- KP CM says his govt has not sent any proposals to federal govt for inclusions in western route of economic corridor
Expressing reservations over the federal government’s intentions regarding the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) on Thursday, political leaders at the All Parties Conference (APC) called by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) decided to convey their issues to the prime minister.
The APC demanded that the federal government implement the decisions of the APC held on May 28, 2015, and inform Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan about the details of all projects included in western route of China Pakistan Economic Corridor. The reservations would be conveyed by a team led by Jamiat Ulam-e-Islam – Fazal group (JUI-F) that would comprise representatives from other political parties in a day or two.
Briefing media about the decisions of the APC, JUI-F chief Fazlur Rahman said that in its joint declaration it had demanded that the federal government remove reservations concerning CPEC’s western route and provide more detail on various projects.
“There is no indications about gas pipelines for industries, power lines and fibre optics,” he said that without these projects, the road has no importance and the federal government has to make sure that all these packages must be included.
He also asked the federal government to issue a declaration and remove all reservations. He added that they were not against the project and assured the government that political parties of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would support to complete the corridor.
The leaders faced some tough questions from reporters.
To a question, Fazl said that they were democratic parties and wanted to resolve the issue democratically.
“If the government fails to remove our reservations then we will decide our future course of action,” he said adding that the APC has constituted a committee constituting of JUI, JI, ANP, PKMAP, PML (N), PML (Q), PPP and PTI.
He said that the APC saw CPEC as the new era of development. “This economic corridor has changed Pak-China friendly relations in to Pak-China economic relations and we are honoured by China’s investment in Pakistan,” Fazl said.
The leaders, including KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Speaker Asad Qaiser representing PTI, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party’s Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Qaumi Watan Party’s Aftab Sherapao, Awami National Party’s Mian Iftikhar, PML-N’s Iqbal Zafar Jaghra, PML-Q’s Ajmal Wazir, and other leaders of JUI-F were present in the meeting.
On this occasion, Khattak said that the provincial government has not sent any proposals to the federal government for inclusions in the western route of economic corridor. He said that the western route is just like a road, therefore no proposals will be sent from the KP government.
