Govt is not opposing CPEC, Pervez Khattak tells NA

ISLAMABAD: Responding to the points raised by Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif regarding CPEC, Defense Minister Pervez Khattak firmly rejected the impression that the incumbent government is opposing CPEC, the mega corridor project.

Speaking on the floor of the house, Khattak said that, he is living in a rented house and satisfied whatever God has blessed him with.

“Being the chief minister of KP in the last government, only demanded province’s due share in the CPEC,” he said. Mr Khattak rejected the impression that the cost of Peshawar Bus rapid transit system is higher than those constructed in Punjab and Islamabad. He said buses for Islamabad-Rawalpindi metro bus project were taken on rent, but the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had purchased the buses for the BRT.

The minister maintained that he has no role in leasing of forest department’s land in Malam Jabba, adding that he will appear before the bureau to clear his position without hue and cry.

Earlier today, Shehbaz Sharif while addressing National Assembly said the Billion Tree Tsunami, Malam Jabba, and KP Accountability Commission scandals are not hidden from anyone, nor is the Peshawar Metro Bus scam.

NAB has done nothing about these scandals, complained the opposition leader.

He said though Defence Minister Pervez Khattak had criticized CPEC in the past, China is desperate to meet us with all heartiness. “We need to quit container politics and instead focus on the country’s politics.”

Malam Jabba Scandal

An alleged illegal lease of 275 acres of Forest Department land in Malam Jabba emerged as a mega scandal in KP, during last tenure of government in the province.

Political personalities and the bureaucracy allegedly connived to lease out Forests Department’s protected land to a private company, for 33 years, without caring for rules and regulations, for construction of Chairlift and skiing resort, stated in official record.

On April 15, 2015, former chairman of the Ehtesab Commission, General (retd) Hamid Khan, expressed his serious reservations over the agreement and asked the government to review it. The CM Inspection Team had also termed the agreement illegal and launched investigation into it.