LAHORE: Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari has said that the claim of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government that it has launched 625 projects in a year is nothing but a joke.

`A year has only 365 days, so how did the KP government manage to initiate 625 projects within a year?` she questioned in a statement on Monday.

She said a province struggling to fund its universities to the extent of selling university lands should not make a false claim. `Gandapur`s socalled625 projectswillbe as fictitious as the `billion trees` initiative,` Azma Bokhari said and added that the KP was excelling not in development but lawlessness, terrorism, and corruption.

`We have not seen a single minister or the chief minister of KP inaugurating any new project throughout the entire year. The CM didn`t even show up at his office in a year,` she said and pointed out that in KP, government employees frequently protested for their salaries, while local representatives struggled for funds.

Bokhari also criticised Gandapur, claiming thathis priorities did not include the poor people of KP but rather the prisoner in Adiala.

`Corruption is at its peak in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and even the officials of the accountability committee are involved in it.

The very committee that was supposed to ensure accountability is itself questionable.

Azma Bokhari further said that federal funds allocated for KP were being misused for political rallies, sit-ins, and internal distribution among party members.

She demanded that the federal government conduct an audit of the funds provided to the KP. On the other hand, Punjab claims to have launched 90 projects during the last one year under Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.

The Maryam administration recently released an eyebrow-raising 60-page newspaper supplement which was published in most national dailies highlighting the `achievements` of the Punjab government in its first year. It sparked widespread debate, particularly on social media, with PTI and other critics questioning the expenditure of massive public funds. Staff Reporter