ANP asks federal govt to provide rights to KP

PESHAWAR: The Awami National Party (ANP) on Sunday asked the federal government to provide Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with the rights guaranteed under the constitution.

ANP provincial general secretary Sardar Hussain Babak criticised the federal government’s attitude towards Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said that despite low-cost power generation, residents of the province were deprived of getting electricity at cheaper rates. The ANP leader said that the constitution had given rights to the province to determine prices of the electricity but Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was getting electricity at high tariff. He said that fixing the price of electricity was not the domain of the federal government. Babak said that under what law the electricity from KP was being supplied to the national grid, saying that depriving the domestic consumers and industries in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was an injustice with the province.

He asked the federal government to implement the Constitution with regard to the use of natural resources that would help reopen closed industrial units in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and create opportunities for foreign investment in the province. Babak said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was rich in natural resources but the Centre had deprived it of using them. He said that ANP would create awareness among the people about the resources and rights of the province. The ANP leader claimed that securing constitutional rights about the use of natural resources for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would prove a game-changer and the province could be put on the track of development and prosperity. He said that constitutional rights could ensure jobs for thousands of youth who were working in foreign countries under inhuman conditions. “These young men could return to the native country and benefit from the trade and investment opportunities if KP was given rights over its resources,” he maintained. He said that every district in the province should get gas supply that had been guaranteed in the Constitution, which would protect the forests attracting tourists from across the world.