ISLAMABAD, June 4: A central leader of the Pakistan National Party (PNP), Senator Sanaullah Baloch, has threatened to launch a protest in the coming Senate session if the new NFC award was not announced before the budget.

In a statement issued here on Tuesday, Sen Baloch expressed concern over the two-year delay in the announcement of the NFC award and said it clearly exposed the Musharraf government’s failure in establishing and running a real federation.

He alleged that the federal cabinet wanted to continue exploitation of the provinces’ rights.

He warned that this attitude would further aggravate the already strained relations between federal and provincial governments and enhance a sense of deprivation among the federating units.

He said that under Article 160 of the Constitution the National Finance Commission was supposed to review and revise the distribution of resources among the provinces but regrettably the federal government was not ready to do its duty just in order to appease Punjab.

Mr Baloch said that three out of four provinces were in agreement on the distribution of resources on the basis of area, backwardness and population.