ISLAMABAD: Members of the Senate standing committee on communications opposed on Monday the changes proposed in the route of Pak-China Economic Corridor and warned that they would take the matter to the Senate and resign if backward areas of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were not included in the plan.

The chairman of the committee, Mr Daud Khan Achakzai, said, “The original route of the Pak-China Economic Corridor passes through Gwadar, Quetta, Zhob and Dera Ismail Khan.” If the alignment was changed, he said, the matter would be taken to the Senate.

Also read: Senators angry over change in route of Pak-China corridor

Committee member Humayun Khan Mandokhel said that Gwadar was becoming a national and international seaport. Balochistan lags behind in agriculture, industry and business. The Gwadar Deep Sea Port is considered to be a ray of hope for the poor and backward people of the province. Keeping the problems being faced by the people of Balochistan in mind, “the route of Pak-China Economic Corridor must be aligned through Gwadar, Quetta, Zhob, or else I will resign”, he warned. “We will not allow Balochistan to be bypassed in everything,” he said.

Members of the committee urged the government to remove doubts regarding the project and inform the nation about it.

Mr Achakzai said that Pakistan and China were bound by relations of friendship, but Chinese investors kept their personal interests in mind. He said the government, the communications ministry and the National Highway Authority (NHA) should also be guided by national interests.

Rozi Khan Kakar, Islamuddin Sheikh, Yousaf Badini, Zahid Khan, Nisar Mohammad, Kamil Ali Agha and officials of the communications ministry and the NHA also attended the meeting.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2014