Tribal MPA submits motion in assembly for single Pakhtun province

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly lawmaker Mir Kalam Wazir has submitted a resolution in the assembly demanding a single province for all the Pakhtuns in the country.

Mir Kalam Wazir, who was elected to the KP Assembly as an independent candidate from North Waziristan and is close to the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP) and Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), in his resolution stated that Pakistan is a federation of different nationalities. “Every nation has its own distinct land throughout its history. I demand that Pashtuns should have a single unit in Pakistan which is their right,” he said in the resolution.

He said Pashtuns have been living on this land for thousands of years. “Their land is divided between two countries. Pashtuns have been divided into different units from the plains of Sibbi to the mountains of Chitral. Balochistan has 13 Pashtun-populated districts that have been separated from Pashtun areas and included in Balochistan province,” he argued.

The lawmaker through the resolution said that Pashtuns had been deprived of their identity for 70 years. He said the third Pashtun-inhabited area that was called Fata and had an autonomous status had been merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province without the consent of the people of the area. “This move was made to end their autonomous status and usurp their natural resources,” he argued.

Mir Kalam Wazir said the fourth part of the Pashtun land are two districts, Attock and Mianwali, that had been historically part of the Pashtun land but were included in Punjab province.

He said that supporting the Hazara province movement manifests anti-Pashtun sentiments. “Therefore, I demand a single Pashtun unit in Pakistan that comprises Attock and Mianwali districts, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, 13 Pashtun districts of Balochistan and ex-FATA and is named as Pashtunkhwa, Pashtunistan or Afghania province,” the resolution demanded.

He said that Pashto should be declared as the official language of the new united Pashtun province.