Treasury, opposition face off over K-P rights

Treasury and opposition members in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly were engaged in verbal brawl over the performance of the provincial government and the rights of the province during a session that was cut short because of a lack of quorum on Monday.

The opposition alleged that the “Constitution was suspended in the province”, while the successive chief ministers from the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were unable to present the case of the province effectively at the Council of Common Interest CCI during the last nine years.

The treasury members rose on their seats to respond to the opposition. However, later, the chair Idris Khattak gave the floor to provincial Labour Minister Shaukat Yousafzai. In his speech, Yousafzai accused the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)-led federal government of stopping funds for the K-P.

“Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s financial difficulties are not because of the wrong policies of the provincial government, but the paucity funds from the federal government,” Yousafzai told the house. “Funds have been stopped for the past seven months.”

Threats of governor’s rule in the province are being hurled. We will see who dares impose the governor’s rule,” the minister threw down the gauntlet. He offered to give a briefing to the house on the province’s financial situation, saying: “We will not hide anything.”

Yousafzai’s criticism of the Centre angered the PML-N lawmakers. Speaking on the occasion, Ikhtiar Wali said that Yousafzai could not rest until he vitiated the atmosphere of the house. He added that talk of the governor’s rule came only after the PTI threatened to march on Islamabad.

Wali insisted that the funds were being transferred to the province on a regular basis. He also criticised PTI Chairman Imran Khan for accepting “America’s slavery”. He repeated the charge that the provincial government usurped the rights of the province during its four-year tenure.

During the question, Ahmed Kundi, Khushdil Khan and Inayatullah pointed out that their question, regarding hydel power generation projects in the province should be referred to the relevant standing committee because the authorities were unable to provide proper answer.

“Our electricity generation is much higher but Pedo [Pakhtunkhwa Energy Development Organization] has given wrong answer of 161.27MW generation. The house must be informed about the accurate statistics,” said Kundi. “We generate 20 billion electricity units from Tarbela dam alone,” he added.

Yousafzai said that the figures provided to the house were about the province’s own resources, therefore, those did not included the figures of Wapda [Water and Power Development Authority]. Later the chair referred the matter to relevant standing committee.

Meanwhile the quorum issue continued to mar the proceedings. After the prayers break, the session resumed, only 11 members were present. When Yousafzai rose to table a bill in the house, Bahadur Khan of the Awami National Party (ANP) pointed out the quorum. Later, the house was adjourned until December 5.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2022.