Protest staged against ‘exclusion’ of Bajaur route from CPEC

KHAR: The local leaders and workers of all the political parties staged a protest against the exclusion of Bajaur road from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project here on Saturday.

Syed Akhunzada Chattan and Aurangzeb Iqilabi of the Pakistan People’s Party, Gul Karim Khan Salarzai of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Sahibzada Abdur Rashid, Maulana Gul Waheed of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Syed Akbar Shah of the Awami National Party, Syed Badshah of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, Muhammad Hayan of the Qaumi Watan Party and others led the protest rally held at the main chowk in Khar, the headquarters of Bajaur district.

The speakers claimed that the government at the time merger had promised with the people that the Bajaur route would be included in the CPEC but now they delisted it from the Dir-Chitral route being executed under the mega project.

They said that people of Bajaur were being deprived of the benefits of CPEC project by the incumbent government intentionally, which would put negative impacts on the socio-economic situation in the region.

The protestors threatened that they would launch a stronger protest and make Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan visit to Bajaur fail if the said route was not included in the CPEC project.