Daily Times

PESHAWAR: Corridor Front (CF), a group of various political parties and civil society organizations has asked Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Pervez Khattak to tender resignation as he had badly failed to achieve a single scheme in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) during his participation in the Joint Coordination Council (JCC) meeting in Beijing.

Addressing a press conference at Peshawar Press Club on Monday the Corridor Front Convener Dr Said Alam Mehsud said that the JCC meeting at Beijing was extremely important and people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa expected the CM to plead their case properly and get due share of the province from multi-billion mega project. But he badly failed to come upto expectations of people.

Flanked by leaders of various political parties, CSOs including Farid Toofan of Awami National Party-Wali, Ms Farzana Zain of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Olasi Tehreek, Yousuf Anwar of Mazdoor Kisan Party, Zubair Anjum of Jamiat Ulema Islam-Nazriati, Engineer Haider Zaman of Awami Workers Party, Rahim Shah Advocate of Fata Lawyer Forum, Liaquat Yousufzai of Kashtkar Coordination Council, Dr Mehsud also rejected the demand for another all parties conference on the issue of CPEC.

He said the CM has failed to raise even the resolutions adopted by the KP Assembly for due share in nine sectors including motorways, power, fiber optic cable, railways, new plan for power generation, replacement of electric system, LNG, trade centers, industrial zones, oil and gas pipelines and entire projects went to rest of provinces.

Dr Mehsud said it was astonishing that CM Khattak made tall claims to achieve rights of the province but he did not bother to plead case of his province in the light of resolutions of KP Assembly.

The actual Western route of CPEC, he said was from Kashghar via Khanjrab, Gilgit, Besham, Shangla, Khwazakhela, Mingora, Dargai, Mardan, Nowshera, Peshawar, Kohat, Karak, Lakki Marwat, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Zhob, Quetta, Mastoong, Qalat, Khushab and Panjgoor to Gwadar.

However the route was totally changed and of all schemes KP was given a short piece of road from Dera Ismail Khan to Zhob and its estimated cost was eight billion rupees only, saying that it was next to nil but Pervez Khattak claimed it as his big achievement.

Mehsud asked members of KP Assembly to hold the CM accountable and reject the decisions taken by the JCC in Beijing. He said that the only forum wherein the issue could be raised was council of common interests (CCI) but for the purpose the CM’s resignation was a must so that anyone else could fight for rights of the province.

The ANP-Wali provincial leader Farid Toofan claimed that CM Pervez Khattak was hand in glove with federal government to bargain over the rights of KP province, especially with Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar. He said the Corridor Front had earlier decided to hold sit-in outside Chinese Embassy but the protest would now be held outside CM House and schedule would be announced soon by supreme council of the CF.

Finance Minister praises Khattak on success in China: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Finance Minister Muzaffar Said has paid tributes to Chief Minister Pervez Khattak for his timely intervention to include and approve three mega projects worth billions of dollars in KP during recent China visit.

In connection with China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) during the Beijing meeting terming it a milestone achievement for economic boost of the province.

He was addressing review meeting of the planning cell on CPEC at Peshawar wherein early completion of Swat Motorway, dualization of Chakdara to Chitral Highway, setting of industrial/economic zone in Malakand and other CPEC projects were thoroughly discussed and necessary decisions taken.

The Finance Minister asked the concerned authorities to immediately develop close liaison with federal and Chinese governments for early implementation on all approved schemes.

He said Malakand Division would be entirely connected with CPEC thereafter due to this timely action of the Chief Minister during China visit.

He further said the dual highway from Kashghar, Khanjrab, Bisham, Swat, Chakdara, Gilgit, Chitral to Chakdara would considerably contribute in economic and industrial growth in the region.