ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: The Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis and PPP senior leader Sajid Hussain Turi has demanded that Kurram district be connected with the motorway and China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) by expanding it from Essa Khel to Mir Ali to Kharlachi.
“Any other route if excludes district Kurram shall neither be feasible nor acceptable,” he stressed. Sajid Hussain Turi said that the Kharlachi border area of Kurram district is currently the busiest commercial center after Torkham for trade with Afghanistan.
He added that the commercial importance of the Kharlachi border is 200 years old which is the easiest, shortest and safest trade route to reach Afghanistan and Central Asian countries.
He said that in the CPEC Western Alignment, the route from Issa Khel through Karak, Banda Daud Shah, and Tall till Ghulam Khan and Kharlachi borders or from Issa Khel to Tall and Mir Ali from where a route to Ghulam Khan and the other to Kharlachi be included.
He said that by including these routes in the Western Alignment, Districts Hangu, North Waziristan, and Kurram could be easily connected to the motorway and CPEC so that people from all these mentioned districts and adjoining areas could be benefited from the national projects equally without any discrimination.
The Federal Minister stated that the Prime Minister has already issued several directives regarding the connection of Kurram with Motorway and CPEC which need to be implemented.
He urged the National Highway Authority to plan the Western Alignment Route in such a way that the people of all adjoining areas including Tall, Hangu, North Waziristan, and Kurram would benefit equally at the same time. Sajid Turi said that any such project in which the route of the Kharlachi border area of Kurram is not included would be considered against the rights of the people there and would not be acceptable.
He said that he had always demanded that it was the need of the time to connect all the merged tribal areas with motorways and central national highways so that the process of development could be accelerated and employment opportunities could be created there.
