Changes to CPEC’s original route protested

PESHAWAR: The members of the civil society on Tuesday staged a sit-in in front of the building of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly over ignoring the province and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) in the multi-billion dollars China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The protesters were holding banners and placards inscribed with slogans against the federal government and changes in the original plan of the fortune changing economic project. They first gathered at the Sher Shah Suri Road outside the Peshawar Press Club and blocked the road for some time.

Later, the protesters marched towards the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly and staged a sit-in there. Awami National Party-Wali (ANP-W) provincial president Farid Toofan, secretary information Gul Nawaz Mohmand, Tariq Afghan and others also participated in the sit-in.

The Corridor Front, a group of various political parties and civil society organisations, had given the call for the sit-in to protest the alleged changes in the original plan of the project.The convener for the Corridor Front, Dr Said Alam Mehsud, led the sit-in.

The speakers alleged that CPEC was literally changed into the ‘China-Punjab Economic Corridor’. They said the original plan was modified and Pakhtun-inhabited and dominated areas had been ignored in the project.

The speakers vowed to intensify the campaign if the federal government didn’t launch development work on the western alignment of the project.Later, the participants met the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser in his chamber.

The speaker said that the provincial government had already recorded its protest against the changes in the project.He said no compromise would be made on the rights of the province in the fortune-changing project.

Asad Qaiser warned that ignoring the smaller federating units in the project would have disastrous consequences and the federal government would be responsible for any possible backlash. He assured the protesters to take up the issue with the federal government and secure provincial rights in the project.The civil society representatives and office-bearers of the Corridor Front said that they would stage rallies in front of the building of National Assembly and Chinese Embassy in Islamabad against the changes to the original plan of CPEC.