Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf threatens to halt Khyber Pakhtunkhwa budget over lack of access to jailed Imran Khan

Peshawar [Pakistan], June 14 (ANI): In a move highlighting deep-seated governance instability and persistent political blackmail inside Pakistan, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provincial parliamentary unit of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has set up a dedicated panel of legal analysts to scrutinise the constitutional viability of the upcoming state budget.

The desperate measure, according to a report by Dawn, comes as the provincial ruling faction paralyses legislative duties while waiting for federal clearance to consult its jailed leader, the controversial former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The decision was finalised during a late-night parliamentary faction meeting on Friday, exposing the absolute internal chaos plaguing the opposition party.

The move follows escalating infighting within party ranks, where various factions are fighting over what they claim is a total failure to secure the release of the incarcerated former premier.

The friction intensified last week when Khan’s sister, Aleema Khan, explicitly pressured KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi to completely halt the state’s financial proceedings and not table the fiscal blueprint without first taking directions from the jailed politician.

According to the Dawn report, a highly similar stand-off derailed state functioning last year when the party leadership refused to pass the budget without direct inputs from Khan.

A legislator who attended the internal huddle disclosed to Dawn that the party ultimately agreed that blocking the budget entirely would end up devastating its own provincial administration.

The source further revealed that while some desperate members floated a parallel proposal to present a heavily truncated three-month temporary budget, the suggestion failed to gain traction among the leadership.

Compounding the governance failure in the region, KP Adviser on Finance Muzzammil Aslam confirmed to Dawn that, though the finance department had initiated a summary to table the state budget on June 15, the approved documentation has still not been delivered to the assembly speaker’s office.

Aslam admitted that the cash-strapped province is caught in high-stakes bargaining, stating that the federal administration had promised to adjust the National Finance Commission (NFC) framework via a presidential ordinance during high-level meetings with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, in exchange for the KP side yielding fiscal space.

Furthermore, Aslam revealed that the provincial government has been actively demanding that Islamabad facilitate a special meeting with Khan to secure his personal rubber-stamp approval on state policies.

He claimed that the jailed leader had routinely “supported the decisions made for national interest and security and would do the same this time, too,” though he lamented that the federal government has so far refused to give them the necessary clearance for the meeting.

Meanwhile, a confrontational statement issued following the crisis meeting threatened that if access to the jailed former PM continued to be denied, “the legal team would undertake a detailed review of all constitutional and legal options concerning the budgetary process and formulate a comprehensive legal course of action to safeguard the constitutional rights of KP.”

The official text added that the meeting “unequivocally declared that any attempt to undermine the province’s budgetary autonomy or curtail its development resources would be unacceptable.”

The political blackmail escalated further, with the parliamentary party warning that any financial adjustments by the federal government would invite severe disruption.

According to the party’s statement, “the parliamentary party emphasised that any effort by the federal government to restrict the province’s democratic mandate, financial entitlements or development interests would invite strong political resistance,” warning that it would deploy all constitutional and public forums to challenge the state infrastructure. (ANI)

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