ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday rejected the federal government’s claim that it had allocated Rs600 billion to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) for counterterrorism efforts, describing the assertion as “misleading” and “false.”
In a statement, PTI spokesperson Sheikh Waqas Akram said the federal government owes KP a staggering Rs5,050 billion, citing a persistent failure to fulfil constitutional and financial obligations – particularly those linked to the war on terror and related entitlements.
He accused the federal government of sidelining KP, despite the province bearing the brunt of the human and financial toll in the protracted fight against terrorism. He blamed that Islamabad’s continued neglect was worsening the security situation and undermining stability in the region.
Akram highlighted that the war on terror had cost Pakistan over USD67.9 billion by 2011, with KP and the now-merged Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) suffering the greatest losses. In the 2009-10 fiscal year alone, he noted, the region lost $13.56 billion-most of which was absorbed by KP.
He detailed several key financial commitments that remain unfulfilled, including Rs2,000 billion owed for the merged districts, Rs2,500 billion in Net Hydel Profit (NHP) arrears, and Rs550 billion under the Accelerated Implementation Programme (AIP), of which only Rs1.5 billion has been disbursed over the past seven years.
Akram also criticised the federal government’s failure to deliver on its Tribal Decade Strategy pledge – Rs100 billion annually for ten years, or Rs1 trillion in total – to rebuild the war-affected merged areas. He said that despite repeated requests, this commitment remains unmet, even as militancy resurfaces in the region.
He stressed that KP’s sacrifices in the war on terror must be acknowledged not just rhetorically, but through meaningful financial support.
Since 2009, he said, the province has been the centre of multiple military operations – including Operation Rah-e-Raast (2009), Operation Zarb-e-Azb (2014), and Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad (2017) – causing a steep rise in security and infrastructure expenditures, far exceeding the support received from the federal government.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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