CM blasted for issuing pro-Kalabagh dam remarks

CHAKDARA: Rejecting Chief Minister Pervez Khattak’s remarks about the Kalabagh dam, Awami National Party (ANP) provincial president Ameer Haider Hoti on Tuesday said the construction of the controversial project would not be allowed.
Speaking at a ceremony in Shahabad in Chakdara in Lower Dir district here, he criticised Chief Minister Pervez Khattak for issuing a statement in favour of the construction of the dam.
On the occasion, eight councillors and activists of various political parties announced joining the ANP.
Haider Hoti, who is also Member National Assembly (MNA), said that the chief minister issued the statement to appease the people of Punjab province and earn people sympathies in the by-elections and subsequent local government election there.
The nationalist leader said that the chief minister should have kept in mind that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly had adopted several resolutions against the construction of the Kalabagh dam.
“He (Pervez Khattak) at least should have respected the assembly that elected him chief executive of the province,” he added.
Haider Hoti said that if the construction of the controversial dam was to generate power then the government should construct the Diamer-Bhasha dam and Munda dams. He said that there were consensuses on the construction of the two projects. “Construction of small dams and power houses can also solve the energy shortage,” he added.
He asked the government to launch construction work on the western route of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Haider Hoti said the federal government was not implementing the declaration of the All Parties Conference on the CPEC. The ANP leader added said that his party valued the CPEC project.
He said the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had agreed to first start work on the western route of the CEPC project which passed through Dera Ismail Khan and lead to Baluchistan province. “But things are done in the opposite direction,” he added.
He said the ANP would raise the issue and voice for the rights of the people of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces at every platform.