LAHORE: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak has said no one is more Pakistani than the Pakhtuns and he will not tolerate any discrimination to them.

Speaking to a gathering by the Pakhtoon Welfare Organisation here on Tuesday, Mr Khattak said Pakhtuns were Pakistani and considered Punjabis, Baloch and Sindhis their brothers.

He criticised the Punjab government’s decision to register Pakhtuns, saying that the Pakhtuns would not accept any discrimination and would get themselves registered when Punjabis, Sindhis and Baloch were also registered.

“Is Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is more Pakistani than us?” he asked.

“We should not be pushed against the wall, or we become rebels,” he warned.

Stating that the PML-N government was penalising Pakhtuns just because they were the members/supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, he asserted that he would himself write to the interior ministry about the discrimination being meted out to the Pakhtuns in Punjab.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister said the PML-N government was raising slogans of unity in the country but actually the Pakhtuns were being sent behind bars for no offence.

He said the Pakhtuns themselves were the victims of terrorism.

Pervaiz Khattak said the Pakhtuns felt more pain than anybody else, whenever there was a terror activity.

Published in Dawn, March 8th, 2017