PESHAWAR, March 26: NWFP Chief Minister Mohammad Akram Khan Durrani has accused two federal ministers of depriving his province of Rs28 billion. The amount was to be paid to the province as first installment of the net-hydel profit arrears, as determined by an arbitration tribunal last year.

“President Gen Pervez Musharraf was ready to release the first instalment of Rs28 billion out of Rs110 billion arrears of net hydel profit, but Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao and Amir Muqam persuaded him not to do so because it will damage their politics in the province,” Mr Durrani told reporters here on Monday.

The NWFP government subsequently filed a petition in the Supreme Court against Wapda for not honouring the decision of the arbitration tribunal. As per the decision, Wapda is bound to pay Rs110 billion to the NWFP government in five yearly instalments on account of net-hydel profit arrears.

Mr Durrani, however, resolved that his province would get its due rights and no one could deny it of the same.

In response to a question, the chief minister condemned the Punjab government’s crackdown on the activists of various political parties ahead of Monday’s countrywide protest demonstrations. He claimed that people in the NWFP enjoyed real democracy, where nobody could stop them from expressing their anger over the policies of the government.

Mr Durrani said: “I have been inviting the leadership of the PPP and the PML-N to come and organise their protest gatherings here since the Punjab government had placed a ban on them.”

Responding to another query, the chief minister rejected the impression that provincial government machinery was being utilised in the by-election on NA-26 where his son Zayad Durrani was one of the contenders.

“I have kept myself disassociated from all the matters of bye-election and also stopped the ministers and officials from visiting the same constituency because I consider such elections a referendum for the MMA,” he added.