Centre | Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Overwhel­mingly led by Sindh, the country’s total contingent liabilities arising out of public-private partnership (PPP) projects — both at the Centre and the four provinces — exceeded Rs472 billion by the end of last month, according to the Ministry of Finance. In its first of the kind “Fiscal Risk Monitoring Framework for Contingent Liabilities of PPP Projects”, in line with commitments made to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the ministry’s Debt Management Office reported a total of Rs472.3bn in such liabilities as of Dec 2025. More than 71pc (Rs335.6bn) of the total pertained to contingent liabilities of the Sindh government, which has the largest portfolio of 17 PPP projects — almost half of 36 across the country. Total liabilities exceeded Rs472bn by end of last month The federal government’s total contingent liabilities against PPP projects amounted to Rs90.6bn, or 19.3pc of the cumulative amount, followed by Punjab at Rs26.5bn (5.6pc) and Rs19.6bn (4.2pc of the total) of the Khyber Pa...

In a meeting with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Tuesday, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi said that the Centre’s cooperation was vital for eliminating terrorism in the province. In a statement released on the social media platform X, the interior ministry said that Kundi called on the interior minister in Islamabad. It added that the two discussed security measures in KP’s border areas and ongoing operations against khawarij. Fitna al Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). According to the statement, the interior minister gave assurances of the government’s full cooperation for peace and security in KP. “Establishing peace in KP is the top priority,” he was quoted as saying. He said that the federal government was “prepared to provide support in this regard in every possible way”. “We appreciate the sacrifices made by the people of KP in the war against terrorism,” Naqvi said. “Fitna al Khawarij and their facilitators are be...

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Saturday urged giving the provinces a greater role in areas such as tax collection to help address the federal government’s financial issues. The Bhutto scion was addressing the death anniversary programme for his mother, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh. Benazir was assassinated in a gun-and-bomb attack near Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh on December 27, 2007, after a public gathering. The Sindh government announced a public holiday today to commemorate Benazir’s death anniversary. Foolproof security for the VVIPs, VIPs, and general public was ensured in Larkana, with over 8,500 police officers and personnel, alongside Rangers and other security agencies, deployed at and around Bhutto’s mausoleum in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh. Speaking at the event, Bilawal said the PPP was a federal party that conducted politics at both the national and provincial levels with sincerity, treating the Centre’s problems as its own. “If there is an issue of fiscal space for t...

Centre forms eight NFC committees

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Thursday told the inaugural meeting of the 11th National Finance Commission (NFC) that the Centre was there to listen to the stance of the provinces. State broadcaster PTV shared images from the meeting on social media platform X, which showed Aurangzeb greeting Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi. It said that the meeting was held at the Finance Division. According to a handout issued by the finance ministry, he made the comments in his opening remarks. The minister chaired the meeting as negotiations for the sharing of federal divisible resources between the Centre and the provinces formally began. The press release said that at the outset of the meeting, the minister stressed that it had provided an opportunity for mutual cooperation, upholding constitutional responsibility. He noted that the forum was established under Article 150 of the Constitution, adding that the 10th NFC Award had expired in July this year. “In...

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Huzaifa Rehman said on Tuesday that the Centre has asked the Punjab government to arrange a meeting between KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi and PTI founder Imran Khan to facilitate the formation of the provincial cabinet. Imran, imprisoned since August 2023, is serving a sentence at Adiala Jail in a £190 million corruption case and also faces pending trials under the Anti-Terrorism Act related to the May 9 protests. The PTI has regularly raised concerns about the lack of access to the party founder and how family, friends and party leaders are hindered from meeting him. Afridi, who was elected as the provincial chief minister last week, was denied a meeting with Imran during a visit to the prison on Thursday. Speaking to reporters, he said he would announce his cabinet after consulting Imran and seeking his input. He claimed he had officially notified the Punjab government and the federal government of his plan to visit Adiala, but received no response, adding that Prim...

PESHAWAR: Newly-elected Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mohammad Sohail Afridi on Monday said he believed in the supremacy of the law and would confront the Centre’s every unlawful and unconstitutional step. “A narrative is being built that I will go for confrontation with the federal government. Yes, I will, if anything is done by it against the Constitution. I will continue to speak for the supremacy of the Constitution,” he told a provincial assembly session chaired by Speaker Babar Saleem Swati here. The chief minister said that he wrote letters to the chief justice of Pakistan and federal and provincial governments and even petitioned the Islamabad High Court for ensuring his meeting with detained founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Imran Khan but to no avail. He said he would challenge the federal government over the continued denial of his meeting with Imran and would boycott meetings called by it. Informs assembly that there won’t be any political arrests under MPO in province Mr Afridi said ...

Afridi faults Centre for terror resurgence

Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari said on Friday that the provincial government had forwarded the summary for banning the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) to the Centre. “The Punjab cabinet has given its approval for banning the TLP, and this has been forwarded to the Centre. So the legal requirement with regard to the provinces has been fulfilled. The provincial government, after giving its approval, has forwarded the summary to the Centre,” she said at a press conference in Lahore. Her statement comes a day after the Punjab government decided to ask the Centre to ban the TLP, which had conducted a protest march “in solidarity with Gaza”, pledging to reach Islamabad and protest outside the US embassy. However, on Monday, the authorities launched a pre-dawn operation in Muridke, where the TLP had set up its protest camp on its way to its planned destination. The move by law enforcement agencies had triggered violent clashes, chaos dozens of arrests, resulting in the protest’s premature end. There have ...

The latest accusation in the ongoing rift between the PPP and PML-N came from Sindh Senior Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon on Sunday when he alleged that the Punjab government was taking his party’s cover to “target” the federal government. Memon’s PPP and the PML-N, who are coalition partners in the Centre, have been engaged in a war of words for the past many days over issues from flood compensation to water rights in the context of the Cholistan canals project. The PPP, which is in power in Sindh, has been particularly incensed by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s remarks, whose party is also leading the federal government. As the row continues between the two sides, Memon alleged while addressing a press conference in Karachi that on the face of it, the Punjab government was “indirectly targeting” the PPP, but their “actual target is the federal government”. “They are taking our cover to settle their own issues with the prime minister or the federal government. Or they are trying to create an environment ...

Centre plans to trim provinces' NFC share

• Ahsan calls for shift from population-based formula • Says fiscal space shrinking, provinces must share burden and invest in human development ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Thursday proposed shifting the “regressive” population-based formula for distributing divisible pool resources under the National Finance Commission (NFC) award to criteria based on climate adaptation and other performance indicators. Speaking at a news briefing, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said the current NFC criteria were regressive as population, being the overwhelming consideration, had been made an incentive instead of a disincentive. He said the Centre would seek climate adaptation and other social sector indicators as key determinants for distributing resources with and among the provinces when the NFC meets in August this year. He went on to question the devolution planned under the 18th Amendment and the 7th NFC Award in place since 2009. He said the devolution was incomplete as the provinces had not devolved responsib...