Choking the lines: K-P Zakat and Ushr funds blocked for current fiscal year

District committee chairpersons urge CM to release money as soon as possible.

PESHAWAR:

With just over a month left in the current fiscal year, Ushr and Zakat committee chairpersons of various districts claim they have yet to distribute the funds allotted on July 1, 2013 because the money has been blocked by the government.

A member of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s (K-P) Zakat and Ushr Council confirmed Chief Minister Pervez Khattak directed the finance department to block the first installment of the fund. The Zakat department releases funds in two installments every financial year, with the first installment issued on July 1 and the second released on January 1.

According to the council member, the government has held funds because a central auditing committee was formed recently to investigate former district chairpersons allegedly embezzling funds. The auditing committee will report to Minister for Ushr and Zakat Habibur Rahman.

Committee chairpersons from northern districts, on the condition of anonymity, said the July installment – which was delayed to begin with – was abruptly blocked within two months, giving them no time to make use of the funds.

They criticised the government’s decision, questioning why this year’s funds were blocked due to investigations of previous chairpersons for district Zakat and Ushr committees. While they support the decision to look into corruption charges, they would advise the K-P government to unblock the first installment as well as release the second installment as soon as possible.

The district officials fear if the funds are not distributed in the current fiscal year, the centre will interpret the leftover money as a reflection of the provincial government’s poor performance, and will launch an enquiry accordingly.

ANP leader and former provincial minister for Zakat and Ushr Zarshaid Khan said blocking the funds is not a good decision, as it has a negative effect on the most vulnerable group in society – the poor.

According to him, 35% of the population, considered ‘deserving’, stands to lose from the government’s failure to release funds to all districts. Chairpersons for the committees in each district are responsible for distributing funds among the needy through programmes related to health, education, skill development and more.

The ANP leader rejected corruption accusations by the provincial government.

“The government is covering its poor performance under these allegations,” he said. Zakat funds are released through a proper and transparent mechanism and there was no chance for corruption.

A Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leader and the current chairperson for a district Zakat committee told The Express Tribune on condition of anonymity that his party also disagreed with the Pakistan-Tehreek-e-Insaf-led government’s decision to block the funds.

The district chairpersons of Ushr and Zakat committees who voiced their complaints said they have requested Finance Minister Sirajul Haq and Minister for Ushr and Zakat Rahman to take up the matter with the CM, which they are scheduled to do in the coming week.

Meanwhile, the PTI government has come under fire for another issue related to the Zakat department, with opposition lawmakers criticising it for appointing only JI activists as chairmen of district Zakat committees.

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) provincial president Khanzada Khan said party MPA Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha moved an adjournment motion in the K-P Assembly on Monday in this regard.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15^th, 2014.