KOHAT, Nov 12: MNA Khursheed Begum on Monday reiterated that oil refinery would be constructed in the oil rich Kohat district instead of Karak. She termed the government decision regarding setting up a refinery in Karak as controversial one.

Addressing a public meeting at Lachi here, the MNA from Kohat said that the leaders had been talking about construction of oil refinery in Karak but as the oil reserves were in Kohat it should be constructed here according to the aspirations of the people.

She said construction of a refinery in Karak was not feasible for the district as its residents had been leaving it for the last 50 years due to unfavourable living conditions like absence of soft and clean potable water. She said water was a necessity for the construction of oil refinery in any area.

It may be recalled that the Minister of Jails Mian Nisar, who belongs to Karak, had announced that the oil refinery, which had been earlier proposed for Kohat or Darra Adamkhel, would be established in Karak.

Similarly, the Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Barrister Masood Kausar, while speaking to people in Kohat a few days back, said the issue should not be made controversial because Karak was also part of the Kohat division. —Correspondent