Dir residents want CPEC’s western route built

DIR: The opposition parties here on Wednesday rejected the announcement about the construction of Chakdara-Dir-Chitral motorway and demanded the execution of the project approved for the region under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), Awami National Party (ANP) and Dir Action Forum attended the all parties conference convened by the JI here.

JI district head Hanifullah Advocate chaired the conference. Former Member National Assembly Sahibzada Tariqullah, Muhammad Ali, Malik Bahram Khan, Sahibzada Faseehullah, Mir Makhzanuddin of JI, Maseehullah Khan, Jahanzeb Khan, Shah Wali Khan of PPP, Said Anwar Khan, Raja Ameer Zaman, Muhammad Azam Khan, Iftikhar of ANP, Abdul Ghaffar, Maroof Shah Advocate of PML-N, Mufti Ihsanullah of JUI and others participated in the conference.

The participants of the conference maintained that the announcement about the mega project should have been made by the prime minister or the federal minister for communications. They said the government was not sincere to carry out the project and the announcement was meant to deceive the people of the five districts.

They questioned how the Communications and Works Department could conduct the initial survey of the mega project and prepare its feasibility report. The speakers demanded the execution of the western route of CPEC, which had been approved by the previous PML-N government in 2016.

They claimed that the project was dropped from the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) by the PTI government. They said that they only wanted the CPEC route not the motorway and they would stage a protest if the project was not restored.

The APC demanded that Prime Minister Imran Khan or Chief Minister Mahmood Khan should make an announcement of making CPEC western route or else the people of the five districts would stage a demonstration at Chikdara interchange till the restoration of the project.