Pakistan

‘Pakhtuns being blamed unnecessarily’

Express June 27, 2010

KARACHI: At a meeting with journalists on Sunday, chief of the Awami Muslim League and former federal minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed declared the next few months to be the most crucial for the government that is faced with terrorism as its biggest challenge. “Those carrying out bombings and spreading terror across the country are not Pakhtuns, but Punjabis. The Pakhtuns are unnecessarily being blamed,” he said.

During his talk at a local hotel, Rashid spoke on a number of issues. The government, he said, has failed to provide relief to the people when inflation had surged, making it difficult to earn a livelihood. “Look at the prices of commodity items in markets. Why is the government unable to provide relief despite being in power for more than two and half years? People were exporting daal while the common man was deprived of this cheap meal. Who are these people and how did they acquire permits to export?” questioned Rasheed.

He also referred to the recent statement by the Sindh Chief Minister over the NFC and Value Added Tax (VAT)issue. The CM had claimed that some officers of the federal government had fooled the president and CM over NFC and VAT issue, he stated. Rashid said that the provincial chief executive’s claims on the floor of the house needed no other admittance to failure. He said that the whole idea had been a joke but the government had celebrated it as a historic event. “The time has come for people to stand up and question the government,” Rasheed remarked.

Talking about the deterioration of railways, which was also his previous ministry, Rasheed predicted that it would soon become the country’s most heavily indebted department.

He further added that the time had come for people to come out on streets and protest. Rasheed claimed that he foresaw such a situation, hinting at a change in government within the next few months. “If the government survives this time, then it can manage a longer term but there is little chance of that happening,” Rasheed predicted.

In response to a question about the joint chief of forces retirement, Rashid remarked that that Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani would not accept the slot based on his personality. However, he believed that someone else would soon fill in.

Also present at the press conference were the Sindh chapter AML’s Mahfooz Yar Khan other local party members.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 28^th, 2010.

COMMENTS (5)

Sultan Ahmed | 14 years ago | Reply Agree or disagree with the statement of sheikh Rasheed'in the news conference is not a matter,we have to see what he is said ,considered his views regarding the political situation in the country going on. It is doubtless to say poor people are being targeting by high price and they are compelling on suicide including their children,present budget has given them no relief and they come down more below the line of poverty. Which direction we are moving on is not favorable not interest of the country unity between the leaders is impossible, As for as civil war is concerned as sheikh Rasheed said ,they are wrong in their view,first of all army is devided into parts then civil war begins otherwise no chance of civil cleash in the state. keep in mind our armed forces loyal to Pakistan and strongly committed.

Tanzeel | 14 years ago | Reply Let's fine tune his statement, Pashtuns and Punjabis both have been indulging in religious terrorism.

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Sayyed Kamal Ali Shah | 14 years ago | Reply I am no fan of Sheikh Rasheed's politics, But it is true that the poor of the nation are at the verge of collapse. and one by one as they fall , the will unite, together and slaughter the very foundation of the now corrupt, shackled and ever-weaker Nation. Our military might be strong but as a nation we have exhausted every bit of morality from our society. We stand now hollowed from within. all that is left is the exoskeleton. What chief of the Awami Muslim League is saying is the pulse of the more than 70% of Pakistanis who have been deprived their humanity. This time the waves are too high to settle back again... this time thre is no stoping what is to come.

Hamood | 14 years ago | Reply While Sheikh Rashid's statement has some merit, he also needs to mention that most if not all training camps are in the tribal areas. I do agree with him however, that militants from South Punjab are responsible for a majority of terrorist activities and should be killed wherever they are. At the same time the army and the govt need to make sure the terror training camps in the tribal areas where all of the terrorists, from all over Pakistan and abroad, go to get their diploma should be wiped off the map.

Syed A. Mateen | 14 years ago | Reply Sheikh Rashid's Gup-Shup is widely known in the country. His statements are jerky and needs clarification time and again. There are only two people in the country who understand their own language. The first is PML(Q) Chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and the second one is Sheikh Rashid of AML. Though Sheikh Rashid by nature is a nice man but politically immature and cannot calculate things with accuracy. He was okay until he was one of the ministers in Musharraf’s cabinet, but after establishing his own faction, he is lacking wisdom. This is due to the fact that he lost two elections one after another. Sheikh Rashid should wait until the pink panther returns to the country and should not predict on such matters which are beyond his control. It is not necessary that every *Tukka* of Sheikh Rashid will hit the bull’s eye.

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