By: Zulfiqar Ali (Kashmir Investigation Team)
MUZAFFARABAD: The Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) government’s claims of providing Rs 17 billion from its own resources in the development budget for the fiscal year 2025-26 turned out to be false, as not a single rupee was allocated for this purpose from internal sources.
A similar claim was made in the outgoing FY 2024-25, when the government had said that it would provide Rs 13 billion from its own resources in the development budget.
This amount was shown in the development budget and was also mentioned in public statements, but in fact, not a single penny was allocated for this purpose. The same thing came to light in the fiscal year 2023-24, when the government had said that it would provide Rs 12 billion from local sources, but in reality, nothing was given.
The truth is that since 1947, the Azad Kashmir government has never spent any money on development projects from its own resources. Every year, the development budget depends entirely on grants from the government of Pakistan.
The local government only makes announcements, which are not implemented.
In the last fiscal year 2023-24, Rs 25.8 billion was spent on development projects in Azad Kashmir, and all this money was a grant given by the government of Pakistan. In the current fiscal year 2024-25, Rs 28 billion will be spent by June 30, which has been given entirely by the federation.
For the next FY 2026, a federal grant of Rs 31 billion is expected, while one billion rupees is expected as foreign aid. The 17 billion shown from local resources in the development budget has not been allocated.
The total amount shown in the development budget includes foreign aid, grants from the government of Pakistan, and local sources. But the amount shown under local sources is not allocated — it is only written on paper.
This false budgeting has been going on for the past three years, in which there is talk of contributing to the development budget from “own resources”, but in reality no money is kept or spent. This is not only misleading but also a fraud at the official level. This makes the public, media, and policy makers believe that Azad Kashmir is financially self-sufficient, when in fact all development expenses are borne by the government of Pakistan.
If the development of Azad Kashmir is completely dependent on the help of the federal government, then this should be clearly written in the budget as well, and not an attempt should be made to hide the truth with fictitious figures.
Another important point is that the development grants given by the federal government are also often not used on time. A large part of the budget is spent in the last month of the financial year, i.e., June, which raises questions about the efficiency and transparency of the projects.
The main reason for this is that not only is the budget spending capacity in Azad Kashmir low, but the entire system is slow and inefficient. That is why many locals demand that the federal government release separate funds for each project instead of giving block grants, so that money is not wasted.
This whole situation seems even more serious when we look at the size of the Azad Kashmir government system and the expenses incurred on it. Azad Kashmir is only 6 percent of the total area of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, and its population is about 2.7 million, but a large and expensive government structure has been established for this small area.
There is a president, a prime minister, a 53-member legislative assembly, 32 secretaries, 10 deputy commissioners, 3 divisions (each with a commissioner), about 40 departments and autonomous bodies, and about 120,000 government employees working here. Azad Kashmir even has its own High Court and Supreme Court.
The question is, why is such a large, expensive, and showy government system in place when not a single rupee is being spent on development projects from local sources? Is this system working for the public good, or is it just for show? Is there any real justification for it?
The fact is that the system in Azad Kashmir has been running in a showy and ineffective manner for the past 77 years. False claims of self-sufficiency are made in the budget, development funds are completely dependent on the federation, and even the money that comes in is not spent on time and properly.
Along with this, there is also a heavy and expensive government system that does not provide any tangible benefit to the people. All this is devoid of honesty, transparency, and financial independence.
