QUETTA: PkMAP chairman Mehmood Khan Achakzai on Sunday said that military operations had never produced positive results in the past and were unlikely to do so in the future.

He recalled that a military operation had already caused the country to break apart once and added that political issues cannot be resolved through force but through negotiations and constitutional supremacy.

Mr Achakzai, who is also convener of the Tehreek Tahafuz-i-Aain Pakistan, was addressing the inaugural session of a two-day pubic and tribal representative jirga in Zhob presided over by local politician Nawab Ayaz Khan Jogezai.

Criticising the current parliament, the PkMAP leader alleged that it has become a hub for smugglers and hoarders of black money, where there is no space for debate or decisions on public issues. Therefore, he emphasised, holding public representative jirgas for resolving public problems was important.

PkMAP leader regrets Pakhtuns are being massacred, yet they are being portrayed as terrorists

Mr Achakzai strongly condemned the cutting off of Islamabad’s land link with the rest of the country to prevent PTI’s peaceful protest, calling such actions as contrary to democratic principles.

Mr Achakzai said over the past five decades, international powers and their local proxies had turned Afghanistan into a battlefield to achieve their global political, strategic and economic interests.

The destruction of Afghanistan is not the fault of any barbaric force, he said and added that unfortunately the states and elites of the world’s so-called civilised nations were responsible for that.

Therefore, he maintained, ensuring peace and reconstruction in Afghanistan is the responsibility of those states that had participated in the Afghan war which caused its destruction.

Mr Achakzai pointed out that the forms of wars and certain roles played by global powers and their local proxies in this region had changed over time, but regrettably these wars are not showing any signs of ending.

Today, he regretted, a new wave of bloodshed has begun across Pakhtun lands and referred to frequent acts of terrorism and armed clashes in Pakhtun areas, particularly Kurram district.

On one hand Pakhtun people are being massacred, on the other they are being portrayed as terrorists, he deplored.

The PkMAP chief expressed surprise that while natural sources of politically empowered and sovereign nations contribute to their prosperity, for Pakhtuns and other politically weaker communities, their own precious resources have become a curse for them.

A large number of tribal elders, public representatives, members of civil society, PkMAP Secretary General Abdul Rahim Mandokhel and other leaders in their speeches expressed serious concern over the prevailing law and order and security situation in the country.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2024