.4 billion rupees from the federal government.
He further said that the federal government violated the agreements and did not give its share of the health card and flood relief funds to Punjab.
“I agree that the floods have caused severe damage in Sindh and Balochistan but KP and GB have also been devastated by this calamity,” he added.
The provincial finance minister further said that due to the non-cooperation of the federal government, his plan to build the Jalalpur Canal could not be completed.
Leghari accused the federal government of not cooperating with the federal units, especially in financial matters, adding that they feel they are not part of the country.
