K-P’s year of firefighting

Govt mired in series of crises throughout 2017

PESHAWAR: As politicians of the province geared up for the next round of polls, the government was left to fight power battles all across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The provincial government rolled from one crisis to another in 2017, ranging from rifts between the provincial and federal bureaucrats, to battles for the management of its autonomous bodies and the clash for power between the police and the provincial bureaucracy.

But some of these were not new incidents which cropped up last year, having carried on from 2016.

Officers of the provincial management services group, who had been struggling for parity in seats distributed between them and officers from the federal bureaucracy – the Pakistan Administrative Services group— in the province continued. They staged protests and went on strikes against Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s (K-P’s) former chief secretary. It wasn’t till the chief secretary was sent back to the federal government that the agitation started to subside.

The arrival of the incumbent chief secretary, Azam Khan, helped deflate the tense situation in the bureaucracy by giving them exactly what they wanted. He held meetings of the provincial selection board and promoted provincial officers before reshuffling the entire provincial administrative structure.

BoK musical chairs

Bank of Khyber (BoK) continued to be a thorn in the provincial government’s side all year.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) coalition partner Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) had been calling for the termination of the bank’s managing director.

The PTI government finally caved and terminated the BoK chief. But with his termination being notified just three weeks before he was supposed to be complete his tenure, the MD challenged his dismissal in the Peshawar High Court.

Economic zone a shambles

With projects outlined under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) gaining momentum, K-P had hinged hopes on its economic zones along the corridor’s routes to spur growth and development. These were dealt a blow after a governance crisis at the K-P Economic Zones Development and Management Company (KPEZDMC).

Set up by the PTI-led government for rapid industrialization in the province, its board of directors was ultimately fired for their poor performance.

Amidst the first signs of trouble, the company first fired two of its senior executive after they allegedly fell out with the chairman of the board. But just three months later, the K-P chief minister dissolved the entire board and decided to reconstitute it.



The government also terminated the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organisation (PEDO) after his appointment was declared as null and void by the Peshawar High Court (PHC).

Similarly, a battle erupted between the CEO and the chief financial officer (CFO) of the K-P Oil and Gas Company Limited (K-POGCL) after the latter levelled allegations of misconduct and corruption against the CEO followed by tit-for-tat allegations.

The company’s board of directors constituted a committee to probe the matter but the CFO quit his job and retracted the allegations he had levelled.

Police vs bureaucracy

After much discord, the government managed to pass the Police Act 2017.

Top police officials and the bureaucracy had locked horns over the act since it gave autonomy to the police in financial and administrative matters along with operations.

QWP ejected, again

PTI expelled the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) from the coalition in the provincial government for the second time in 2017.

Earlier, in 2013, PTI had expelled QWP over charges of corruption. This time around, the reason was more personal after QWP opted not to stand with the Imran Khan-led party over the Panamagate case.

Metro dust

Having availed every opportunity to censure the Punjab government for wasting millions on a bus service in one city, the PTI-led government in K-P ultimately decided that it was a bus they simply had to get on.

Hence, with one eye on the polls, the Peshawar Metro Bus project was launched.

Should the government manage to stick to its strict deadline of six months, it could catapult the PTI to another term in office. Should they fail to meet the deadline, it would spell disaster.

The year saw the government officially state that it has managed to achieve its target of planting a billion trees across the province under its Billion Tree Tsunami project. But detractors have yet to accept the claims.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2018.