PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court Bar Association on Tuesday flayed the proposed diversion of the route of Pakistan-China economic corridor from areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces to Punjab and declared the plan exploitation of smaller provinces by the centre.

In a meeting chaired by PHCBA president Essa Khan, general body of the association called upon the federal government to restore the originally proposed passage of around 2000km long route of the Gwadar-Kashgar economic corridor through Dera Ismail Khan and Mianwali instead of Multan and other areas of Punjab.

It decided to organise a lawyers’ convention at national level against the plan, which, it said, was meant to deprive smaller provinces of a good opportunity of development.

The PHCBA general body said the length of the route would increase by several hundred kilometers due to the route’s redirection.

The meeting convened at the request of Fata Lawyers Forum president Ijaz Khan Mohmand also formed a committee for holding meetings with leaders of political parties and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly speaker to convince them to raise the matter in the national and provincial assemblies and pass resolutions.

The committee is headed by PHCBA secretary general Ayaz Khan and consists of senior lawyer Abdul Lateef Afridi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council vice chairman Ahmad Farooq Khattak and lawyers Arbab Usman and Ijaz Mohmand.

The speakers criticised the federal government for changing the original Gwadar-Kashgar route and said instead of acting the role of an elder brother, Punjab had often exploited smaller provinces.

They said the same exploitative policies not only caused Pakistan’s dismemberment in 1971 but also created a deep sense of deprivation among smaller province.

Says plan exploitation of smaller provinces by centre

The speakers said the ill-advised policies of the federal government had resulted into the start of separatist movements in the country. They said the economic corridor’s original route passing through DI Khan was the most secure against natural calamities but the revised one passing through Multan was prone to floods.

The speakers said one of the reasons cited for changing the route was the delicate security situation but those propagating that reason ignored the fact that the top leadership of Al-Qaeda was arrested in Punjab.

The speakers said under the Pakistan-China agreement, several industrial zones had to be set up in the proposed economic corridor, which would have benefited Balochistan and southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

They said the redirecting of the route was not acceptable to the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as it was tantamount to depriving them of an opportunity of development and large-scale employment opportunities.

The speakers urged the provincial government to take up the matter with the federal government for revival of the original route.

Published in Dawn February 4th , 2015

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