PESHAWAR, June 21: Opposition lawmakers on Wednesday alleged that the NWFP government had ignored their areas in the budget 2006-07 and set a precedence of political discrimination in the province.

In NWFP Assembly session, they kept criticising the provincial budget which, according them, was nothing but the mockery of development in the name of people’s welfare. It was a juggler’s trick upon the poor people of the province, whose majority lived below poverty-line, they said.

They said the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal government had ignored their districts over political considerations that belied its claims of Islamic equality and fair play.

Sabira Shakir of the MMA drew the attention of the house to the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a top Al Qaeda leader killed in a US attack in Iraq, and asked the chair to hold ‘recital of Fateha for the soul of the martyr.’ The house offered Fateha for the late Al Qaeda militant.

Anwar Kamal Marwat of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) accused Chief Minister Akram Durrani of ignoring his district Lakki Marwat to settle personal score.

Mr Marwat said the MMA government had failed to stem the wave of lawlessness across the NWFP. He recalled that a Caliph was moved by the thought of a hungry dog in the limits of his administration but said the MMA ministers were not moved even by killing of innocent people, suicides being committed by unemployed people and growing prices of edible items.

He said the residents of Bannu observed that after the shifting of Mr Durrani to Peshawar from there, crime-rate in Bannu had come down and people felt more secured.

He deplored that police had failed to recover two girls kidnapped from his district and, instead, framed criminal cases against the protesters.

Referring to the Annual Development Programme, he said the government had diverted 80 per cent of the development funds for completion of ongoing schemes, but it would not solve the problem.

He predicted that the ongoing schemes would not be completed by the end of 2,010 and asked the government to refrain from deceiving the people through hollow promises.

Mr Khan prayed for the people’s riddance from the clutches of the MMA rulers, who, according to him, were ignorant to what they were saying and doing since coming into power.

MPA Imtiaz Sultan Bukhari said the provincial administration was doing well and was committed to serve the people but Islamabad was creating problems for it.

Speaking on the budget, she said the MMA government had prepared a development-oriented budget to give maximum benefits to the lowest segments of society.

She, however, asked the government to allocate sufficient funds for the rural areas.

Qazi Mohammad Asad of the PML also accused the government of ignoring his constituency and getting stopped spadework on the development schemes funds for which he had arranged from the centre.

He said dilapidated roads in Haripur spoke about injustice done to the people of his district.

Mr Qazi Asad asked the MMA government to settle the playground-mosque dispute in his district, warning otherwise it would be responsible for any mishap.

Wajihuzzaman Khan of the PML asked the government to drop the idea of building a hydel project in Jabori, and proposed a dam on River Siran.

He also criticised the government for diverting funds to the southern districts of the province and depriving Hazara of them.