Our institutions know about terrorists but they keep mum: Achakzai

Says there are curbs on speaking the truth

QUETTA: Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Chairman and Member of National Assembly Mahmood Khan Achakzai has said that Pakistan’s security and other institutions are aware of the presence of terrorists in the country but they they keep mum over it.

He was addressing a public meeting at the Sadiq Shaheed Football Ground here on Monday, organised in memory of those martyred in a terrorist attack in Quetta on August 8. He regretted that the region at the Pakhtunkhwa area in particular had been facing bloodshed and terrorism for years. And the Civil Hospital Quetta incident, in which dozens of lawyers, journalists and common citizens were martyred, was a continuity of such attacks in the area.

Achakzai said he had only said in the parliament after the attack that a thorough investigation of the incident and bringing to book the terrorists involved in the Quetta attack was a challenge for out institutions, which caused a lot of uproar in the country.

Various other speakers including Senator Usman Khan Kakar, provincial ministers Abdur-Rahim Ziaratwal and Nawab Ayaz Khan Jogzai, and Supreme Court Bar Association Vice President Abdullah Khan Kakar also spoke on the occasion.

Achakzai questioned that what was the fault of those killed in Quetta on Aug 8. He said the land of Pashtuns was facing bloodshed for the last 40 years, and there was no value of lives and properties of the people of this region. He said he had time and again talked to Pakhtun political leaders including Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Asfandyar Wali, Sirajul Haq, Aftab Ahmad Sherpao and asked them why terrorists were attacking Pashtun political and religious leaders, tribal people and common citizens. He said he asked them all to sit together and discuss the issue in depth.

Achakzai said that a conspiracy was being hatched to create the same law and order situation in Balochistan which had been making people’s lives hell from Swat to Waziristan and in other parts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, which would produce very dangerous results.

He said the Pashtuns were very law-abiding and gentle people. He said Pashtuns believe that Pakistan could make progress only if all human beings are treated equally, and no sect or caste is given preference over the others. The country would progress when there would be a real federal federation, all ethnic groups would be given equal treatment and they would have right over their natural and resources, he added.

Achakzai said that Punjabis should have control over their natural resources, Sindhis over their own and Baloch and Pashtuns should have their exclusive control over their own resources. He said the parliament elected by the people of Pakistan should be the source of all powers, which should make all internal and external policies of the country. All institutions including the judiciary should be under the parliament, the real rulers of the country would be its people, all national languages would be official and court languages, and Pashto will be official, trade, and court language of the Pakhtunkhwa.

Achakzai said neither we would allow interference from other country in the affairs of Pakistan nor interfere in any other country’s affairs. Only such federation would make progress and such Pakistan would be acceptable to PkMAP. He said Pakhtunkhwa is facing terrorism for long and until now over one lakh innocent people including 1200 political, religious and tribal leaders have been killed in terrorism.

Achakzai said they could not allow anyone to justify the killing of innocent people or to kill someone. Pakistan had abundant resources, but injustices led hate, he added. He said the world and region were witnessing the worst form of war that had engulfed Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Libya and other countries.

Achakzai stressed the need to take steps for securing the country from this bloodshed and said he talked to Maulana Fazlur Rehman about the Pakhtun leadership and other democratic political parties joining hands to protect the region. However, he added, they would continue making sacrifices if the terrorist forces did not shun terrorism and extremism.

Achakzai said he along with Fazl, Asfandyar Wali, Sirajul Haq and Aftab Sherpao could ensure peace and friendship between Pakistan and Afghanistan in three months, if the country and its rulers wanted so.

According to Achakzai, former Afghan president Hamid Karzai during a meeting in Kabul asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif whether they recognised Afghanistan as an independent and sovereign country. To which, Nawaz replied in affirmative.

In his response, Karzai asked for international guarantee, saying it could ensure good neighbourly relations between the two countries and prove helpful in mutual collaboration in railway, power and other development projects.

Achakzai said the Afghan leadership and Nawaz still followed the same philosophy, but questioned which forces were opposing that and advocating war. He warned there was no guarantee that the two countries would exist amid the worst warfare.

He said there was a ban speaking truth in the country, adding that his remarks on the Quetta tragedy in the National Assembly were factual. The US, he added, traced out the culprits behind the incidents, especially the 9/11 episode, and he too had stated in the assembly that the Pakistani institutions were responsible for exposing the elements carrying out the Civil Hospital terror attack. “We all know that all of our institutions have information about these terrorists, the elements involved in kidnapping for ransom but they are silent on this.”

Achakzai said overcoming the prevailing serious situation was not a job of a single party or individual, as all the parties and people would have to act jointly to get rid of terrorists. Talking about the refugees, he said the Afghans were living in Pakistan according to the UN decision and they could not allow insulting and disrespecting them. He said there were international laws about the refugees and the Afghans should be given work permit and other facilities, like those extended by the UAE to the foreigners.