PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Khan Gandapur on Friday opposed any move by the federal government to bring the erstwhile provincially and federally administered tribal areas into the tax net and warned his government would “hamper” tax collection by the federal government in ex-Fata and ex-Pata.

During the provincial assembly’s budget session with Speaker Babar Saleem Swati in the chair, the chief minister said that he had made it clear in a meeting attended by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir that the provincial government would never accept imposition of tax in ex-Fata and ex-Pata.

“We [KP government] are neither imposing any taxes in the erst while provincially and federally administered tribal areas nor will we play any role in tax collection by the Centre. Instead, we’ll act as an obstacle to tax collection there,” he said.

Mr Gandapur said that it was the provincial government’s “political and moral” right to discuss budgetary proposals with the founder of the ruling PTI Imran Khan.

Threatens to hamper tax collection by Centre in ex-Fata, ex-Pata

He, however, said that the federal government denied the provincial government the right to hold a meeting with Mr Khan to discuss the budget.

The chief minister pointed out that he had sent direct and indirect messages to authorities for facilitating his meeting with the PTI founder but the meeting couldn’t take place.

“If we’re denied the meeting, any decision by Imran Khan will be the decision of all of us,” he said.

Mr Gandapur asked the federal government to resolve the country’s socio-economic issues instead of hatching conspiracies against the PTI.

He said that the opposition, which had always criticised the government, should come forward with “reasonable suggestions.”

“We will accept every reasonable proposal with an open heart,” he said amid sloganeering by the opposition.

The chief minister insisted that provincial Governor Faisal Karim Kundi didn’t fulfil his constitutional obligations by refusing to sign the summary for calling the budget session, which was later requisitioned by members of the provincial assembly.

Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition Dr Ibadullah told the house that the governor was empowered under Article 109 of the Constitution to call the assembly session but the provincial government hurriedly requisitioned the sitting though “several mandatory days were left for signing that summary.”

He said that he delivered 10 speeches but the opposition’s recommendations for the budget were never considered by the government.

“We [opposition] repeatedly assured you [treasury] of smooth business, but the government didn’t allocate even a single penny to our members,” he complained.

Dr Ibadullah said that the opposition would participate in the budget debate. He insisted that the provincial government presented the budget against Mr Imran Khan’s will. The chair intervened and claimed that the detained PTI founder had issued directions for the sharing of the budget documents with him after its presentation in the assembly.

He pointed out that had Mr Imran issued orders against announcing the budget, the provincial government would have never violated them.

Also, the house jointly passed a resolution condemning Israeli aggression against Iran.

The resolution, signed by the treasury and opposition members and tabled by MPA Abdul Salam Afridi, read that Israel violated international laws by attacking Pakistan’s neighbouring and brotherly country Iran.

“Israel has been involved in killing countless Muslims in Palestine but the world and the Ummah are just watching them. The Muslim world’s inaction encouraged Israel to attack Iran. This house strongly condemns Israel’s aggression against Iran, stands with Iran and Palestine, and supports all their action for self-defence,” the resolution read.

After the session, member of the opposition PPP Ahmad Karim Kundi complained that the provincial government didn’t share details of budgetary spending from the outgoing fiscal year.

He told reporters that the annual development budget for 2024-25 totaled Rs416 billion but the provincial government hardly spent over Rs150bn out of it.

Mr Kundi insisted that the next budget had no policy for youth.

“The PTI government has always claimed to be focusing on education and healthcare, but the province has 5.5 million children out of school and the major beneficiary of the Health Card scheme is the elite class,” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2025