PESHAWAR: Lawmakers in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday called for joint efforts by both the treasury and opposition benches to claim the province’s due share in the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award.

They raised questions about the provincial government’s failure to announce the Provincial Finance Commission (PFC), which, they said, was as important as the NFC.

During the assembly session chaired by Speaker Babar Saleem Swati, aide to the chief minister on information Shafiullah Jan said it was encouraging to see all lawmakers unite for the province’s rights.

He said that though KP’s population and area had increased after the merger of tribal areas with KP, the Centre hadn’t granted it the due share in national resources.

Complain tribal districts denied promised funds

Mr Jan said the tribal region was merged with the province administratively but not financially.

“Federation has to pay Rs3.5 trillion due net hydel profit, oil and gas royalties and NFC funds,” he said, adding that the chief minister would himself participate in the meeting to discuss all issues.

He stated that the meeting would also discuss a document, agreed upon by all members of the provincial assembly.

Local government minister Mena Khan Afridi said out of Rs130 billion from the current expenditure in merged tribal districts, Rs80 billion was paid by the KP government from its resources.

“The clearing of these arrears will help develop KP, build schools and universities and hire teachers. These are our resources,” he said.

The minister said that former chief and finance ministers would be called for a meeting on the issue.

Mr Afridi also questioned the resource distribution formula, saying there are departments for controlling population but most of the funding share goes to the populous provinces.

He wondered if the provinces’ share in NFC Award is based on population, why they would reduce population.

Member of the opposition PPP Ahmad Karim Kundi said his party had announced the 7th NFC Award and passed the 18th Constitutional Amendment after consulting all stakeholders, including religious parties, and never resorted to agitation.

“We stand with you [the government]. We will demand net hydel profit, excise duty on petroleum and the funds promised to KP following the merger of the tribal region,” he said.

Mr Kundi, however, complained that 30,000 local body representatives had yet to receive developmental funds.

He urged the provincial government to reduce tensions with the federal government and said the leaders of the house and opposition should attend the NFC Award meeting and jointly fight for the province’s rights.

Member of the opposition Awami National Party Mohammad Nisar Baaz said the PFC Award was as important as the NFC Award but in the last two years, there had been no progress on the latter.

“The way the Centre is abusing powers in the NFC Award, the former and current chief ministers didn’t release funds to the opposition lawmakers,” he said.

The lawmaker said it was the responsibility of the provincial government to fight the province’s case for its rights and the opposition would ready to offer full support.

Member of the opposition PML-N Shahjahan Yousaf said the Centre held consultations with all provinces and decided that Rs100 billion would be paid for development of the merged tribal districts after their merger with KP but unfortunately, those funds were not released in the last seven years.

“It’s the right of the residents of tribal districts to see development work in their region,” he said.

Mr Yousaf said that KP faced the development issue due to the war on terror but the opposition assured the treasury of its full support and cooperation to claim the province’s rights.

Treasury member Munir Hussain Lughmani said under Article 160 of the Constitution, an NFC meeting was to be held every five years but that didn’t happen.

He added that Rs100 billion funds, jointly promised by the Centre and provinces for merged districts, had yet to be released.

MPA Sajjad Barakwal said that besides the laid down formula for share in the NFC Award, the federal government should be questioned about how much it earned from KP and how much it spent on the province.

He wondered why the province shouldn’t demand funds in proportion to its sufferings as well as the international aid that poured in.

Mr Barakwal said Karak produced uranium but every house had cancer patients. He complained that not even a single penny had been paid to such families and even the hospital with chemotherapy facility meant for Karak was shifted to Bannu.

The house unanimously adopted a resolution moved by Mr Abbasi, asking the provincial government to complete the consultation process for Hazara province and draft the necessary recommendations.

Also, another resolution, tabled by Mr Kundi, was passed to declare PPP founder and former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto a “national martyr.”

It paid tribute to the former prime minister over his services for democracy and said a copy of the resolution should be shared with the federal government for necessary action.

The assembly also passed a resolution, presented by Mr Baaz, demanding of the provincial government to order the police chief to stop action on “fake” FIRs.

It insisted that the deputy commissioners were empowered with sections 3 and 16 of the Maintenance of Public Order but fake cases were registered against political activists.

The resolution added that the Constitution guaranteed the people’s right to freedom of expression but a political worker was named in a fake case.

It said that there were threats of the violation of the people’s constitutional rights after the registration of fake cases.

Published in Dawn, December 2nd, 2025