CHARSADDA: Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Monday said there’re reservations about the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and therefore, his party had planned to hold an multi-party conference on them in Peshawar on Jan 7.

Mr Fazl told reporters in Umerzai area of Charsadda that his party had invited the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, the leadership of the ruling PTI, and all parliamentary parties to the event.

He said neither the CPEC issue was political nor was it an issue of a single political party and instead, it concerned the entire country, especially the underdeveloped parts of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“After the Peshawar moot, we’ll be able to talk to the federal government on the corridor issue with unanimity of opinion,” he said,

The JUI-F chief said the execution of Shia scholar was the internal matter of Saudi Arabia like the Iranian Revolution was the internal matter of Iran.

He said the self-styled militant group, IS, was a product of the western powers. Mr Fazl said both the federal and Sindh governments knew about their limitations on the Rangers powers and that the dispute about it was likely to be resolved in a day or two.

He said his party had always supported the negotiated settlement of Afghan issue but international powers were not interested in its resolution.

SIT-IN PLANNED: The Jamaat-i-Islami will stage a sit-in outside the Governor’s House in Peshawar on Friday to press the government for the restoration of work on the CPEC’s western route.

Addressing party workers here on Monday, JI provincial chief Mushtaq Khan criticised the federal government’s policy on the CPEC project and alleged that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was being ignored in the project.

He said his party would not allow the centre to usurp the rights of KP.

“The information about the project has been concealed from smaller provinces. The centre has not taken the KP government into confidence before making changes in the project,” he said.

The JI provincial said Pakistan would become an economic power after the corridor project’s completion.

He said his party would stage a sit-in outside the Governor’s House on Friday on the CPEC issue and that all political parties should join it.

Mr Mushtaq warned if the federal government did not change its policy on the CPEC, then the JI would stage a dharna (sit-in) in Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2016