CPEC placed on back-burner: Rabbani

ISLAMABAD: Former chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani Friday charged that the government had placed the CPEC on the back-burner by diverting Rs24 billion towards other programmes.

In a statement, he said, ”The fact that the Ministry of Planning and Development has diverted Rs24 billion out of Rs27 billion under the head of special initiatives of CPEC towards other programs is a clear indication that the government has placed CPEC on the back-burner”.

This, he pointed out, was evident when immediately after taking office advisor on commerce made a statement that CPEC should be put on hold for one year.

Subsequently, the realignment of Pakistan’s foreign policy towards western capitals and their regional allies reaffirmed this shift.

“Such a strategic change in foreign policy alignment should have been debated in Parliament. To the contrary, the foreign minister throughout the Indo-Pak tension did not even once come to the Senate,” he emphasised.

He demanded that this major realignment in Pakistan’s foreign policy should be discussed in Parliament.

“I call upon the Leader of the House and Opposition in the Senate to move a motion for summoning a meeting of the Committee of the Whole to discuss this issue,” he contended.