China has no record of CPEC western route, Senator claims

The government on Friday was accused of concealing facts about the western route of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The allegations came to the Senate from none other than government's own ally Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Senator Usman Khan Kakar who alleged that people of Balochistan had been constantly ditched for the last three years through government's claims that top priority was being accorded to the western route of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
On the last day of the last session of the Senate's parliamentary year, PKMAP Parliamentary leader in Senate Kakar said they learnt during their visit to China, which was arranged by the Chinese embassy, that there exists no official record of western route in the friendly country.
"There is not even 5 percent mention of the portion of this route in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and FATA. The government for the last three years has been deceiving us on the western route," he asserted.
He lauded the role of Senator Taj Haider, the convener of the special committee on CPEC, for working tremendously on the matter and taking up with the authorities with a strong voice. He said the committee presented five reports, whereas the Parliamentary Committee on CPEC, having representation from both houses of the Parliament, could not present a single report thereon.
Senator Taj Haider said that during their stay in China, the committee members tried their utmost to sensitize the hosts about the critical importance of the western route. He added they distributed related documents among all and sundry.
PML-Functional's Senator Syed Muzafar Hussain Shah tabled a report of the Senate Standing Committee on National Food Security and Research on the subject matter of calling attention notice moved by himself regarding the price of sugarcane and the question of subsidy between the federal government and provinces.
Speaking on the occasion, he cautioned that it is being speculated that sugarcane growers might not cultivate this crop this year for they are not paid the minimum support price fixed by the government.
The committee expressed its deepest sense of concern and disappointment that the sugarcane growers are not being paid the minimum support price and it is also a matter of deep regret that the price laid down by the Sindh High Court was also not being implemented by the provincial governments.
The committee in its report recommended to the federal and provincial governments to evolve a mechanism that could ensure a fair and reasonable price to growers.
The report said the rebate, given with regards to export of sugar, would only benefit the sugar mills; therefore, this amount should have been allocated and utilized for inputs for sugarcane crop so that the cost of production could be reduced.
Senator Muzafar Shah also presented the final report of the Senate special committee on the performance of PIA and said that they had visited Karachi and interacted with the officers and even former chairmen of the airlines. If implemented, the report would help resolve most of the state-owned entity's issues, he added. He particularly praised Senators Farhatullah Babar and Abdul Qayyum for their input in this connection.
The Senate Committee on Privatization and Statistics recommended that the Statistics Division in collaboration with the Council of Common Interests should ensure to re-assess at least 2 per cent of the 168,943 census blocks across Pakistan in order to ensure the credibility of the 6th population census.