PESHAWAR: A civil society organisation has announced Pakhtunkhwa Olasi Tehreek to work for united Pakhtunkhwa province comprising all Pakhtun population in different parts of the country.

The announcement was made during a one-day seminar at Peshawar Press Club on Saturday, which was held under the auspices of Watan Welfare Society (WWS). Representatives of different political parties and civil society organisations, including Usman Khalil, Shahabuddin Khattak, Alamzeb, Dr Mushtaq, Arbab Shehryar and Zahir Shah Safi, expressed their views on the occasion.

About the purpose of the movement, Pakhtunkhwa Olasi Tehreek convener Dr Said Alam Mehsud said that it was aimed at making efforts for united Pakhtunkhwa province which would comprise Fata, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Pakhtun-dominated areas from Balochistan up to Margalla Hills.

He said that under the supervision of WWS the tehreek would strive for merger of KP, Fata and all other areas belonging to Pakhtuns in the country as a constitutional right of the people.

Dr Mehsud said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been blessed with abundant natural resources, including water, minerals, forests, oil, gas, tobacco, coal, marble etc, but the people were not given ownership of these resources. He urged the government to give complete authority to the people concerning their rights to use resources of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said the educational institutions had been ruined in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and asked the government to take proactive steps for reconstruction of buildings to revive education activities in the terrorism-affected regions. He demanded of the government to increase education budget and ensure free and compulsory education in the province. It was stated that power and gas loadshedding was unconstitutional and unlawful, and the people would not accept this in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It was said that the federal government should ensure the payment of arrears of net hydel profit to KP without delay.

Other speakers claimed that power and gas theft in Punjab was much higher than in KP and Fata, but even then State Minister for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali was using derogatory language against Pakhtuns for unknown reasons. They warned that such remarks by a minister were intolerable for Pakhtuns and asked him to mind his language.

Mr Khattak said that discrimination was always made with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in distribution of education scholarships and share in special employment initiative. He demanded equal share in the facilities and control over the resources, saying that the KP and Fata needed special attention.