Achakzai advises govt to maintain public contact

PkMAP chairman stresses need for national harmony

QUETTA: Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Chairman Mehmood Khan Achakzai has stressed the need for a strong relationship between the government and citizens, terming the “constitutional route” the way to ensuring good governance.

“Jirgas for Pashtun national consolidation and future discourse will help in addressing issues,” he suggested while addressing party workers at Sadiq Shaheed ground on the 45th death anniversary of party founder Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai on Sunday.

Achakzai said that anniversary was being observed in circumstances where the “blood of Pashtuns is everywhere”.

Pakistan needed to be a genuinely democratic federation where people enjoyed the constitutional guarantee of their fundamental, political, economic and cultural rights, he added.

He stressed that no ethnicity, class or individual should be considered superior to others. “And for that reason alone, I am not ready to live my life as a citizen of second category.”



Commenting on the completion of the first 100 days of the government, he claimed that it had no vision for progress and development of the country.

Achakzai said he was in favour of equal rights for all the national groups and nationalities with maximum autonomy to the federating units. “We have to remove mistrust if we are to run this country,” he added.

He said, “The Pakhtun people are not terrorists but love their land; we should erase these stereotypes and concocted image.”

He proposed an international conference of Pakhtuns to deliberate upon the challenges currently faced by the community. The chairman said the PkMAP would continue its struggle for a Pakhtun province from Bolan to Chitral.

On negotiations with Afghanistan, he said, “Countries can’t run amid bomb blasts. We have to establish relations with all countries, including Afghanistan, for peaceful coexistence. It is necessary for both the countries and the region also.”

Achakzai also said that the establishment should have no role in politics. “You have a specific duty and your role and requirements should be determined by the people,” he said.

Senator Mohammad Usman Kakar, Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal, Abdul Rauf Lala, Raza Mohammad Raza, Sardar Mustafa Khan Tareen, Obaidullah Babat and other party leaders also addressed the public gathering.