PESHAWAR, Feb 23: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has blamed the Pakistan People’s Party-led government for delay in completion of Lowari tunnel project and said that credit goes to former president Pervez Musharraf as 70 per cent work on the project was completed during his rule.

Speaking at a seminar on “Issues of Chitral and Role of Media” at Peshawar Press Club on Saturday, PML-N central senior vice-president Amir Muqam also claimed that he had played the main role in expediting work on the project when he was federal minister. He said that the present government failed to complete the project during its five-year tenure.

The PML-N leader said that his party would complete the Lowari tunnel project if it came to power. He said that the PML-N would also initiate various uplift schemes in Chitral district.

Other people who spoke on the occasion include Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) Chitral president Abdul Lateef, Editor of monthly Shandoor Mohammad Shareef Shakeib and PPC vice-president Zulfiqar Ali Shah.

Mr Muqam assured the people of Chitral that they would resolve all issues of the district and the Wah Khan border would be connected with Tajikistan to enhance trade with central Asian states.

Earlier, Mr Lateef criticized both the federal and provincial governments for neglecting the landlocked district of the province. Sadiq Ameen and Dr Habib alleged that international forces in Afghanistan did not want the Wah Khan border link road to Tajikistan via Chitral.

They claimed that there was potential for generation of 4,000 megawatt hydel power in Chitral, but the government failed to arrange new power generation plants.