PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on Friday failed to give a ‘satisfactory’ reply to an opposition member’s question in the provincial assembly about the foreign investment received by the province since the signing of several memorandums of understanding at the 2020 Dubai expo.

During the assembly’s question hour, Awami National Party MPA Shugufta Malik asked the government to share details of the investment that came to the province after the Dubai expo.

She said the government had claimed that $8 billion worth of MoUs were signed by it with different investors during the expo.

The lawmaker alleged that senior officers had gone to Dubai with their families for recreation, while fake MoUs were signed during the expo with some expatriates from the province.

Govt fails to inform house about foreign investment received since event held

She said non-local artists, who were unaware of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s culture, were taken to Dubai to perform in the expo.

In Jan this year, the provincial government had claimed the signing of the MoUs with 44 foreign investment companies at the Dubai International Expo, 2020, to bring more than $8 billion investment to different sectors in the province.

“Regrettably, an AK-47 rifle was also displayed at the show, which has nothing to do with our culture,” the woman MPA said.

She said when visitors protested the display of AK-47 rifle, the expo organisers had the gun removed from the province’s pavilion.

Ms Shugufta criticised the government for appointing a non-local person as the chief executive officer of the Board of Investment and Trade and said that officer, despite receiving a huge salary package, had failed to bring any notable investment to the province.

Culture minister Shaukat Yousafzai claimed that a record number of people had visited the 2020 Dubai expo, while the provincial government had signed MoUs with foreign companies as well as Pakistani investors.

He said the government had briefed all stakeholders before sending delegations to the expo. “Artists projected a positive image of the province at the show through their performances,” he said.

The performance of the excise, taxation and anti-narcotics department also came under fire in the assembly with the opposition members accusing the relevant authorities of failing to eradicate drugs from the province.

Opposition member Humaira Khatoon said every third youth in the province was a drug addict due to the ‘terrible’ performance of the department.

She also said the department had begun a massive ‘requirement’ campaign in settled districts of the province but tribal districts were ignored.

Ms Khatoon said the excise department, through a written reply, had confirmed that not a single gram of narcotics had been confiscated in Khyber tribal district since 2019.

Naeema Kishwar of the opposition MMA said the Anti-Narcotics Force and excise department were tasked with cracking down on drugs.

She said both ANF and excise department had set up checkpoints on all highways to check the smuggling of contraband but despite that, drug trafficking was ‘extremely common’.

The MPA said there was no need for the ANF in the presence of the provincial anti-narcotics force.

Minister Shaukat Yousafzai told the house that the ANF was a national institution, which had been functioning for the eradication of drugs across the country.

He asked lawmakers not to ‘criticise institutions for the sake of criticism’.

Speaking on a calling attention notice, the minister said the Peshawar commissioner and the social welfare department had launched a joint campaign for the rehabilitation of drug addicts in the division, and a total of 2,200 addicts had so far been rehabilitated.

He said the rehab centres had been set up in Khyber and Orakzai tribal districts at the cost of Rs29.63 million and five more such centres would be established in South and North Waziristan, Kurram, Bajaur and Mohmand tribal districts with Rs350 million being allocated for it in the current budget.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2022