QUETTA, May 17: The Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (Ponam) leadership has announced that Punjab must accept the rights of the oppressed nationalities because continuous denial of the constitutional and political rights of Balochs
, Pukhtuns, Sindhis and Siraikis would harm the integrity of the country.
Addressing a huge public meeting chaired by Sardar Ataullah Mengal at the Sadiq Shaheed football ground here on Monday night, the speakers held military rulers responsible for the disharmony between Punjab and rest of the nationalities.
The meeting adopted 23 resolutions, one of which said that due to frequent amendments by the military dictators 1973 Constitution had lost its original meaning and a unitary form of government had been imposed. Therefore, it demanded that a fresh constitution be framed in accordance with the Lahore Resolution of 1940.
Sardar Mengal, chief of Ponam, declared that 1973 Constitution was not acceptable because the commitment at the time of its formulation to grant maximum autonomy to provinces after 10 years was not honoured.
He said to satisfy the masses of the oppressed nationalities the rulers and leadership of Punjab must accept the ground realities and accept parity formula to remain brothers in the country.
Claiming that the expenditures of Punjab and the army depended on the resources of Balochistan, Pukhtunkhwa and Sindh, he maintained that Punjab's only income was land revenue that could not bear the expenditures of a large standing army and of Punjab.
Sardar Mengal strongly criticized the generals saying that the army was not a national force as it always acted to protect the interests of Punjab at the cost of smaller nationalities. "But the oppressors will not succeed to subdue us."
The Ponam chief told the gathering that if they stood like Iraqis fighting American forces then usurpers and exploiters would not come to invest in Gwadar and deprive the natives of their resources. He said the only way to get rights were to "snatch" these from the army generals and Punjab exploiters.
Sardar Mengal claimed that Ponam was the best platform that could ensure to get the national rights of Balochs, Pukhtuns, Sindhis and Siraikis from the rulers, adding that "we must render sacrifices to achieve the goal for which we have gathered in Ponam."
MNA Mahmood Khan Achakzai, chief of Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, referring to the political maturity in neighbouring countries, said the Afghans had framed the Constitution, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee accepted the Indian election results and the Iranian Ulema were running the system satisfactorily but in Pakistan "we are in doldrums".
Declaring that Ponam would not cooperate with any political group which accepted the political role for army and intelligence agencies, said the National Security Council formation was aimed at controlling parliament and imposing perpetual martial law in the country.
Mr Achakzai assured that Ponam was not formed against Punjab nor "do we hate people on the basis of colour or language but our struggle is to get national rights for the deprived provinces".
He said we sincerely want to get the country out of political crisis and in this regard "we are ready to sit together to settle the issue of rights according to instructions of the holy Quran or International charter or any human law on permanent basis so that we should live like brothers."
He criticized the MMA leadership for supporting President Musharraf to strengthen military dictatorship to make parliament subservient to the army generals. The religious alliance had deceived the voters and had adopted the policy of appeasing the army establishment.
Dr Hayee Baloch, chief of the National Party, said multinational companies which had shown interest for investments in Gwadar had evil designs to capture the resources of Balochistan. "The natives will never permit the usurpers to loot the resources of their motherland."
He said the Baloch and other smaller nationalities were facing unemployment, poverty and other problems but rulers had not provided any facility to overcome the problems confronted by them.
Dr Hayee said the mega projects aimed at turning "us into a minority" would not be allowed. He also opposed the construction of cantonments. Dr Qadir Magsi, chief of Sindh Taraqi Passand Tehrik, alleged that Pakistan was a prison for the Balochs, Sindhis, Pukhtuns and Siraikis. Ponam programme, he added, would get the deprived provinces rid of the domination of Punjab.
Abdul Majid Kanjo, chief of Seraiki National Party, Sardar Akhtar Mengal, Ayub Jatak of National Party, Gul Mohammad Jakhrani of the SNF, Zain Shah of the Jeay Sindh Mahaz, Maulana Obaidullah of the JUI, Sindh, Malik Amanullah Kasi of the PQP, Azizullah Poya of the Sindh Sagar Party also spoke on the occasion.
