Daily Times

PESHAWAR: The people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) seem uncertain over the contradictory statements of the Governor and Chief Minster regarding the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) shares for the region.

Different sections of the society raised their voice of concern against the statements of KP Chief Minister Parvaiz Khattak and Governor Engineer Iqbal Zafar Jhagra regarding multi-billion dollar project and its share for the province and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

The Provincial Assembly Speaker and senior leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Asad Qasir said that PTI Government was not satisfied with the federal government over the CPEC shares for the small federating units and that PTI would raise the issue with federal government.

Chief Minister Khattak in his official statement repeated his stance that that federal government had shown no intention to start the construction of the Western route. He also claimed that the region was being ignored by the center in billions dollars investment.

Meanwhile, Governor KP Engineer Iqbal Zafar Jhagra addressing the newly elected members of the Chamber of Small Traders said, “CPEC is a game-changer and it would help bring prosperity to the entire region”.

He assured the FATA tribesmen about their share in the CPEC and said that the sacrifices made by the tribesmen for the country would be recognized soon. “The region would get its due share in the CPEC and none of the areas of the country would be ignored in the investment plan of the federal government,” Governor Jhagra said.

It is pertinent to mention here that Awami National Party (ANP) would launch country wide protest against the CPEC share for the peoples of FATA and KP.

ANP Senator Bushra Gohar told this scribe that the KP and FATA were losing its billions dollars share in the CPEC project. She also claimed that the government machinery has put the masses in illusion regarding the CPEC and the stance of the provincial government has never been cleared to masses.

Bushra Gohar accused the provincial government of indulging in fruitless priorities to avert the attention of the province peoples from CPEC.

Home and Tribal Affairs department senior official told this scribe on the request of anonymity that neither the provincial government nor the governor office have shared any developmental proposal under the CPEC project.

He said currently none of the official cleared over the investment plan of the billions dollars in the region.