PESHAWAR: The opposition staged a walkout from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Tuesday after the government opposed its move to set up a parliamentary commission to probe the affairs of the defunct Ehtesab Commission (KPEC), including expenditure and cases, which it conducted.

During the question hour, Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Nighat Yasmin Orakzai said she had been seeking details from the establishment department of the budget allocated for the KPEC and cases against politicians and senior officers probed by it during the four years tenure.

She said the department was deliberately withholding details of the provincial anti-graft watchdog’s affairs.

PPP lawmaker alleges dept intentionally withholding details of commission’s matters

Ms Orakzai said the establishment department was involved in the assassination of the character of the former lawmakers and politicians.

Deputy Speaker Mahmood Khan chaired the sitting.

Minister for law and parliamentary affairs Sultan Mohammad Khan while responding to the mover’s question said the defunct body was intimated several times to produce all details, including financial expenditure, but it didn’t reply.

He said the Ehtesab Commission was dissolved after the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission Act, 2018, was repealed.

The minister said records of the Ehtesab Commission were being shifted to the establishment department and details were not found during scrutiny.

Opposition Leader Akram Khan Durrani in his supplementary question said the commission was used to victimise political opponents of the government.

He said former minister for mines and minerals Ziaullah Afridi and senior officers were arrested on ‘false charges’.

Mr Durrani said politicians and officers were kept in jails with trial continuing for several months to their humiliation.

He claimed that director general of the Commission retired Lt-General Hamid Khan was removed when he began investigation against former chief minister Pervez Khattak.

The opposition leader proposed the formation of a joint parliamentary commission to probe the use of funds allocated for the commission and cases registered against politicians and officers.

Law minister Sultan Khan disagreed with the proposal and asked the chair to put it to vote.

The opposition members protested the idea and staged a walkout.

The establishment of an independent accountability commission in KP was the brainchild of Prime Minister Imran Khan. The commission was established in 2014 but failed to deliver despite over Rs800 million worth of expenditure.

The government finally repealed the relevant law in 2018 and dissolved the anti-graft body.

The treasury members criticised opposition for staging a walkout and alleged that the opposition lawmakers disrupted proceedings. The chair later adjourned the sitting until Friday.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2019