KP seeks ‘proper’ share in 7th NFC Award

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has demanded a proper share for the province in the 7th National Finance Commission (NFC) Award.

An official communique said the KP government had written a letter to the federal government, complaining about non-cooperation in the NFC Award on the newly-merged districts.

The letter has been formally sent to the Federal Minister of Finance and Revenue by the Provincial Minister for Finance and Inter-Provincial Coordination Muzammil Aslam.

Muzammil Aslam said the federal government had adopted a very cold attitude towards Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He added that under the NFC, the federal government should share the constitutional equal rights on the basis of geography and population.

The minister said the federal government had been informed about its concerns in this regard, but the Centre hasn’t responded yet.

He said KP was currently facing security challenges and withholding funds at such a time was very unprofessional.

Muzammil Aslam said that KP was fighting the frontline war against terrorism, for which it was beyond the rules that the federal government was withholding funds, “but we will raise our voice for the rights of our province at every forum.”

The provincial government has written in the letter that in the context of the 25th Constitutional Amendment, they will not accept the extension of the 7th NFC award without registering the complete population and geography of KP.

It has been written that in the grand jirga presided over by the chief minister on September 5, this year, all the stakeholders had demanded payment of the remaining funds for the merged districts.

Expressing its concerns, the KP government has written that NFC is a constitutional consultative forum under the 18th Amendment, which is not being honoured.

It said that to bring the tribal districts into the national mainstream, these districts were merged with an already financially weak province.

The letter said despite the 10-year development plan for the merged districts, the provision of funds has been stopped while KP is also being deprived of federal payments.

In the letter, it has been explained that at the time of approval of the 7th NFC Award, the merged districts were part of the federation, then there is no mention of it in the NFC.

The letter said at the time of merger, the estimation of the last seven decades of deprivation of the merged districts was not done correctly, so correction should be made in the 7th NC Award while the meeting on award should be called as soon as possible.