Mehtab Abbasi. PHOTO: SAMEER RAZZAQ/EXPRESS
PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Awami National Party (ANP) have begun a game of tit-for-tat charges over linguistic and regional issues in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).
A few days ago, ANP spokesperson and Senator Zahid Khan expressed disappointment after the appointment of Mehtab Abbasi as the governor and, while talking to journalists outside Parliament, had stated that as Abbasi does not speak Pashto and the people of tribal areas cannot converse in Urdu, a major communication gap was likely to ensue.
Khan had maintained that as Abbasi did not know the local language and had no relations with the tribal areas, his appointment to a post that is mainly concerned with people of the tribal belt would create issues. He also claimed most of the government’s institutes were in a bad shape due to the warped policies of the centre.
Apparently referring to the passage of a recently passed resolution demanding the creation of a Hazara province in the K-P Assembly, the senator has blamed Abbasi for being behind the bifurcation of the province as the opposition leader in the assembly. Khan said he supported Shaukatullah Khan as the governor as he hailed from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and tribesmen were satisfied with his performance.
While talking to The Express Tribune, provincial general secretary of the PML-N, Rahmat Salam Khattak, said, “It is because of people like Zahid Khan that the ANP has lost Pukhtun trust,” adding that instead of fomenting trouble on regional and linguistic grounds and pretending to be the so-called champions of Pukhtun rights, the senator should focus on setting ANP’s own house in order.
Khattak said the same non-Pashto speaking Abbasi was supported by ANP 15 years ago when he was entrusted to lead the province as the K-P chief minister, adding, “Even ANP stalwarts including the late Khan Abdul Wali Khan and Asfandyar Wali Khan backed Abbasi and many ANP figures were provincial ministers under his leadership.”
PML-N provincial spokesperson Nasir Khan Musazai said, “Pukhtunwali does not only entail speaking a particular language but stands for principles of morality and righteousness which Abbasi represents better than ANP’s Khan.”
Musazai said as the country in general and K-P in particular is faced with various crises including law and order, the ANP leader should not fuel divisions in the province and avoid taking the people of K-P into another crisis.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 11th, 2014.
COMMENTS (2)
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I'm not an ANP supporter but in this case I agree with Zahid Khan. What he is saying is 100% right. PMLN always favors its personal political interest ignoring on the ground realities, situations and circumstances.
Sardar Mehtab Abbasi is one of the few politicians whose respect transcends party lines. Even the ruling parties in KP appear to not have any objections to his appointment. My only reservation is that then KP Governor has an active role in FATA and given todays state of affairs whereby there is a fledging peace process ongoing in that region perhaps a Pushtun Governor would have been more appropriate. On the whole I believe it is a good choice. (Please note I am a PTI supporter)