PESHAWAR, Oct 16: Speakers at a conference urged the Pukhtun population to remain united to foil conspiracies hatched against them.
The two-day conference on the Durand Line ended here on Thursday.
ANP’s Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour and Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Saleem Saifullah Khan of the PML-Q, Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao of the PPP-S, Wali Mohammad Khalil, Kabir Storai, Iqbal Khyberwal, Mujeebullah Ihsas, Amir Hamza Marwat and Dr Said Alam Mahsud addressed the conference.
About 10 resolutions were unanimously adopted, asking the Pukhtuns to create unity in their ranks to foil the designs of their exploiters, whereas another resolution called for renaming the NWFP province as Pukhtunkhwa.
Through another resolution, the conference asked the rulers to establish a true federal form of government and hand over other departments to the federating units, apart from currency, defence and external affairs.
The participants expressed concern over the unfair attitude of Islamabad towards the Pushto language, asking the government to allocate time to Pushto on radio, TV and other government departments.
They said the practice of degrading the Pushto language on radio, TV, stage and official departments should be immediately stopped.
They also demanded that links should be established at the official level between Pushto academies of Kabul and Peshawar.
Another resolution called for incorporating amendments to the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) in the tribal regions in line with the local culture and traditions.
The participants demanded that the UN and the Security Council should use their offices to reconstruct the war-torn Afghanistan.
They also asked the Pakistani government to extend complete assistance to Afghan refugees.
Governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan were asked to allow free trade and movement of their citizens on both sides of the Durand Line.
Earlier, ANP leader Haji Ghulam Bilour said late Bacha Khan had struggled to get the Pukhtun population attain its rights and the Pukhtuns should follow his words and deeds.
PML-Q’s Saleem Saifullah Khan claimed that his party was serving the Pukhtuns, which was evident from factories that were being established in the NWFP to provide employment opportunities to the local people.