Peshawar
\nChief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Muhammad Sohail Afridi, held a series of meetings with delegations comprising tribal elders and community leaders from District Khyber at the Chief Minister\u2019s House. The discussions focused on public service delivery, law and order, and a forward-looking development strategy.
\nThe delegations also presented proposals aimed at ensuring sustainable development and long-term prosperity in the district. A comprehensive review of ongoing development initiatives was undertaken, particularly in the sectors of road infrastructure, health, education, employment, and other priority areas. The Chief Minister underscored that alongside political engagement, the provincial government remains steadfast to strengthening governance and accelerating development, with all available resources being directed towards public welfare.
\nHighlighting fiscal concerns, the Chief Minister stated that an amount of PKR 1,375 billion remains outstanding under the NFC share for the merged districts. He further noted that at the time of merger, the Federal Government had committed to providing PKR 100 billion annually for merged districts. However, over the past seven years, only Rs 168 billion has been released, leaving PKR 532 billion unpaid. In total, PKR 4,758 billion across various heads remains due to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from the Federal government.
\nThe Chief Minister emphasized that while former FATA has been administratively integrated, the financial integration remains incomplete. Under the current NFC framework, resource distribution effectively covers only three and a half provinces, with merged districts not receiving their due constitutional share, a situation which is inconsistent with constitutional principles. He reaffirmed that the provincial government is vigorously pursuing the financial case of the province, particularly of the merged districts, at all relevant forums, and that continued fiscal inequities will not be tolerated.
\nOn development planning, the Chief Minister announced that a comprehensive development package, worth Rs 1,000 billion for the merged districts, has been finalized and will be incorporated in the upcoming Annual Development Programme.
\nThe package encompasses all sectors and districts, ensuring that no area is left behind. He further stated that funds will be allocated for the Bara Dam in the next fiscal year, while work on the Khyber Industrial Zone is underway. The long-standing issue of Jabba Dam has been resolved, and efforts are underway to resolve the Regi Lalma matter in consultation with tribal elders, ensuring that community interests are fully safeguarded. The Chief Minister noted that work is ongoing on the Tirah development package in consultation with elected representatives.
\nHe remarked that the people of Tirah were forcibly displaced, yet when the provincial government allocated PKR 4 billion for their welfare, it was met with unwarranted criticism, while the purchase of a luxury aircraft worth Rs 11 billion for the Chief Minister of Punjab faced no questioning whatsoever, reflecting clear double standards. He further stated that tribal areas were deliberately kept underdeveloped in the past, and attempts are still being made by certain elements to deprive them of their rightful share.
\n\u201cWe will not allow this to continue,\u201d he asserted. The Chief Minister directed the relevant authorities to ensure that compensation commitments made to Tirah affectees are cleared within the coming week, emphasizing that no negligence or delay will be tolerated on the part of the provincial government. He concluded by stating that if the Federal government fails to honor its commitments, the province reserves the constitutional right to protest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Peshawar Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Muhammad Sohail Afridi, held a series of meetings with delegations comprising tribal elders and community leaders from District Khyber at the Chief Minister\u2019s House. The discussions focused on public service delivery, law and order, and a forward-looking development strategy. The delegations also presented proposals aimed at ensuring sustainable development and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":95577,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95597"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95609,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95597\/revisions\/95609"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}