An invalid excuse

Government has refused to disburse amount due to K-P under different financial heads, citing “acute shortage” of funds

The federal government has refused to disburse the amount due to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) under different financial heads, citing an “acute shortage” of funds. In the outgoing year, too, the centre had denied K-P the Rs225 billion that were due to the province. The latest refusal has prompted K-P to make significant allocations for development (Rs294 billion) and public welfare (Rs161 billion) using its own resources. In the first place, the centre’s excuse of ‘acute shortage’ of funds is totally invalid in the context of disbursement of resources to the provinces from their respective shares of funds under various heads as under the 18th Amendment, the centre’s claim on the revenues collected on its behalf stands forfeited as soon as the budgetary allocations for the year are approved by parliament.

Secondly, the excuse becomes even more invalid if it is forwarded in the context of the centre’s own financial obligations that have instead of declining after the 18th Amendment have tended to increase. More so because it has not only not jettisoned the responsibilities that after the passage of the said amendment had become exclusively that of the provinces but has also added some new ones as well to the federal responsibilities, enhancing the centre’s financial burdens excessively. Even after the passage of the 18th Amendment, the provinces remain dependent on the federal government for funds, virtually rendering the fiscal autonomy promised by the amendment illusory. But the said amendment is the law of the land, not an illusion and can be violated only at the risk of being taken to the courts. Perhaps in its blind desperation to hit back at the PTI for its stance on the Panama affair, the centre seems to have lost its political cool and chosen to stifle K-P by withholding funds legitimately its due. This is an unacceptable attitude and given that the ruling party is often accused of being Punjab-centric, this does not do much for its popularity elsewhere in the country, especially in a province wracked by militancy and underdevelopment.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 27^th, 2016.

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