Imran says CPEC should not exclude deprived areas

PESHAWAR:

Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan has said that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) should be planned and executed in a way to integrate and develop the backward and deprived areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Fata and Balochistan.

The PTI chairman regretted that while the corridor planned to run from Gwadar to Kashgar was aimed at bringing the underdeveloped areas of China on a par with other parts of that country, in Pakistan the planners were ignoring the deprived region.

The PTI chief asserted that instead of the eastern route which runs through Sindh and Punjab, the western route of CPEC will reduce the distance and increase the viability of the highway.

Talking to a delegation led by Speaker K-P Assembly Asad Qaisar on Thursday evening he said that PTI will always strive for welfare of the oppressed segments of society.

With regard to Fata reforms, the PTI chairman said that his party will not only follow but support the people of that area and demanded that nothing should be imposed upon the tribal people without their consent.

He also welcomed tribal leader Ayub Afridi into the PTI fold.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th,  2015.