‘Hazara got pittance in development pie’

Only Rs4.01 billion from the development budget of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have been allocated for schemes and projects for Hazara

Of the total Rs69.3 billion development budget of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, only Rs4.01 billion have been allocated for schemes and projects meant for the entire Hazara division.

Ali Asghar Khan, Chief of Terhik-e-Haqooq-i-Hazara, claimed this during a press conference the other day, saying the money constituted only 5.79 per cent of the total development budget.

Flanked by other leaders of the movement, he lashed out at the provincial government for “once again denying Hazara its due share in development outlay”.

He said the money set aside for the whole division is far less than its share in population or geographical area.

A multiple criteria, as employed by the National Finance Commission (NFC), should have been applied, including poverty and inverse population density. The remote, mountainous areas of Abbottabad, Mansehra and Haripur and the districts of Battagram and Kohistan, are amongst the most backward areas of the province.

He pointed out that the KP budget presented on June 12 should be an eye-opener for those still sitting on the fence vis-à-vis the movement for Hazara Sooba and the rights of its people.

Ali Asghar Khan said that the budget speech of the KP finance minister did not even acknowledge the fact that the people of Hazara had risen in protest against “the step-motherly treatment meted out to them” for the past six decades.

In contrast, the government of Punjab announced in its budget a Rs50 billion package for South Punjab, which also sees its salvation in the setting up of a separate Seraiki Sooba.

He said the share of Hazara on the basis of population should be 20 per cent or Rs13.8 billion and on the basis of area 25 per cent or Rs17.3 billion as opposed to the mere Rs4 billion allocated, he added.

Khan said that total sum allocated in the development budget of KP for schemes in all the districts is Rs32 billion. Hazara’s share in the allocated budget on the basis of population and area should have been Rs6.5 billion and Rs8 billion, respectively. Therefore according to its population Hazara should have received almost 63 per cent more than its present share and according to area double the amount it is presently allocated. Mardan, on the other hand, has received its full share according to population and almost four times its due share according to its area, he claimed.

The KP government, in addition to transfers under NFC, got a bonanza in the form of electricity profits. Hazara, the source of these profits and the main sufferer of the massive displacements caused by Tarbela Dam, got a pittance. It has been announced that in the future all hydel profits would be spent on hydel projects. The budget, he said, is silent on what will Hazara get out of it.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2010.