Khattak threatens extreme steps if CPEC’s Western route not built

Mushahid Hussain visits KP to listen to grievances

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Thursday warned taking extreme steps if the federal government did not build the Western route of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and remained adamant on constructing the western alignment of the project to benefit Punjab only.

Speaking at a news conference at the Chief Minister’s House after meeting with Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on the CPEC, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, he said the federal government had backtracked on the promises it had made at the May 28 All Parties Conference (APC) on the project in Islamabad.

Flanked by Leader of the Opposition in the provincial assembly Maulana Lutfur Rehman, who belongs to the JUI-F, parliamentary leader of the Awami National Party, Sardar Hussain Babak, Pakistan People’s Party Member Provincial Assembly Nighat Orakzai and leaders of the PML-Q and others, Pervez Khattak said the federal government had pledged that the Western route of the project would be built first. However, he deplored that the federal government was not honouring its promises. “We have come to know that only a road is being built in place of the western alignment, which would be the gamechanger of the project,” he told the media persons.

Pervez Khattak said that the APC on May 28 evolved a consensus on the issue and the prime minister made the announcement about it. He reminded that the prime minister had declared that the Western route of the CPEC would be built on priority basis.

However, he argued that the project inaugurated by the prime minister at Quetta the other day was only a road, not a motorway or ‘route’. They are only constructing a ‘national highway’, not a route, he insisted

“A road doesn’t mean a route. There is a lot of difference in both. And we don’t need any road. We will return this project (road) to them (federal government) with thanks as the province can build such roads on its own,” Pervez Khattak stressed.

He also referred to the resolutions of the provincial assembly and said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa wanted work on the six-lane motorway to be immediately initiated on the Western route of the CPEC as per the decision of the APC.

The chief minister said they wanted the Western route along with all CPEC component projects such as railway, oil and gas pipeline, optic fiber cable, energy projects of electricity, LNG and transmission lines. He said that without these projects, the establishment of industrial parks and trade zones would not be possible at the western alignment.

He maintained that China was launching the CPEC to develop its less-developed western parts, but in Pakistan all the projects were being launched in the already developed areas.

“We have information that electricity, railway, LNG, optic fiber line and other projects are being launched from Gwadar to Rawalpindi through Punjab. We don’t have any objection to the development of Punjab or any other area, but we want similar components of the project for our province along the proposed Western route of the CPEC,” Pervez Khattak declared. “I warn the federal government that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would be forced to take the extreme step if it remained adamant in executing its own plan and abandoning the Western route of the project,” he maintained.

He asked the people of Hazara not to feel happy with the promises of the federal government as they were also going to have a mere road, not a route designed for the CPEC.

The chief minister said Mushahid Hussain was in Peshawar to listen to the provincial leaders and convey their views to the federal government and “compel it” to stick to its plan of building the Western route of the CPEC.

Mushahid Hussain, while speaking briefly on the occasion, said he had come as chairman of the parliamentary committee on the project and would take the point of view of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to parliament and to the prime minister.

He said the CPEP was not the project of any particular person, party or province. “It is not even the project of the federal government. It is a long-term strategic national project that would change the destiny of the Pakistani nation,” he argued.

Mushahid Hussain said the parliamentary committee was the voice of all the provinces and it would take this voice to the forums concerned. The resolutions of the provincial assembly and a letter of the provincial government it wrote to the federal government on December 14, 2015 would also be taken up at the committee meeting and with the federal government, he said.

The Senator informed that Commerce Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who is also member of the CPEC parliamentary committee, would also come to Peshawar on the request of the provincial government on January 6 to discuss the matter.

To a question about the army’s custodianship of the project, he said, “In Pakistani society, both Khaki and Mufti (army and civilian leadership) have important roles.”

“The role of Khaki is to provide security and a special security division has been established with its headquarters in Abbottabad. This special division will provide security to the project as the army is also a part of this system. While mufti or political leadership has already evolved a consensus on the project at the APC on May 28, we will do it together as I have said it is a national project,” Mushahid Hussain reiterated.