Hear what Achakzai says

Among the present breed of serious-minded politicians, the Chairman of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), Mehmud Khan Achakzai, is one whose take on strategic challenges facing today's Pakistan merits due consideration by all relevant sections of the polity, including the powers that be. He talks sense, and if his views don't sit well with certain mindsets that need to be revised and updated in the light of emerging ground realities in the region his party holds sway. He is not in the parliament since 2008, for his party had boycotted the Musharraf-monitored election. But when he was there, in the previous National Assembly, it was a treat to hear him - for clarity of his expression and profundity of thought. If he foreboded turbulence ahead in Balochistan his words haven't gone waste as the situation in there is absolutely chaotic and out of control. So rightly then what he said, at a public meeting in Quetta the other day, should be taken as the wake-up call. Underscoring the imperative of taking 'wise decisions to resolve contentious issues', he reminded the policymakers and the implementers (if at all there are some) that rights of nationalities cannot be sacrificed at the altar of some undefined grandiose objectives. And the Pushtun, who constitute the overwhelming majority of PkMAP membership, are one such nationality who he lamented has been grossly short-changed in socio-economic national dispensation. That time is up he said demanding for a new social contract 'among the nationalities in order to put them in control of their resources'. The PkMAP chief Achakzai, who appeared to be grievously hurt over some recent target killing of Pushtuns in Balochistan, warned that 'if equal rights of Pushtuns in the province were not accepted then they could declare their separate province'. And he is not known for bombast. What he means a resolution passed by that public meeting says rather openly: through a resolution the meeting demanded 'restoration of 125-year-old province ie Pushtunistan from Chitral to Bolan'. Of course, the entire country is in turmoil, but what entails real strategic challenge to national integration is the simmering insurgency in Balochistan. Given that the entire Pushtun belt, which straddles on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border is in a state of flux, quite a bit of it engineered from outside. The area's strategic importance was always well-recognised, but what moves it to the centrestage is the new map being drawn by principal contenders to global domination. That foreign forces are there in this area of conflict is bad, but the vacuum their departure would tend to bring in much more instability. The cross-border Afghanistan-based Taliban raids into Chitral and Upper Dir region are certainly a sample of things to come. While one may be tempted to look at Achakzai's warning against its historical backdrop, but more than that, is the need to heed to his warning against less-than-fair treatment being meted out to the Pushtun. The fact has to be admitted that despite their enormous potential to spell disaster for the federation they have persevered in their calm attitude. They have largely stayed clear of the violence-ridden incidents in Balochistan, and even when other nationalities have been in uproarious clamor for maximum autonomy and separate provinces the PkMAP wasn't rocking the boat. Given the party's clear-headed leadership and its lingering grouse that Pushtuns have never received 'equal-to-others' treatment in national affairs, Mehmud Khan's warning is very much timely and should be given due consideration. That he is a true democrat who is always willing to work with democratic forces struggling for people's rights in a democratic ambience gives hope for a clear possibility of turning things around in Balochistan.