Audit launched into KP’s Rs535b war on terror funds

PESHAWAR: The Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) has directed a special audit into the Rs535 billion funds provided to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government over 14 years under the war on terror, official documents revealed Tuesday. 

According to the documents, the Director General Audit KP had written to the provincial finance department in December 2024, seeking details of funds received and expenditures incurred from 2010 to 2024 under the seventh National Finance Commission (NFC) Award for counterterrorism efforts. 

Following this, the finance department sent a letter to the additional chief secretary of Home and Tribal Affairs, formally initiating the special audit of war on terror funds. The letter also requested details of payments and expenditures made using these funds. 

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However, HUM News English learnt through sources privy to the matter that three months have passed, and the finance department has yet to provide the required details to the audit team. In response, the DG Audit KP has issued three reminder letters, urging compliance. 

Documents reveal that in the fiscal year 2010-11, the KP government received Rs14 billion from the federal government under the war on terror fund, while in 2023-24, this amount rose to Rs86 billion.

Over the past 14 years, the province has received a total of Rs535 billion for counterterrorism efforts. 

Separately, documents from the Home and Tribal Affairs Department indicate that the province’s total law and order expenditures stood at Rs67 billion in 2020, Rs78 billion in 2021, Rs92 billion in 2022, and Rs109 billion in 2023, accumulating to Rs693 billion over the past four years.

Earlier in August 2023, the KP caretaker government had formally requested the federal government to conduct an audit of funds allocated for war on terror since 2013.

The interim government wanted to hold a special audit of Rs415 billion that the province received against counter-terrorism measures during the tenure of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.