KP leaders warn against changing Corridor route

PESHAWAR: Three major political parties operating in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday warned that any change in the route for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would lead to a political crisis in the country.
Addressing a seminar on the CPEC organised by the Ulasi Tehrik at the Peshawar Press Club, top-tier leadership of Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) Aftab Sherpao, and Sikandar Khan Sherpao, provincial chief of Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Prof Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, JI’s former member National Assembly (MNA) Shabbir Ahmed Khan, central general secretary of the Awami National Party (ANP) Mian Iftikhar Hussain and ANP parliamentary party leader in the provincial assembly Sardar Hussain Babak urged the federal government to refrain from making any change to the CPEC route as it would lead to severe political turmoil.
After a detailed briefing on the CPEC by Dr Said Alam Mehsud, chairman of the Ulasi Tehrik, QWP head Aftab Sherpao asked the federal government to stick to its decision that it took during the All Parties Conference (APC) on the route of the corridor on May 28 in Islamabad.
He said the APC chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Islamabad had reached a consensus over the route. “If that consensus decision was changed, all the political parties of Pakhtuns would raise voice against it,” he cautioned.
He said Pakhtuns would not tolerate any injustice in the allocation of resources and selection of route for the $46 billion CPEC project. “It (CPEC) is a matter of life and death for Pakhtuns and they will not compromise on it,” Aftab Sherpao added.
The QWP leader said that Pakhtuns had suffered a lot over the last few decades and they were still facing numerous hardships. He added that more than 60,000 people had laid down their lives for the motherland and the time had come to treat all the communities in the country equally.
He asserted that political parties representing the Pakhtuns were in no mood to make this project (CPEC) controversial as it has offered a huge opportunity to change the destiny of the country.
Prof Ibrahim Khan said the route first identified for the project should have been built as it was important for the development of the region, particularly Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He said the enemies of Pakistan were out to foil the project. If it happened and the project could not be initiated, both Pakistan and China would face huge losses, Prof Ibrahim added.
The JI provincial head said the federal government should evolve national consensus on the project.
Using tough language, ANP’s Mian Iftikhar Hussain said it would be tantamount to the “economic murder” of Pakhtuns if the route for the CPEC was changed.
He said that Federal Minister Ihsan Iqbal was wrongly blaming the Pakhtun political parties for making the project controversial. “But the fact remains that those advising the federal minister have made it controversial,” he argued.
Mian Iftikhar claimed that the federal government had not taken the Baloch nation and its political leadership into confidence over the project. He said the federal government should take the Baloch people onboard before initiating the project.
The seminar also adopted a resolution, opposing any change in the route for the CPEC that was decided at the All Parties Conference in Islamabad on May 28.