PESHAWAR: With the PTI-led coalition government in Khyber Pakhtun­khwa in a fix over Imran Khan’s announcement of a civil disobedience movement, all provincial ministers and MPAs belonging to the party decided on Sunday not pay taxes and utility bills.

Information Minister Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani told Dawn that the provincial government was also expected to abide by the decision but said that a formal decision about running day-to-day government affairs would be taken after a meeting to be convened later.

“Except me, all provincial ministers and MPAs are in Islamabad in connection with the PTI sit-in and they are expected to meet soon to take a firm decision in this re­gard,” Mr Ghani said, adding that they believed that the federal government was illegal because it was the outcome of a rigged election and, therefore, they should not pay electricity and gas bills and GST and income tax.

He said that being members of the PTI he and other MPAs and ministers would fully follow Imran Khan’s command.

A leader of Jamaat-i-Islami, which is a PTI ally in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told Dawn that leaders of his party would meet soon to decide whether or not to continue to be in the provincial government. He said that before making such an important announcement the PTI leadership had not taken the JI into confidence. His announcement is an extreme step.

The JI leader said it appeared that Mr Khan had entered a dead-end street and made the announcement in sheer desperation, adding that the PTI chief had earlier wanted dissolution of the KP assembly but the JI warned him against doing so.

Mr Khan’s announcement of civil disobedience has put the provincial government in an awkward position because it depends mostly on its share from the federal divisible pool. The province at present receives Rs244 billion from the pool under the NFC Award.

“How can the province survive if its government doesn’t pay taxes and bills and what will happen if the federal government, in return, stops releasing the province’s share under the divisible pool,” asked a senior government official who did not want to be named.

Legal experts said that under Article 5 of the Constitution, obedience to the Constitution and law was an inviolable obligation of every citizen and it would be a violation of the Constitution if the KP government and its ministers started a civil disobedience movement.

They were of the opinion that the president could even impose governor’s rule in the province under Article 234 if the government was not run in accordance with the Constitution.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2014