The Role of Pashtun Elders

Our national loss is due to our individualistic and non-political approach towards life.  Our elders like Samad Khan and Bacha Khan were people who supported collective approach to life. They thought about the betterment of Pashtun life and addressed the collective issues of Pashtun nation. They realised that:

 

1. The bureaucracy of Punjab is exploiting the water resources of Pashtuns by making canals out of  our water resources to irrigate their lands.
2. The hydroelectric energy is sold back to Pashtuns on a higher price after purchasing it from them on peanut prices.
3. Pashtunland is a source of feedstock for the factories of Punjab and Karachi.
4. The traders of Punjab decorate their houses with the tiles and precious stones from the mines and minerals of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan.
5. The hidden chemical treasures in the Pashtunland are tempting the elite in the civil and military bureaucracy and businesspersons of Lahore and Karachi to encourage the ages old game of divide their land and rule its people.
6. The timber mafia of Chinot and Lahore are decorating their buildings leaving devastated land behind thus snatching the natural beauty and forests in the Pashtunland.
7. Pashto – a centuries old language is a showpiece for the third rate Pakistani movies and a food for fun and entertainment in Pakistan.
8. The cultural heritage of Pashtuns in the form of old sculptures and statues are smuggled as extremely costly commodities for overseas traders from Lahore and Mirpur.
9. The homes and houses, lands and property of Pashtuns are being used by force to hide criminals, terrorists, extremists and other sick people to earn money by the military elite and then produced to world along with the house owners proven guilty to the world and in most cases even killed before this for facilitating the criminals.

Our great elders raised their voice against the exploitation of our land, resources, minerals, forests, water, language, heritage, culture and land by the power elite of Pakistan mainly consisting of Punjab. Both of them started awareness campaign and transformed it into the continuity of Pashtun national movement in the South and North of Pakhtun land in Pakistan respectively. The movement was called Khudai Khidmatgar Tehreek in the North Pakhtunkhwa while it was termed as Pakhtunkhwa Milli Tehreek in the South Pashtunkhwa.

Bacha Khan was a reformer not a politician originally. His sacrifices are on political front and for freedom from the British but without a clear vision for the future. He was supposed to plead the same case as MA Jinnah for Pashtuns.  Jinnah maintained  that after the British would leave Muslims would become the slaves of Hindus due to their majority hence Muslims needed a separate homeland. Similarly Bacha Khan was supposed to ask for a separate land for Pashtuns which he did not which resulted in the todate sufferings of Pashtuns in Pakistan. The result was predictable. Pashtuns have since then lost all they had from their glorious past and are still near to bankruptcy due to being a part of Pakistan which herself is on the brink of collapse due to the defacto military control. Samad Khan realised that after the mistake committed by the leadership of Pakhtun national movement we needed to focus on the collective issues of Pashtuns and hence he focused on the language, culture and heritage of Pashtuns and tried to keep the historical link of Pashtuns with their motherland Afghanistan alive in all possible aspects.

The second generation of these great leaders consisted of Wali Khan and Mahmood Khan. Wali Khan was a great political visionary and Ideological politician but had compromised over the status of Pashtuns in Pakistan and also missed a couple of occasions to bring tremendous change in the political life of Pashtuns like the disintegration of One Unit and then at the time of formation of Bangla Desh. He could have asked for the political rights of Pashtuns at that time and even in Pakistan Pashtuns would be much better off.  On the contrary witnessing over-indulgence of Wali Khan and National Awami Party [now Awami National Party ANP], Mahmood Khan Achakzai continued to work on the vision of his father.  He focused on the national issues of Pashtuns and gave it a formal shape by forming Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party [PMAP] that though participated in the national politics of Pakistan but had reservations on the constitution of 1973, the role of agencies in politics of the country as well as their interference in the Afghan politics.

It is therefore, the cry of the day that Pakhtun Afghan nation stand for their rights and demand

•        a separate province for the Pashtuns of Baluchistan [South Pashtunkhwa] ,

•        a semi autonomous status for FATA , change of FATA name to Central Pashtunkhwa , major changes in FCR to reflect the semi autonomous status

•        real provincial autonomy , actual devolution of power to provinces and full control over the resources of the Pashtun land

•        guarantee for the safety and security of Pashtuns in Karachi

•        discouragement of sectarian and terrorists organizations by the state

•        No to the further division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and  merger of Attock and Mianwali to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa