KARACHI: Politicians advised to unite for democracy
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, March 5: Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai on Monday urged all political parties to unite on a one-point agenda of restoration of democracy and sending the army back to the barracks.
Speaking at a large gathering of Pakhtuns after the provincial conference of the party in the city, he also called for setting up an interim government comprising judges of the superior courts who had not taken oath under the PCO so that the elections could be held in a transparent manner and the government was handed over to the truly elected representatives of the people.
Sen Raza Mohammad Raza, Sen Abdul Rahim Mandokhel and other leaders of the party also spoke. All the speakers demanded that equal rights be given to Pakhtuns, Baloch, Seraikis, Sindhis.
They said that so far they were carrying out a peaceful political struggle for their rights and that they did not want to weaken the federation, but if equal rights were not given to them, all options of struggle were open.
They also condemned the government for its alleged interference in Afghanistan and demanded that all kinds of interference be stopped not only in Afghanistan but also in other neighboring countries.
They said that a few days back a top Iranian leader had said that Pakistan was not acting as a good neighbour. Sometime back a militant was killed by police in China and it was alleged that he had links to Pakistan.
They, however, condemned the government for erecting a fence on the Pakistan-Afghan border and termed it a conspiracy to divide the Pakhtun and Afghan brethren who shared a common culture, history, heritage, language etc. They also termed the government’s plan to mine the border as an inhuman act.
They said that internationally Pakistan was being accused of four ills – exporting nuclear technology; links to international terrorism, interference in Afghanistan, and that Mullah Umer, Osama bin Laden and other top ranking al Aaida leaders were in Pakistan. They said that all these accusations were very serious and steps should be taken to clarify the situation.
They said that Gen Musharraf was misleading the world by portraying the Pakhtuns as terrorists, whereas the Pakhtuns had never resorted to the terrorism and had always been patriots as history proved that Pakhtuns – under the leadership of Ghaffar Khan, Samah Khan Achakzai and others -- had fought the war of independence against the British, but it was unfortunate that these leading freedom-fighters’ names were not even mentioned in Pakistan’s history books.
They also demanded that Pakhtuns living in Sindh in general and Karachi in particular be given representation in the provincial assembly and the city government according to their population so that they could safeguard their rights.
Earlier, provincial office-bearers were elected as follows: Hakeem Khan (president), Nazeer Jan (senior vice president) and Sabireen Khan (secretary).
