PESHAWAR -  Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pervez Khattak Friday asked the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chinese government to clear the air and declare whether or not western route is part of the CPEC.

“We are not against the CPEC. We also want development and prosperity. Don’t keep us in dark anymore. Tell us the truth?” he said this while taking part in the three-day long debate over CPEC in KP Assembly.

Recalling his conversation with Chinese ambassador, Pervez Khattak said that he inquired the Chinese Ambassador about the western route as part of CPEC.

“The Ambassador replied no it is not part of CPEC. I was shocked and asked him another question that can you make it as its part? He answered no,” Khattak added.

Khattak categorically warned that KP government will not allow the CPEC to pass through the province, if western route is not made its part.

“Before going to take any extreme step, we demand PM Nawaz Sharif and Chinese government to tell us the truth,” Khattak said. 

He reminded the PM Nawaz Sharif to fulfil his commitment that he had made during an APC on CPEC that western route will be the part of the project.

“Had we knew earlier, we would have launched a massive movement against the government, we have now decided to give tough time to the government if our demands of making western route as part of the CPEC and launching formal work on it were not met immediately,” he said.

“No need to meet Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal. We have so far held at least 10 similar meetings on the same issue with him. But, he (Ahsan) had totally failed to satisfy me. We want clarity from PM and Chinese authorities,” he maintained.

Political and religious leadership of the province are united and would not budge an inch from the principle stand, he added. 

“I have solid information that western route is not part of the project,” he claimed. He said that people of the province could not be deceived.

Pervez Khattak told the House that the CPEC should be for all the provinces instead of being limited only to Punjab. 

Investors would make investment in areas which come under CPEC, if western route is not part of the project, how would Chinese investors invest in KP, FATA and Baluchistan, he informed.

Inaugurating of a road by the PM at DI Khan is not western route that is just a road; it would have neither allied facilities like that of industrial zones, fibre optic, electricity and gas nor be guarded by security forces, if that is the situation, how would people invest there, because Chinese government had strongly demanded security arrangements, he said.

“No one can show me in my province a land specified for establishing industrial zones, rail-track, electricity and fibre optics under the western route,” he said.

He added that work on the CPEC’s central route was in full swing, while on western route there is nothing; it meant that this route is not included in the project.  Under, this project, new cities even bigger than the existing cities would be built having better facilities. “We cannot be deceived by allocating funds for PSDP approved projects. Every day Punjab is signing agreements with Chinese government. But we are being constantly ignored, which is regrettable,” the CM said. 

On his turn, PML-N parliamentary leader Aurangzeb Nalota said that there was no change in the original CPEC route. He asked the politicians not to politicize it. ANP MPA Jaffar said, “We need to be united to ensure the western route in the project otherwise our coming generations would not forgive us.”

Earlier,  KP Assembly unanimously passed a resolution asking federal government to assure KP people that western route is not only part of the CPEC, but it would also be built on priority basis.

The resolution was signed by Senior Minister Inayatullah Khan, Health Minister Shahram Khan Tarakai, Law Minister Imtiaz Shahid, MPAs Mehmood Khan Bethani, Fakhri Azam Wazir, Syed Jaffar Shah and Sahibzada Sanaullah Khan. It was presented by Mines and Minerals Minister, Aneesa Zaib Tahir Kheli.

The resolution further said that federal government must implement all the decisions made at the APC held in Islamabad on CPEC.

It said that funds should be ensured for western route; otherwise, unrest among people of the province would increase further.

The unanimous demands which the KP government had sent to the Federal Ministry for Planning regarding the western route should be met and made practical.