K-P CM’s NA protest may ‘fizzle out’
PHOTO: FILE
With just three days at its disposal before the PTI disbands its legislature in K-P, the planned protests of Chief Minister Mahmood Khan outside the parliament to demand funds from the centre have plunged into uncertainty.
In the wake of PTI chief Imran Khan’s announcement to dissolve the provincial assemblies where his party is at the helm of affairs, it is being feared that the protests to put pressure on the federal government might fizzle out.
Following the dissolution of the assembly and in the absence of its chief minister ruling the roost, the PTI protests will not be as effective.
Last week, the chief minister warned of a protest outside the National Assembly for the rights of the K-P province, contending that the federal government owed Rs189 billion in arrears to the province.
“We will not come back until the due funds of the province are paid,” he thundered, adding that the federal government wants to sabotage the ongoing development process in K-P by such tactics, which is no doubt “a non-democratic and heinous action”.
However, if the PTI executes its plan to stake its government on the bid to trigger a spate of provincial elections within 90 days, the ruling party will essentially head into an electioneering mood and the pressure on the centre will lose its steam as the affairs will end up in the hands of a caretaker government.
It is pertinent to mention here that CM Mahmood Khan has said that the centre should pay Rs190 billion dues to the province without delay otherwise he along with members of the assembly from the province would stage a sit-in outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Islamabad to press the federal government to fulfil their demands.
He said the federal government was not providing due share to K-P in the National Finance Commission award to create financial instability in the province.
He alleged that the federal cabinet even suspended development projects reflected in the Public Sector Development Programme for the province by the previous federal government of PTI.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 20th, 2022.