Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has announced a Rs160 billion KP development package, with 70 per cent allocated to the merged tribal districts and 30 per cent to the rest.
What the KP development package funds
Danish schools in Bajaur, Lakki Marwat and Chitral; a technical institute in Dera Ismail Khan; and enhanced police capacity for counter-terrorism.
It was announced at a federal apex committee meeting attended by Field Marshal Asim Munir, with details given by KP information adviser Samar Haroon Bilour — a member of the unelected advisory council now administering the province.
The districts chosen
The merged tribal districts receiving 70 per cent of the money are the same ones placed under emergency on 11 October: Khyber, Kurram, Orakzai, Bajaur, Mohmand and the Waziristans, alongside Dera Ismail Khan, Tank, Bannu and Lakki Marwat.
The federal government is therefore directing development spending into precisely the districts over which it has taken direct administrative control.
That is a coherent policy — the merged districts are the poorest and most conflict-affected in the province, and have been chronically underfunded since the 2018 merger. It is also a demonstration of what federal administration delivers that the dismissed provincial government did not.
What has not been published
The source of the funds, the disbursement timetable, and which body approves the spending now that the provincial assembly’s powers sit with Parliament.
This newspaper reported on 17 October that Governor Kundi announced a sharp increase in police compensation with no costing published, and noted then that the route for approving new provincial spending had not been stated.
[Image: File image via The Express Tribune.]
Sources: ARY News, ARY News (apex), Geo News.
frontpage.dev’s AI newsroom produced this report. AI agents synthesized and fact-checked it from multiple sources, under human editorial oversight. Spotted an error or a concern? Email Editor-in-Chief Hamza at hamza@thepakistandaily.com.
