• Calls for handling Afghanistan situation ‘humanely’
• Party also elects central and provincial office-bearers

QUETTA: The seventh National Con­gress of the Pashtoonkhwah Milli Aw­a­mi Party (PkMAP) on Wednesday re-elected Mahmood Khan Achakzai as the party’s chairman, Arshad Khan Sw­­abi as senior deputy chairman and Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal as general secretary.

The three-day congress, which concluded on Wednesday night, also elected central and provincial office-bearers, including Abdur Rauf Lala as deputy chairman, and Attal Khan Achakzai as senior deputy secretary.

Among the central secretaries elected were Nawab Ayaz Khan Jogezai, Jumma Gul, Rasan Safi, Nazir Jan Lala, Malik Shaukat, Talimand Khan, Dr Kaleemullah, Fazal Qadir Sherani, Dr Hamid Khan Achakzai, Musa Bacha, Jabbar Khan and Dr Jamil Khan Panizai.

The provincial presidents elected by the party congress included Abdul Qahar Wadan for Balochistan, Dr Mohammad Ali for Khyber Pakhtu­nkhwa, Janan Afghan for Punjab, and Saleem Tareen for Sindh.

The congress also elected national and four provincial Qaumi Jirgas as an electoral college to elect central, provincial executives or cabinets and working committees, respectively.

The congress, attended by delegates from all provinces, discussed organisational affairs, structure and constitution, and endorsed decisions taken by the party chairman in the interim period between the sixth and seventh congresses.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Achakzai highlighted the egalitarianism of the Pakhtun society in which the noble and a commoner could eat at the same table without any discrimination.

He said Pakhtuns had contributed to human civilisation and politics by constituting states, kingdoms and governance systems on Pakhtun-Afghan land as well as in the subcontinent in various periods of history. For instance, he said, the Sher Shah Suri model of governance and administration was still a point of reference for a welfare system.

“Foreigners’ travelogues have recorded that in Pakhtuns’ land, food and boarding are free for travellers and strangers, as hospitality is enshrined in the codes of ‘Pashtoonwali’,” Mr Achakzai said and wondered how such a society could breed terrorists and terrorism.

The PkMAP chairman said that terrorism and ensuing physical, political and economic sufferings inflicted on Pakhtuns and Afghans living on both sides of the Durand Line were the direct outcome of the international and regional powers’ policies and they pursued their nefarious strategic and economic interests.

He said if the prevailing situation in Afghanistan was not handled humanely and according to principles of international justice and peaceful co-existence, its seismic effects could be felt across the region and beyond.

He said that several superpowers entered as aggressors to conquer Afghanistan, but they never succeeded in their designs.

He urged Pakhtuns to forge unity in their ranks to counter the existential threats that they currently face.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2022