ISLAMABAD: Former finance minister Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Taimur Saleem Jhagra has stated that the provincial government spent Rs600 billion on police and security in the last 10 years, out of which, Rs390 billion during the last four years.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has stated during the last cabinet meeting that no one knows where Rs417 billion, provided to the KP province under the 7th National Finance Commission (NFC) Award, was spent.

Jhagra said that the prime minister’s statement was factually incorrect as one percent of the 7th NFC was provided as compensation for the losses in the war against terrorism to the province and not for security purposes. He said this was also written in that NFC meeting that losses in the province due to the war against terror were much higher. He said that the prime minister can ask his ally Ameer HaiderKhan Hoti because he was in the then NFC meeting as chief minister of the KP.

He said since the present government of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) led by Shehbaz Sharif has come to power, the provincial government did not get Rs230 billion and allocation of funds for tribal areas employees was not released, and health card scheme for the tribal districts was stopped.

He said that the net hydel profit share was not provided to the province. He said that Rs230 billion for a small province was a significant amount. He said that he has raised these issues with the federal finance minister and written letters but did not get any response.

He said that the provincial government has spent Rs600 billion on police security during the last 10 years, out of which, Rs390 billion were spent during the last four years. He said that before the PTI government in the province, there was misappropriation of billions of rupees in the procurement of bullet-proof vests. He said that the police morale was very low before the PTI government that invested in the police and security. He said that the police strength and the CTD budget were doubled during the last 10 years and the KP police was granted financial autonomy through the Police Act.

The province has increased the police strength, provided financial autonomy, gave budget to the CTD, brought the Police Act, built training schools, and merged 27,000 Levies and Khashadars into the police force.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had announced that he would give Rs10 billion to the province after the floods; however, till now the federal government has not given a single rupee.

Shehbaz Sharif’s statement was misleading about providing Rs417 billion to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa after the 2010 NFC award. The province received Rs417 billion under the 7th NFC, which was not for security but for losses caused by the war on terrorism, he said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023