Hoti endorses Fata’s merger with KP

Demands construction of CPEC’s western alignment

TAKHT BHAI: Awami National Party (ANP) provincial chief Ameer Haider Hoti on Saturday called for immediate merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to bring the tribal areas on par with other parts of the country.

Addressing a public meeting here, the nationalist leader said that there was dire need for holding of census because the National Finance Commission (NFC) award and provincial autonomy were incomplete without fulfilling this constitutional requirement.

He said the country cannot make progress unless and until all the provinces were given rights over the indigenous resources and equal share in the development projects.Haider Hoti, who is also a Member National Assembly, said that it was agreed in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project agreement that the western alignment of the multi-billion dollar project would be constructed first.

He urged the federal government to abide by the agreement and develop the western route of CPEC first. Warning the federal government against ignoring the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in uplift work, he said meting out step-motherly attitude towards the militancy-devastated province would have dangerous repercussions.

Calling for the implementation of National Action Plan in letter and spirit, he said that the plan was of great importance for eliminating the menace of terrorism from the country.About the protest campaign of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) against the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government, Haider Hoti said that ANP would not become part of any undemocratic means to oust a democratically elected government.

Criticising the PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, the nationalist leader said that the PTI had failed to bring about any change.“Imran Khan wanted to become prime minister at the expense of the rights of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he went on to say.

He said that the PTI government lacked vision and capacity to utilise the development funds. “Billions of rupees development funds lapse every year,” he added.He said the people can differentiate between good and bad, adding, the future belongs to the ANP.

He demanded the federal and provincial governments to release the salaries of employees of Working Folks Grammar Schools-run by the Workers Welfare Fund. On the occasion, score of activists of PTI announced joining the ANP.