CHARSADDA: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan said here on Thursday that ignoring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project would be an injustice with both the provinces.

Addressing a public meeting in Sheikhabad locality of Charsadda, he said that both the provinces should not be ignored in the project.

He said police were being used openly during the local government elections in Punjab and Sindh. Mr Khan added that FIRs were being registered against the candidates of opposition parties. He said that an FIR was registered against him in Mianwali and the same treatment was meted out to his party candidates in Sindh.

Mr Khan claimed that his party did not treat a single candidate of the opposition parties in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which was ruled by it, in such a way during the local government elections.

The PTI chief said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was generating electricity more than its needs but despite that it was made to suffer power outages lasting up to 18 hours. He also warned against privatisation of those power distribution companies, which were getting profit and said that only those in losses should be privatised.

Mr Khan said that the federal government should hand over power generation and distribution system to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government. It would not only bring down duration of loadshedding but also bring down power tariff and put an end to electricity theft.

Mr Khan said that provincial government was trying to introduce a uniform curriculum in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where about 0.8 million students were enrolled in English medium schools, 30 million in Urdu medium and three million in religious seminaries.

He said that ruling elite were trying to impose those 800,000 English medium educated children on the people of the country.

The PTI chief said that rulers should focus on running the country instead of concentrating on their private businesses. He said that PTI transferred powers to grassroots level through local government system while the rulers of Sindh and Punjab kept the power with themselves as they were utilising funds through deputy commissioners.

He also backed up the army’s call about improving governance. “It was good of army to talk about good governance,” Mr Khan said. He said that police in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were independent and administration was on right track.

Mr Khan said that PTI government allocated equal funds to all nazims whether they belonged to the ruling party or opposition in the province.

He criticzed National Accountability Bureau and termed it “Muk-Muka Commission”. He said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission was doing exemplary job as it didn’t spare members of the provincial cabinet.

He said that Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital in Peshawar would be inaugurated on December 29.

Published in Dawn, November 20th, 2015