ANP slams budget, 18th amendment assault

Awami National Party (ANP) Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa President Mian Iftikhar Hussain has strongly condemned what he described as an attack on the 18th Constitutional Amendment, national rights, and provincial autonomy.

He said the recently presented federal budget has deliberately ignored K-P — particularly the merged tribal districts — which amounts to a grave injustice on constitutional, political, and state levels.

He made these remarks while presiding over a high-level meeting at Bacha Khan Markaz. The session was attended by provincial general secretary Hussain Shah Yousafzai, other senior party officials, legal advisors, and presidents and secretaries from the merged districts. The meeting thoroughly reviewed the current political and financial situation.

Participants expressed deep concern that the promises made to the merged districts were neither included in the federal budget nor mentioned in the provincial budget. Mian Iftikhar said this reflects a deliberate policy by the state to sideline and disappoint these regions.

He emphasized that if the merged districts are granted their constitutional, political, and financial rights, not only will these areas strengthen, but the entire province will benefit. Unfortunately, he said, the state continues to act in the opposite direction.