Round table conference urged to steer country out of crisis

ISLAMABAD:

Mere elections cannot steer the country out of the political and economic quagmire in the prevailing circumstances. There should be a consensus on how to run this country.

These remarks were expressed by Pashtunkhwa Mili Awamy Party (PkMAP) Chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai while addressing the Islamabad Bar Association.

He was addressing the participants during a dialogue titled ‘Pakistan’s Survival Lies in Democracy, Rule of Law and Constitution’.

Achakzai suggested a round table conference of all stakeholders to evolve consensus and decide on how and who should govern this country.

“Without deciding this question, we will run around in a vicious circle,” he opined.

Achakzai invited democratic forces including PTI leader Imran khan to come forward and forge a national consensus for the future of Pakistan.

“I am ready to play a role necessary for this purpose, he said.”

Achakzai reminded that from the very beginning, all genuine politicians were maligned and an artificial political class was created that willingly became part of every government whether they were the so-called civilian regimes or military dictatorships.

He called upon the political parties not to accept turncoats in their ranks.

He further said that Pakistan is a plural and diverse society and its survival, unity and prosperity can only be ensured through unity in diversity and a true federation guaranteed by a supreme constitution.

If India with religious, ethnic, linguistic diversity and poverty can establish the world’s largest democracy, why can’t Pakistan, Achakzai asked.

In the face of poverty, inflation and the prevailing economic situation, Achakzai warned that we don’t have much time as hunger and poverty can push the country into anarchy and a civil-war-like situation.

“Yet we (the people) can manage the situation and navigate in the turbulent waters if the establishment becomes ready to swallow the bitter pill of adhering to the constitution in letter and spirit,” he remarked.

Pakistan has all the national resources required for development and prosperity, he said, and added that for that we have to create a conducive democratic environment.

Achakzai further suggested that all the judges who stood by democracy and refused to take oath under PCOs during martial law should be acknowledged and honored posthumously if they are no more with us.

Similarly, all the political activists and journalists who paid sacrifices for the restoration of democracy and defended human and constitutional rights should be honoured.

On the regional situation, Achakzai warned that the world and regional powers are planning to wage a new phase of ‘great game’ in Afghanistan and Pashtun lands which can lead to the Balkanisation of the entire region.

“Endangering the integrity and independence of any state in the region can similarly jeopardise all the regional states whether that is Afghanistan, Pakistan or Iran”, Mahmood Khan warned.

He said that an independent Afghanistan can be a good friend of Pakistan and both countries can reap the economic benefits offered by friendship on the basis of peaceful co-existence.

Ch Hafeezullah Yaqoob advocate and Muhammad Billal Mughal also addressed the event. In his welcome address, the bar’s president paid tribute to Achakzai’s struggle for democracy.

While responding to a question regarding Ali Wazir’s detention, Achakzai recalled that PkMAP is raising its voice for him for the last two years.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 6^th, 2023.