Daily Times

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly legislators on the second day continuously talked about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and decide to hold an All Parties Conference (APC) after Ashura for the inclusion of Western Route.

The discussion was initiated by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazal (JUI-F) provincial assembly member Zareen Gul saying that the projects under CPEC were worth around Rs 5,000 billion but the federal government was playing dodgy tactics with the provincial government.

Zareen Gul maintained that the provincial assembly has passed four resolutions on CPEC but the federal government gave no importance to the resolutions passed by legislators of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Parliamentary leader of Awami National Party (ANP) Sardar Hussain Babak said that there were concerns of the people of KP and Baluchistan over CPEC and that the federal government must try to give heed to those concerns.

Sardar Babak also criticized the provincial government saying that serious issue concerning the future of the province was being discussed in the provincial assembly by the chief executive of the province was absent in back to back sessions for two days.

He informed that the federal government will purchase around Rs 35 billion coal for the generation of electricity for the CPEC project but were not ready to invest on hydel power generation, adding that in Malakand division the government can generate electricity at a very low price.

He reiterated that the ANP stood with the provincial government on the issue of the Western Route and it was ready to protest or sit-in in front of the Parliament House in Islamabad for the rights of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Babak added that the people of KP gave mandate to PTI Chairman Imran Khan and he must fight for the rights of KP, adding that corruption and rigging were also important issues in Pakistan but the Western Route of CPEC held more importance for KP people.

Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha parliamentary leader of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) in the provincial assembly said that Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal will visit KP Governor House on October 18 and all parliamentary leaders should participate in that meeting on CPEC. He added that the Western Route was part of the CPEC project.

Advisor to the CM on Higher Education and Information Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani said that all parties in the provincial assembly were on the same page on the inclusion of the Western Route in the CPEC project.

He criticized the federal government and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that whenever the PM visited other countries, he only took his brother Shahbaz Sharif with him, adding that PM was not only the PM of Punjab but he was the PM of the entire provinces of Pakistan.

He added that CPEC is a project of economic development of Pakistan and the KP Government will never compromise on CPEC western route because it was the question of our next generation.

He claimed that the CPEC was basically prepared for the 2018 election and that the federal government wanted to give benefits to Punjab only as KP and Baluchistan provinces were ignored.

He added that KP people gave sacrifices in the war against terror and the province was badly affected from militancy and terrorism but the federal government acted like a ‘step-mother’ with KP.

On the occasion Malak Shah Muhammad of PTI, Hafiz Sanaullah of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Azaz-ul-Mulk Afkari of Jammat-e-Islami and other legislators also criticized the federal government for exclusion of western route from CPEC project.