December 22, 2008	Monday	Zilhaj 23, 1429

PESHAWAR, Dec 21: Chief of his own faction of Pakistan People’s Party Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao has demanded of the federal and Sindh governments to provide protection of life and property to the Pakhtuns living in Karachi and Hayderabad.

Speaking at a news conference here at the People’s House, his University Town residence on Sunday, Mr Sherpao denounced the proposed registration of the displaced Pakhtuns, heading towards Karachi in search of a refuge from the violence-hit Swat and tribal areas of Bajaur, Mohmand and Waziristan agencies. He said the internally displaced Pakhtuns deserved to be looked after in Karachi, but some unscrupulous elements had dubbed them as “Taliban” and “militants involved in violence”.

He said the newly settled Pakhtuns in Karachi had nothing to do with the Talibanisation instead they were victims of the multidimensional bloodletting in their respective areas. It was unfair to exploit the miseries of a people who had a great share in the development of Karachi and Hayderabad.

He said his party had decided to send a five-member fact-finding team to Karachi, which would hold meetings with the affected Pakhtun families and political parties. He said the fact-finding team would investigate into the ethnic-based hatred being fanned by certain elements in shanty settlements of the mega city.

The five-member fact-finding team, comprising Bakht Baidar Khan, Alamzeb Umerzai, Fazlur Rehman Nono, MPA Mohammad Ali Khan and Sa’dullah Shah, will leave for Karachi next weak. He said PPP provincial president Skindar Hayat Sherpao would also visit Karachi.

Mr Sherpao, the former interior minister, said he had taken up this sensitive issue at the government-summoned all parties conference and at certain occasion in the parliament and asked the government to take notice of it.

He said the inhuman treatment, laced with discrimination, meted out to Pakhtuns were unacceptable to his party, which had been fighting for the rights of second big nationality of the country. He said: “We will not tolerate any kind of discrimination with Pakhtuns, who have been enjoying an equal share of ownership over a city, which is the birthplace of millions of them.” He said his party had received complaints from Karachi Pakhtuns on different issues.

He said some miscreants had distributed threatening pamphlets in Banaras and others of Karachi, in which they had pressurized Pakhtuns to pack up their business and move out of the locality. Similarly, he said some scoundrels had manhandled Pakhtun students at colleges, shaved off their heads and barred them from entering examination halls. He said

He said he had learnt that Pakhtuns were being denied right to get new ID cards by the Nadra staff at certain registration centers. He said it was tantamount to creating a state within a state.

He said his party would not accept the registration of Pakhtuns at the police station-level as proposed by some apolitical quarters. He said: “The aliens, not Pakistan national, need to get themselves registered. If the very same pressure groups want to divide the city on ethnic grounds, they will be completing the agenda of enemies”.

He said Karachi had become a powder keg, where criminals had piled up stocks of deadly weapons. He said this state of affairs was a big challenge for the solidarity and integrity of the country, already confronted with a number of internal and external threats. He said it was the duty of the federal and provincial (Sindh) governments to take some concrete measures, before it was too late for them to take any action.

He asked the government to make all agreements public which it had concluded with the relevant parties since the 12 May carnage in Karachi. He demanded of the government to pay compensation to the Pakhtuns, whose passenger vehicles, hotels, houses and shops the miscreants had set on fire during riots in the city.