Achakzai calls for moot on regional stability

QUETTA: Chairman Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and head of Tehreek Tahafuz-e-Ayeen Pakistan Mehmood Khan Achakzai Thursday warned against regional instability, calling for a conference of neighboring countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, China, and possibly India, to ensure that the region would not become a battleground for the global powers.

He expressed these views while addressing a public gathering in Pishin.

He urged the government to grant legal status to the Afghan refugees rather than repatriating them to the homeland.

He pointed out that many Pakistanis held dual citizenship in countries like the UK, Germany, and Turkey, and questioned why the Afghans born and raised in Pakistan were being denied citizenship.

Achakzai said Pakistan was a federation of five different nations and was sinking deeper into crises with each passing day. Here, no nation is a master or a slave of another, he noted.

He emphasised that the PTI founder chairman Imran Khan had committed no murder, robbery or any crime, yet he was imprisoned.

Talking about the issue of crime and lawlessness, Achakzai said if the police, Levies, FC, and other forces failed to curb thieves and robbers, the people will have to take matters into their own hands.

He urged every household to contribute at least one person to fight against looters and criminals. Turning to the 2024 elections, he claimed that the PTI had won but its mandate was stolen.

He asked Balochistan’s Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti to release political prisoners, including the missing persons, as a goodwill gesture and assured that his movement stood with the oppressed, regardless of political affiliations.

Calling on the PTI supporters, he suggested that if necessary, he would step in as Imran Khan’s deputy to lead the movement for justice.

He urged the party workers to prepare for a larger struggle. He asserted that the only path forward for all institutions was to operate within the constitutional boundaries, with parliament as the supreme authority.

Prominent leaders, including Majlis Wahdat-ul-Muslimeen chief Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, Sunni Ittehad Council’s Sahibzada Hamid Raza, Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party Secretary Nawab Muhammad Ayaz Khan Jogezai, PTI General Secretary Salman Akram Raja, Sardar Latif Khosa and others addressed the gathering. The resolutions were presented by Abdul Haq Abdal.