PESHAWAR: Provincial president and parliamentary leader of Qaumi Watan Party in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, Sikandar Hayat Sherpao, said on Wednesday that they had submitted an adjournment motion to the assembly secretariat against the federal government for neglecting the province during the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Islamabad.

Speaking at a press conference at Peshawar Press Club (PPC), he said that the federal government had committed an injustice with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas, as of the total 51 agreements signed during President Xi Jinping’s visit only two were related to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said that it seemed that the whole exercise was for one province (Punjab) and its interests were especially taken care of.

The QWP leader claimed that the province was also neglected in the Kashgar-Gwadar Economic Corridor, and resolutions of KP Assembly in this regard were ignored. He said that the Constitution of Pakistan, which called for development of backward areas, was also violated.

“Our reservations about the route, especially early start of western route have not been addressed. The provincial assembly resolutions have been ignored. This is violation of the Constitution and the concept of federation. We feel that the federation represented only Punjab province. We are being pushed to ask whether this is a federation or not,” he lamented. He said that the federation could not be run through such tactics.

Mr Sherpao asked the federation to explain about the criteria of the projects signed with the Chinese president. He said that the Chinese investment, which was actually concessional loans, would be paid by the federation, but still the interest of only one province was served.

He said that the initiative of Kashgar-Gwadar Economic Corridor was a good step on behalf of the People’s Republic of China. However, he said that the concept adopted by the Chinese government was not replicated in Pakistan. He said that China wanted to develop the backward area of Pakistan, but this concept was neglected here.

He said that equal treatment of all the provinces was must for keeping the federation intact. He said the exploitation of the KP people would be resisted and a movement would also be started in this regard.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2015

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