KP speaker submits petition in PHC over CPEC

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa speaker Asad Qaiser on Monday submitted a petition regarding China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in the Peshawar High Court (PHC).

The petition which names the federal government as a party seeks to remove reservations over the CPEC project. Asad Qaiser said he approached the court for the rights of people, adding the CPEC was a project of the entire country.

On Sunday, KP government spokesman Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani while talking to Geo News said that the government had pledged to give the province its rightful due in the CPEC project, but the promise was not fulfilled.

The federal government did not even provide the documents related to CPEC plan to the provincial government, he said.

“Work has only been started on one adjoining road in the province but apart from this there are no facilities being given to the government,” Ghani said.

He said that it is similar to keeping KP bereft of benefits of the CPEC project.

The spokesman said that a resolution had also been approved in the KP assembly unanimously to give the province its right.

Ghani said that all the parliamentary parties have given the assembly speaker the right to take legal discourse regarding the province’s rights.

Meanwhile, Minister for Planning and Development, Ahsan Iqbal said that if the KP government wants to approach the court to have its grievance addressed then the federal government will not stop it.