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| August 2, 2002 | Friday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 22,1423 |
Equal rights for all nationalities urged
QUETTA, Aug 1: Pakistan cannot be strengthened as long as equal rights are not granted to all the nationalities living in the country.
Chairman Pushtoonkhawa Milli Awami Party, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, said this while speaking at a big public meeting at the end of a five-day national congress of the party, here on Thursday.
“We love Pakistan as our motherland is part of it,” Mr Achakzai said, adding that his party was struggling for the rights of Balochistan’s people.
He said that oppressed nations were not responsible for the situation the country was faced with. “The army and wrong policies of the largest province are responsible for all the ills plaguing Pakistan,” he claimed.
It was high time the political parties rallied together to thwart the army’s efforts at gaining a constitutional role in running of the nation’s affairs, he said.
The PMAP chief said that Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement was established to provide a platform to make a last-ditch attempt to save Pakistan from complete collapse.
He said his party and PONAM were demanding equal rights for all the nationalities and their control on their own resources.
He said that under a conspiracy, “Pushtoon motherland” was bifurcated into three parts “just to deprive Pushtoons of their due rights.”
Sardar Akhtar Mengal, President Balochistan National Party, said that military ruler cannot force nationalist forces and their leadership to abandon their joint struggle by registering treason cases against them.
He said that cases should be registered against those who were responsible for breaking the country and violating the constitution.
He said it was the responsibility of Baloch and Pushtoon leadership to further strengthen the historical bonds between Baloch and Pushtoons.
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