Achakzai demands equal rights for Pakhtuns

BANNU: Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai on Saturday said that the Pakhtun nationalist parties wanted equal rights for the Pakhtuns in the national resources and due representation in the highest government jobs.

Speaking at a function in connection with the 34th death anniversary of party leader Rahim Zad Khan here, he said that Pakhtuns were Pakistanis and wanted equal rights for all the people living in the country irrespective of their class, caste and creed.

He maintained that his party always talked and struggled for the rights and survival of Pakhtuns. “We were victimized for raising our voice. The blood of the Pakhtuns is being shed on both sides of the Durand Line,” he added.

Pakhtuns were divided and needed to hold jirgas to get united against the common enemy, he said, adding, the area from the river Amo to river Abaseen belonged to the Pakhtuns.

“The Pakhtuns were living here 500 years before the birth of Hazrat Essa (AS),” he declared.

He said that Pakhtuns fought the British colonial forces in the 18th century and liberated this area.

“We were not given this land in charity but our forefathers snatched it from the occupying forces,” he insisted.

Mahmood Achakzai said that there was no other political party except Pakistan Muslim League when Pakistan came into being. He said later Pakhtuns leaders including Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Abdul Samad Khan, Usman Gul, Haider Bangash and Iftikharuddin started collective efforts to get rights for Pakhtuns. “They considered Pakistan as their home and the aim of their struggle was only to get equal rights for Pakhtuns in the country,” he added.

He said the struggle would continue until the Pakhtuns were given their due rights. “We will not accept the discrimination that people of Punjab will be appointed on highest positions in the government departments while Pakhtuns would be given low scale jobs,” he argued.

He said that Pakhtuns were not being given rights over their indigenous resources. He said the protest over the killing of Naqeebullah Mehsud in a fake police encounter in Karachi was the expression of anger of Pakhtuns over the discrimination meted out to them since long.

He said the whole world expressed solidarity with the Pakhtuns during the protest sit-in organized by the tribal people from Fata in Islamabad to demand the arrest of SSP Rao Anwar in the Naqeebullah Mehsud murder case.

He said the Pakhtuns accepted the creation of Pakistan but not slavery. “We would not accept to be treated as slaves,” he stressed. He opined that peace in Pakistan was linked with peace in Afghanistan.