Parvez Khattak threatens 'extreme step' over CPEC project

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Parvez Khattak threatens extreme step over CPEC project

Islamabad - Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed and KPK Chief Minister Parvez Khattak addressing the media in Peshawar said the federal government has been ambivalent about the CPEC raising serious questions in smaller provinces including Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

By Afzal Khan

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Published: Sat 2 Jan 2016, 1:56 PM

Last updated: Sat 2 Jan 2016, 3:58 PM

 The political fraternity of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has warned the federal government through Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed against any 'deception' on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.
Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed and KPK Chief Minister Parvez Khattak addressing the media in Peshawar said the federal government has been ambivalent about the CPEC raising serious questions in smaller provinces including Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
"I warn if the federal government does not address the reservations of KPK about the (CPEC) project, then we will take an extreme step. And you (centre) will see what we are going to do," Khattak told the news conference with Mushahid after attending the briefing of the parliamentary party leaders in Peshawar.
"The KPK's demand is very simple: implement the decisions of the 'All Parties Conference' held in Islamabad on May 28 and build complete corridor. We don't need a highway," said Khattak flanked by parliamentary leaders in the KPK Assembly.
The chief minister said if the federal government wanted to build a highway only, then the province had sufficient resources to do so on its own.
Mushahid, who heads a parliamentary committee overseeing the CPEC project, agreed with Khattak, saying the reservations of KPK are genuine and the route will be completed in line with the joint declaration of the APC.
The project containing fibre optic, railway line, gas and oil pipeline, LNG, electricity and several economic zones will connect Gwadar Port to Kashgar in the north-western China.
Parliamentary leaders of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, the Jamaat-i-Islami, the Awami National Party, the Qaumi Watan Party and the Pakistan People's Party, speaker of the provincial assembly Asad Qaisar and ministers attended the briefing.
The chief minister said the provincial assembly had unanimously passed two resolutions demanding of the federal government to build the corridor in accordance with the APC's decisions.
He said it was decided in the APC meeting that the CPEC western route would be completed in the first phase to be followed by the construction of the eastern route.
"Later, we learnt that the western route has been restricted only to a road, which is unacceptable for us," he said warning that KPK would take an 'extreme step' if the centre ignored the APC's decisions.
He said the project's additional components including fibre optic, railway track, gas and oil pipeline, LNG and other facilities had been attached with the eastern route of the corridor to be laid between Gwadar and Rawalpindi.
Khattak said there was nothing in the project for KPK except a highway.
PTI chief Imran Khan also criticised 'non-transparency' of the CPEC project even though it was signed in July 2013.
The federal government has yet to elaborate details which has caused concern among smaller provinces. He said the federal government has yet to undertake construction of the western route. The government has ignored the reservations of the smaller provinces.
news@khaleejtimes.com


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