‘PPP supports enhanced funds for tribal districts’

Wahab says additional funds should come from Centre’s NFC share

KARACHI: The Pakistan Peoples Party has always supported steps taken to financially strengthen tribal districts, said Sindh government spokesperson Murtaza Wahab on Sunday.

He said this in response to adviser to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister on information Ajmal Wazir's allegations of Sindh showing reluctance over merged districts receiving three percent share in the National Finance Commission (NFC).

Refuting Wazir's allegations, Wahab clarified that the PPP did not intend to deprive tribal districts of funds.

He, however, stressed the need to acknowledge that since the Centre was responsible for administering tribal areas, three per cent allocation of funds for these districts under the NFC increased the federal government's share by default.

He said that while the PPP fully supported the increase in the funds for tribal districts, the additional funds were to be furnished from the federal government's share, and added that since Federally Administered Tribal Areas had been merged with K-P, the province's share in the NFC too needed to be increased.

Wahab maintained that the "PPP holds firm that disagreements regarding the NFC need to be settled in line with the Constitution, which calls for consensus between the Centre and provinces."

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^th, 2020.