Members of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Tuesday criticised federal government for ignoring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and particularly not constructing western route of the project. The house resumed proceedings with Speaker Asad Qaiser in the chair while the parliamentary leader of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Senior Minister for Local Government Inayatullah Khan opened the debate while speaking on a point of order.
He said that that CPEC is a game changer, adding its completion is very important for the country, but, he alleged that federal government is making it controversial. He said the federal government has backtracked from its promises made in All-Parties Conferences (APC) regarding the western route.
He recalled that federal government had earlier assured that western route was included in CPEC, but, the Chinese Ambassador do not accepting the part of the economic corridor. He said that they have concerns over western route adding that they would not remain calm in this regard. He demanded the inclusion of western route in CPEC. Muhammad Ali Shah Bacha of PPP said that it is the issue of the province (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and should not be politicised. He asked all political parties to play their due role in this connection. He said that he was thinking to include Swat Motorway in CPEC but now they have come to know that even the western route is also not the part of CPEC. He said that PPP will support KP government in this regard.
Bakht Baidar of Qaumi Watan Party said that Pakhtuns are patriotic and they do not want to destabilise the country. But, centre compelling them to aggravate the situations. He called for guaranteeing equal right to all provinces. Mufti Said Janan of JUI-F while criticising the KP government said that they had awakened after a long period of three years. He said that PTI had spent three precious years on staging sit-ins. He said that Pakhtuns have sacrificed their lives for the sake of nation and country and now they would fight for western route.
Shaukat Yousafzai of PTI said that terrorism has affected Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for which it should have been compensated. He said that the provinces should be given their rights to strengthen democracy. Parliamentary leader of PML-N, Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha in his emotional speech the very sincerity of the provincial government towards the issue and said that if it was too important for KP government, then would not have found the empty seats of treasury benches.
He said that people are well aware about the sit-ins politics and question the performance of PTI government during last three years. He attributed the CPEC to the backbone of Pakistan, saying that western route would be completed to pave way for the success of PML-N in the general elections 2018. Fazle Elahi of PTI, Raja Faisal Zaman of PML-N, Malik Qasim of PTI, Gohar Nawaz of QWP, Provincial Minister Qalandar Lodhi, Salim Khan of PPP and Zarin Gul of JUI-F also spoke on the issue. Speaker Asad Qaisar said that due to the absence of parliamentary leaders, the house will also continue debate on the issue today and adjourned the proceedings of the house till Wednesday 3:00pm.
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