PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Thursday said an “indiscriminate” crackdown on corruption was under way as his administration was fully aware of all channels of corruption within the system.

In a video message, the CM said that 17 officials had been dismissed from services and 19 had been suspended over corruption, while inquiries were under way against 49 officials.

He added that proceedings against 47 other officials were in progress.

“Over 150 corruption cases are at different stages of action,” he said.

Mr Afridi said that unnecessary interference used to occur in postings and transfers in the past but currently, such matters were handled transparently.

He said that the officials being appointed didn’t know about their transfer or posting in advance.

The CM alleged that some digital channels had been launched for carrying out propaganda against his government, with financial benefits given to create an anti-governmental narrative.

“Allegations of corruption are made on a daily basis but no one has provided any evidence,” he said, adding that no one spoke when the IMF pointed out the alleged Rs5300 billion

corruption.

Mr Afridi said that his government was sharing a contact number with the people for sharing corruption details if there were any and that if someone could not travel to his secretariat due to financial reasons, the government would pay travelling costs.

He said that whether an individual is an MPA, MNA, senator, bureaucrat or a relative of any influential personality, everyone would be treated equally before the law.

The CM warned that strict action would also be taken against those attempting to exert pressure on the bureaucracy.

He said that the doors of the chief minister’s secretariat were open, so anyone could come to lodge complaints of corrupt practices with evidence.

Also, the chief minister chaired a meeting regarding the ADP for the current fiscal year and ordered utilisation of all funds released for different projects under Annual Development Programme for the current fiscal year.

The chief minister stressed the need for the maximum utilisation of funds under Accelerated Implementation Programme and directed authorities to adopt a coordinated and result-oriented strategy to raise the current utilisation level from 89 per cent to 100 per cent in order to ensure optimum public benefit through efficient deployment of available resources.

The meeting reviewed the release of funds for the merged and settled districts and the sector-wise status of expenditures, according to an official statement issued by his office.

The meeting discussed the provincial cash flow forecasting for the fourth quarter of the current fiscal year and approved Rs5.6 billion for the counter-terrorism department. An amount of Rs239 million has been released for projects nearing completion.

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2026