PESHAWAR: Leader of the Opposition in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Dr Ibadullah on Monday criticised the successive Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf governments in the province for “amassing debt,” insisting that the province’s debt went up from Rs150 billion to Rs800 billion in the last 13 years.

During the budget session presided over by Speaker Babar Saleem Swati here, the opposition leader said the chief minister’s adviser on finance had claimed that the budget was surplus because the government adopted austerity measures and reduced expenses, but actually, the government’s expenditure had gone up.

He said that the provincial government claimed to have ensured good governance in the province but it had increased the entertainment fund for the chief minister’s secretariat fromRs350 million current year to Rs110 million in the next year.

About the proposed Rs8.9 billion funds for general administration in the next budget, Dr Ibadullah said that the government had proposed KP House for Dera Ismail Khan and an alternate civil secretariat in the same district, which would create problems for government officers.

PA begins discussion on cut motions for departments

“A chief minister should focus his attention on the entire province,” he said.

The opposition leader complained that the chief minister’s secret fund had gone up fromRs500 million to Rs2 billion.

He also criticised the provincial government for allocating millions of rupees to buy vehicles and their fuel.

Dr Ibadullah also said that Rs800 million was earmarked for the chief minister’s secretariat but the total expenditure went to Rs1.66 billion.

He also said that the far larger province of Punjab spent Rs1.46 billion under that head, while the smaller Balochistan province’s expenses for the purpose totalled Rs1.41 billion.

The opposition leader complained that 35 per cent of the Annual Development Programme funds lapsed.

He also said that the auditor general had reported Rs200 billion financial irregularities in the government’s expenditure.

Adviser to the chief minister on finance Muzammil Aslam said a report could only be filed about the matter after the financial year came to an end.

He said the matter was from the financial year 2023-24 when the province had a caretaker setup.

While responding to the objections about secret funds he said less than Rs500 million was spent during the financial year 2024-25.

Leader of the opposition Dr Ibadullah also said PTI founder Imran Khan was the only political leader in the country’s history who was “constitutionally” ousted from the Prime Minister’s House through a no-trust vote.

He asked the chief minister why he didn’t discuss the budget with the detained PTI founder when they met a day before Eid.

“Mr Imran’s sister shared a message on the ‘X’ platform that the budget should not be passed even if every treasury member is arrested,” he said.

While calling the PTI founder “one of the worst dictators,” the opposition leader said that during his rule, Imran got his nephew detained over a speech in the National Assembly and filled opposition member Rana Sanaullah’s vehicle with drugs over a critical speech.

He also raised questions about the funds released for the merged tribal districts during the PTI’s government in the centre.

Member of the opposition PPP Ahmad Karim Kundi said the house hadn’t got any debate agenda for “demand for grants” in the last two years.

Meanwhile, the house began discussion on cut motions for departments in order to pass the budget 2025-26.

The government had earlier said that the budget for the fiscal year 2025-26 would be passed following a nod from PTI founder Imran Khan.

However, Speaker Swati said the sitting was called on the recommendations of the ruling PTI’s political committee, leadership and parliamentary party otherwise it would have never been held.

Discussion on cut motions continued until the filing of this report.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2025