PkMAP demands separate province for Pushtoons

Staff Report

QUETTA: The Pukhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) on Thursday demanded a separate province for pushtoons consisting of the North West Frontier Province, Pushtoon-dominated areas of Balochistan and some districts of Punjab.

Addressing a public meeting held in connection with the 31st death anniversary of renowned freedom fighter Shaheed Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai, PkMAP chairman Mahmood Khan Achakzai said that all nations had their provinces in Pakistan except Pushtoons.

Mr Achakzai that the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement was ready to launch a movement on ‘one point agenda’ alongside the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) to end the involvement of intelligence agencies and the generals in politics.

Achakzai said that parliament should be empowered to ensure people’s rule in the country. He accused the MMA of paving the way for martial law in the country by helping the National Assembly pass the 17th Amendment. He said that on one hand the religious alliance supported President Pervez Musharraf to remain a ‘uniformed president’ while on the other it launched a movement against his keeping two offices.

Mr Achakzai said that small nationalities had to be given an equal share in power. He clarified that his party did not want division of the country, rather it was striving for the rights of all nationalities. “We are not anti-Pakistan. We want to make it a stable country where Pushtoons, Balochs, Sindhis, Punjabis and Seraikis will have equal status,” he said.

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