April 15, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 8, 1429

PESHAWAR, April 14: Awami National Party president Asfandyar Wali Khan has urged the international community to help ameliorate the lot of Pakthuns to overcome violence and extremism.

“I beg the international community on behalf of all Pakhtuns, for God sake, do not give a gun to my son. Give him a book to study. Do not give him bullets give him a pen to write.

Do not give my child a suicide bomber’s jacket, give him the uniform of a school so that he can go and study there. That is the legacy, which we stand for,” he said while addressing the First Bacha Khan Peace Conference in New York, a statement said.

He said that until and unless both Pakistan and Afghanistan decided to go ahead with the peace jirga they would not have a way out. He urged the expatriate Pakhtuns to help eradicate illiteracy in the region.

Beside Asfandyar, the day-long conference was addressed by Afrasiab Khattak, Dr Fazle Raheem Marwat, Dr Raj Wali Shah Khattak, Abdul Wahid Mashwani, Dr Munir Khan and Dr Saleem Afridi. Rajmohan Gandhi, Indian scholar and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, addressed the conference as the keynote speaker.

The conference also adopted three resolutions demanding renaming of NWFP as ‘Pakhtunkhwa’, declaring Pashto as medium of instructions up to grade VIII in all schools of province and introduction of Pashto as optional subject up to grade XII in the country.

Two different sessions of the conference were presided over by Abdur Rab Khan, ANP president in USA, and Dr Rafiq Jan, Khyber Society board of trustees chairman.

Asfandyar highlighted the challenges confronting today’s Pakistan and said that talks were the only solution to the violence and extremism in the region. He however, ruled out any direct talks with terrorists. He said that his party had decided to hold dialogue with the tribal leaders to lasting peace in the region.

Afrasiab Khattak paid tributes to Bacha Khan and Khan Abdul Wali Khan in his speech. He discussed at length the political philosophy of Khan Abdul Wali Khan which was based on nonviolent political and democratic struggle for the rights of the oppressed communities.

He said Wali Khan remained the leader of the opposition and was amongst the architects of the 1973 Constitution. He said the February general elections in Pakistan had proved once again that Pakhtuns were neither extremists nor terrorists.

Rajmohan Gandhi paid glowing tributes to Bacha Khan and called him an astute statesman, a shrewd politician, a hardcore nationalist and an honest and dedicated true Muslim. “Bacha Khan derived his philosophy of nonviolence from the Holy Quran’s repeated message of Sabr,” said Gandhi.

Dr Munir Khan, a Florida-based physician, gave a detailed power point briefing about Bacha Khan Education Foundation’s efforts to universalise education in Pakhtunkhwa where the rate of literacy was dismally low.