PESHAWAR: Opposition members in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Tuesday flayed the successive PTI governments in the province over their “failure to restore peace” in the province.

The criticism came as the house continued the debate on the proposed provincial budget 2025-26 for the second consecutive day. Idrees Khattak from panel of the chairmen chaired the sitting.

Parliamentary leader of the opposition JUI-F Maulana Lutfur Rehman said that the law and order situation had deteriorated in the tenures of the PTI governments.

He wondered how the government could collect taxes without economic activity in the province.

PA continues debate on next budget

Mr Rehman said the provincial government had not formulated any effective policy to restore peace in the region.

“Due to the worsening law and order situation in the province, a large number of people have left Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and they include investors and highly-educated and skilled people,” he said.

The JUI-F leader said the people were reluctant to travel after sunset.

He said that maintaining law and order was the prime responsibility of the provincial government.

Mr Rehman insisted that there were a lot of discrepancies in the budgetary figures.

“The budget speech of the finance minister put the ADP funds at Rs547 billion but the ADP book showed it at Rs500 billion,” he said.

The JUI-F lawmaker also urged Muslim countries to get united against Israel’s aggression and brutalities and warned if that didn’t happen, each Muslim country would face Palestinian- and Iran-like situations.

Member of the opposition ANP Arbab Usman criticised the PTI government for repeating the poll rigging allegations and urged it to focus on improving governance in the province.

He said that taxation without business activities was of no use, so the government should provide a conducive environment for business.

Mr Usman said the provincial government had allocated a huge sum of money for local bodies in the budget but didn’t release a single penny in the last few years.

He urged the provincial government to task reputed firms with auditing the accounts of Pedo and OGDCL to detect corruption.

Responding to the lawmakers’ criticism, adviser to the chief minister on

finance Muzammil Aslam said that in the next fiscal, a ban had been placed on the purchase of new vehicles and foreign trips.

“The same opposition said a year ago that the province has gone bankrupt, but now it is having issues with the surplus budget,” he said.

He said the budget for law and order had been increased from Rs140 billion to Rs172 billion.

Mr Aslam said last year, 8.1 per cent of the budget was spent on law and order and the amount had been increased to nine per cent for the next fiscal.

He said that the revenue target for the mines and mineral sector had been increased from Rs10 billion to Rs17 billion.

The aide to the PM said though the centre didn’t provide funds for tribal districts, the province had spent its own money for the region’s development.

He said the province had reduced its throw-forward liabilities from 5.8 to 5.1.

Former speaker Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani, PML-N MPA Jalal Khan, JUI-F MPA Rehana Ismail and other lawmakers also participated in the debate.

The chair adjourned the session until 2pm on Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2025