Re: change the route of the Pakistan-China Economic Corridor.
Your dispute isnt with me. Dispute the facts that I provided in the Article which I posted... According to the article there are about 27 economic zones that have been earmarked. 8 of those economic zones are in KP.
Highways and railways do contribute to economic development. To say otherwise is ludicrous. The British didnt build the railways for their own vanity, and its no coincidence that the most developed regions of the Subcontinent have railroad infrastructure...
To the second point. Usually its the central govt that deals with foreign govts not provinces or states. Despite this, the govt believes they have kept the provinces involved.
Governance issues will resolve themselves gradually over time. Needless protests and infighting isnt what the country needs. And large scale reforms take time. its not about one party but the entire political structure that is the issue. The PTI is as much responsible for ensuring progress as the central govt.
As for the issue of smaller vs larger provinces excuse... In certain cases your right, the smaller provinces do deserve greater investment. But development in those smaller provinces needs to be rational. You dont simply throw money at the smaller provinces. You have to have reasonable investment. To that end, Gawadar port, railways and highways are reasonable as they can ensure long term returns. If the economic output through those projects increases then so will the investment by default. Power plants, dams etc will power the national grid. kpk will be paid what its owed if eventually regardless of delay. ( With some of the these projects, such as the coal fired power plant in Sindh, which will produce significant amounts of pollution, KPK should be glad its not in their province.)
I know the PTI and PML N are competing... But even so, I dont see any evidence that this CPEC thing is being used to favor Punjab disproportionately over other provinces... There are projects in each of the provinces, not just Punjab, and I havent seen any evidence that the Feds are using this for the sole advantage of one province.
Its possible the PML N will try to staff projects with their own supporters if they are able too. I dont know to what extent they have control over projects in KP. But as far as I know, in general, there is no significant ethnicity based discrimination preventing Pakhtuns from making progress as many of them as very much integrated within the countries economy. I cant rule out political discrimination, we know parties prefer to put their own supporters in power, but again, I cant say whether that will be factor or not.
Again. You missed the main point. If CPEC is so wonderful and equally planned, then PMLN should just release the documents to KPK that confirms these details? Why these 27 economic zone report is with the media but not the government? If the issue was that light and irrelevant, honestly PTI's worst opponents in KPK who are also PMLN's allies won't be standing on the same page. So you really need to understand how serious the reservations must be if all parties are standing together. One party can be mistaken and stubborn but not the whole group! So admit the fact somewhere along the lines PMLN has made serous mistakes and betrayal if the entire political establishment of a province is so unconvinced and misinformed.
There is a thing called transparency, and PMLN needs to start employing that. Quit thinking that professionals will shut up by reading a romantic reports in the media while they still haven't seen the copies of legally binding documents that confirm these details. You can be an angel, but if you are needlessly hiding things, of course the other person will doubt your intention and activities.
No one is asking about "throwing" money at smaller provinces. The word is investment. If industrial growth cannot be achieved overnight then there are plenty of areas where Federal government can invest in smaller provinces even in a compensatory ways to make up for economic disparities. Education, Health, Housing, Transport, Security, small businesses, Tourism or small term energy plans. If there is honest communications, political will and sincerity, a lot of these issues can be settled. Only one meeting had been called after 3 years of constant pleas to settle the net hydel profit share, and you think there is nothing wrong with it? Malicious intentions should not be assumed when both parties are arch rivals where one party humiliates the other in street protests and the other tries to get its revenge through the system by virtue of being in the power.
KPK hasn't been paid for its due since last 8 years. A naturally poor province that gets hit by major terrorism and natural calamities every year, how much longer can they wait? You think it's a right attitude? Just realise how real the pressure is on KPK government. They cannot plan their budgets properly, their development work is stalled because they haven't received their dues from only industry that creates some wealth. From last years's flood and earthquakes alone, some 800 more schools have been damaged, adding it to 1000s already damaged by Taliban, and in such extreme desperate situation, is it fair to choke their funds?
Most of KPK's human capital is residing out of KPK, It is either settled in the developed parts of Pakistan like Karachi, Lahore and Pindi or working in the Gulf states. The guy who brought Peshawar's PSL team and have vowed to build stadiums in KPK is actually a Pashtun businessman from Karachi. So that sums up my point. I am not talking about collective progress of ethnicity here, I am talking about local employment. There is a difference.
PMLN knows very well that if KPK gets ahead of Punjab, PTI simply won't shut up. They will base their entire 2018 campaign on KPK's success stories. So they have found a perfect way to ensure that PTI doesn't achieve that aim. CPEC is one issue, but blocking payment of NHP and security funds is perfect way to ensure that an ambitious and excited rabbit doesn't cross the final line.
com.jpg)
