PESHAWAR: Former Red Shirt leader Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan said at Jalalabad (Afghanistan) this afternoon [Feb 21] that Pakistan was his country and he wanted to serve his people and his Pakhtoon brethren, but equally he wanted to serve the people of Afghanistan and he would return to Pakistan only when “for him the formalities of passport, visa and travel documents between Pakistan and Afghanistan were removed.”
He was talking to a group of Peshawar journalists who visited Jalalabad today and met Badshah Khan at his residence.
Abdul Ghaffar Khan said, “I am a man of free thoughts I have also international responsibilities and consider the freedom of movement between my own country and my neighbouring country Afghanistan vital. For my return to Pakistan, this guarantee is necessary.”
… In reply to a question, Ghaffar Khan said much improvement had been witnessed in Pakistan during the present regime of President Yahya Khan towards civil liberties and urged the President to have general elections on a democratic basis. He said with his decisions taken so far he felt that Yahya Khan was a nice man and was working for the good of the country. “I admire him.” He had also sent a message of condolence telegraphically to President Yahya on his mother’s death.
Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2020
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