- Demands transparency and consensus in finalisation of economic zones
In a party meeting presided over by former president Asif Ali Zardari and attended by senior leadership of the party in Zardari House in Islamabad, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) called upon the government to come clean on the route of China Pakistan Economic Corridor Project (CPEC) together with a list of all the developmental projects and the location of economic zones to be set up along the route.
The party also called for the setting up of local governments in the tribal areas on the basis of adult franchise.
PPP spokesperson Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the former president asked party parliamentarians in the National Assembly, Senate and provincial legislatures to invoke parliamentary instruments to press these demands and persuade the government for implementation.
Party cadres were also directed to launch a massive public campaign aimed at raising awareness about the need for transparency and political consensus with regard to the economic projects linked with the corridor and for the setting up of local governments in tribal areas, he said.
Besides former prime ministers Yousuf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervez Ashraf and leaders of the opposition in National Assembly and Senate Syed Khursheed Shah and Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan, those who attended the four-hour long meeting included Sindh CM Qaim Ali Shah, former Senate chairman Nayyer Hussain Bokhari, Sherry Rehman, Qamar Kaira, Saeed Ghani, Farhatullah Babar, Nadeem Afzal Chan, former GB CM Syed Mehdi Shah, political secretary Rukhsana Bangash, Fouzia Habib, Qayyum Soomro, Akhunzada Chatan and Mehrin Anwar Raja.
“Transparency and political consensus on vital issues relating to the corridor will ensure that the corridor project really turns out to be game changer not only for Pakistan but for the region,” the spokesperson quoted the former president as saying, while directing the party to raise these issues in the Parliament.
The meeting welcomed the visit of the Chinese president to Pakistan saying that the visit will further strengthen the deep rooted ties between the two countries.
It also noted that the ground work for the corridor and other energy and economic projects with Chinese assistance, the setting up of China Bank in Pakistan, currency swap agreement between the two countries and the rebuilding of the Atabad Lake Road were made during the previous PPP government when Zardari made no less than nine visits to China during his five year term.
The meeting appreciated the policy of continuity in economic development projects with China saying that the way forward lay in political stability and continuity of economic policies, he said.
Senator Babar said that the meeting also decided to press for the setting up local governments in the tribal areas so as to bring them in the national mainstream. A regulation about the setting up of local governments in tribal agencies had been signed during the previous PPP government and it was time that the locals were involved in the governance of their respective areas.
