JI leader accuses PM of reneging on CPEC pledges

DIR: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) provincial chief Mushtaq Ahmad Khan on Sunday accused the federal government of changing the original route of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), saying it would deprive the smaller provinces of their due rights.

Addressing the oath-taking ceremony of the newly-elected JI Upper Dir district office-bearers, he said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had promised the all parties conference that the western route of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor would be accorded priority.

JI parliamentary leader in the National Assembly Sahibzada Tariqullah, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Local Government and Rural Development Inayatullah, JI provincial head Maulana Asadullah, District Nazim Upper Dir Sahibzada Fasihullah and others attended the ceremony. “Now the prime minister should honour the pledges he had made to the nation,” he stressed.

He added those whose names were mentioned in the Panama Papers should be brought to justice. He said that Supreme Court had taken the right step by ordering the formation of a commission to probe the Panama Papers leaks. The JI leader criticised the federal government for not giving the arrears of the net hydel profits to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said the provincial government had to spend up to 65 percent of the money on paying back its debts.