The sudden passage of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s budget for FY2025-26—despite earlier instructions from party founder Imran Khan requiring his prior permission—has once more brought the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s internal rifts to the fore, with supporters accusing leaders of betraying the party.
The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly became the first to pass the budget for FY2025-26, as all other provinces and the center have yet to proceed to voting on their budgets. The decision surprised many, as the party had initially maintained it would not present the budget without Khan’s approval before amending the commitment to say the budget would not be passed without the former prime minister’s input. Following the passage, KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has said the budget can be amended as per Khan’s instructions, if required.
Legally, all assemblies must pass their budgets by June 30 or risk losing government, as a failure to pass the budget is perceived as a loss of confidence. The center is empowered to declare a “financial emergency” in any province that fails to pass its budget in a timely manner. This left the PTI with roughly a week more to attempt a meeting with Khan—which the party’s KP leadership did not appear to take into consideration.
Speaking with media outside Adiala Jail on Tuesday, Khan’s sister Aleema said the KP government’s decision to bypass his instructions indicated he was sidelined. “I think, minus Imran Khan has happened,” she said. “We don’t know why [the KP government] was in a rush to pass the budget,” she said, questioning why the provincial government couldn’t even wait until the end of the week.
“We don’t know what was hidden from the PTI founder in the budget. I am surprised that the KP lawmakers did not even discuss it,” she added.
No Minus
In an apparent rejoinder to Aleema’s remarks, Gandapur said that no one could ‘minus’ the PTI founder. “Minus the PTI founder will happen when we are not alive,” he said in an video statement, accusing “enemies” within and outside the party of “weakening the movement.”
Lamenting that Khan, his wife Bushra and several of the party’s leaders and supporters remained incarcerated, he questioned why “some people” were focused on the agenda of weakening the PTI founder. “Their agenda is to strengthen the enemies of the PTI founder,” he claimed, maintaining Khan had never barred him from presenting the provincial budget. He reiterated that if Khan instructed him to do so, he would dissolve the KP government today.
However, supporters are pushing back against Gandapur’s statements, accusing him of betraying Khan, especially as other party leaders appear to come out in support of Aleema’s remarks. PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja has claimed the passing of the budget came as a “complete surprise” to him, maintaining the party’s political committee had decided the budget could be passed at the “latest date possible” if no meeting with Khan materialized.
Former KP finance minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra, similarly, claimed the political committee’s meeting was convened to discuss the issue of Iran and had discussed the KP budget without prior intimation. “The passage of the budget could easily have been extended till the 26th and 27th, and space made to get instructions from Imran Khan today,” he wrote on X, adding the budget needed to be passed before June 30 to prevent the federal government from having an excuse to impose an emergency.
He urged the party to put its house in order, adding the mishandling of the issue was harming both the party and Imran Khan.
Meanwhile, KP government spokesperson Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif claimed he had met Imran Khan on Monday and discussed the provincial budget and other issues in detail. He claimed Khan had consented to the budget’s passage.