Demanding inclusion: Seraiki belt needs the fruits of CPEC, says Jamshed Dasti

MNA says he will lead sit-ins till the government caves in

MULTAN:

The government has completely ignored the Seraiki belt in considering which areas the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor will pass through, MNA Jamshed Dasti said at a press conference at the Multan Press Club on Monday. He said this was in line with the government’s discriminatory attitude towards the Seraiki people.

He also spoke against lawmakers elected from the region and accused them of being in cahoots with the government’s policy of keeping the Seraiki belt economically underprivileged.

Dasti said that people living in the Seraiki belt were aware of this and would not rest till the government included them in the CPEC project. He announced a sit-in on the Muzaffargarh-Quetta Road and said that it would continue till the government issued a notification in this regard.

“We will not allow the government to initiate its infrastructure projects here…no infrastructure without CPEC is acceptable to us,” said the lawmaker.



“This poverty-stricken region has become a breeding ground for militancy because of a dearth of job opportunities.” He said ignoring the welfare of people in the Seraiki will not serve the government well. “It will have dire repercussions for the government’s plans to bring peace to the country.”

He said extremism and terrorism could be eliminated if the government diverted funds away from already developed areas and invested in backward regions. “I invite all Seraiki nationalist parties to join us in making this protest successful,” he said.

The lawmaker also expressed solidarity with workers of the Pakistan International Airlines and condemned the death of three workers in Karachi. He demanded the registration of a case against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on charges of high treason for conspiring to sell off national assets.  “I demand that the army take notice of the situation…we, the people of the Seraiki belt, are raising our voices against the government’s discriminatory attitude.”

He said the situation in the Seraiki belt bore resemblance to the situation in East Pakistan before it broke away. “We are resentful...and we blame the Punjabi establishment for the state of affairs in our region, just like the people of East Pakistan did before they broke away.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2016.