Peshawar:
The opposition parties in the assembly of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have pure and simple rejected the provincial budget for the 2025-26 financial year, expressing deep reserves on its substance. In striking contrast, members of the government welcomed the budget, greeting it as the “best in the history of the province”.
The head of the opposition, Dr. Ibadullah, speaking on the soil of the Chamber, criticized the budget by highlighting the strong dependence of the province with regard to external sources.
“Only seven percent of the province’s income is generated internally, while 93% depends on federal transfers and loans,” he said.
“Public spending is 99% while development spending is only 1%. This is the 12th and probably the last budget of the PTI rule.”
He criticized the Pakistani government Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI) for having fully used the funds of the Annual Development Program (ADP) during his 12-year rule. “There are a lot of activities on social networks, but reality on the ground is that the province lies in ruins,” he added.
Dr. Ibadullah also referred to international and regional policy, praising the army for its response to Indian aggression and expressing its solidarity with Iran.
Addressing development allowances, he noted: “Although 538 billion rupees were reserved for development, it is not an excess budget as claims. The figures are misleading and the public is deceived.”
He underlined the amount of the provincial debt of RS166 billion during the ANP era at 800 billion rupees under PTI, an increase of 600%.
He summoned failures to flagship projects such as the Rapid Transit (BRT) bus and raised allegations of corruption linked to the scandals of Kohistan, Malam Jabba and billions of tsunami.
“RS31 billion were recovered from the Kohistan scam alone due to the speaker’s efforts,” he said.
He also deplored the overall state of education and health care in the province, saying that 30% of schools are lacking in basic facilities and a large percentage of students fight with basic materials such as Ourdou and Mathematics.
In higher education, he accused the universities of mass hiring and lack of research production, while saying that 60% of basic health units (BHUS) are non -functional.
“Health cards are politicized and hospitals are in a disastrous state. Tell us a positive success,” he asked.
