Closing Trade and Employment Doors on Pashtuns Is Equivalent to Economic Massacre: Nawab Ayaz Khan Jogezai

Chaman: A consultative jirga for District Chaman was held at the Aryan Hotel in Chaman under the chairmanship of Nawab Ayaz Khan Jogezai, Central Secretary of the Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), in light of the declaration of the Pashtun Qaumi Jirga for Southern Pashtunkhwa. The duties of stage secretary were performed by PkMAP Central General Secretary Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal, while Maulvi Sharafuddin recited the Holy Quran. PkMAP Central Secretary Dr. Hameed Khan Achakzai and Haji Khudai Mir Aka also addressed the jirga.

In his opening address to the consultative jirga, President Nawab Ayaz Khan Jogezai shed detailed light on the situation in Pashtunkhwa, the severe unrest, the insecurity of all national and provincial highways for travel, the ongoing policy of forcing people to migrate from their ancestral homelands to seize the national mineral, water, and forest resources of Pashtunkhwa, the economic massacre of Pashtuns, their deprivation from trade, business, and employment, and the ongoing situation of forcing them into menial labor and daily wage work. Jirga participants proposed names for the selection of a committee, which met and granted full authority to Nawab Ayaz Khan Jogezai to select the head of the working committee and its executives, and prayers were offered for success.

Addressing the jirga participants and the committee meeting, Nawab Ayaz Khan Jogezai said that the miserable condition of the Pashtun people across Pashtunkhwa and the country is before us, and the suffering Pashtuns are enduring is indescribable. He said that if we do not unite and stand together to protect the future of our homeland and nation, history will not forgive us again. He stated that the recent jirgas are being held in light of the declaration of the Pashtun Qaumi Jirga held in Bannu from March 11 to 14, 2022. Jirgas were held in all divisions and districts of Southern Pashtunkhwa, and then for three consecutive days a jirga of the people of Southern Pashtunkhwa continued late into the night at the Grand Kababish Hall in Quetta, where we heard the views and suggestions of all notables, participants, and every school of thought, and then it was decided in that jirga that consultative jirgas would be held and working committees formed in all districts.

He said that in this connection, a jirga was held in Quetta, today in Chaman, and subsequently consultative jirgas will be held in other districts in sequence, through which working committees will be formed that will play their role in resolving minor and major disputes among our people, tribal issues, and in serving in every sphere of life. Our people must trust these elected committees and extend their full support to them.

Nawab Ayaz Khan Jogezai further said that today the doors of trade, business, and employment are being closed on Pashtuns. The unconstitutional, illegal, and anti-Pashtun decisions regarding the closure of border trade and restrictions in Chaman have affected the economy not only of Chaman but of all the people of Southern Pashtunkhwa. Today, thousands of families in Chaman have been made to beg for their daily bread. The government’s actions restricting trade and employment are tantamount to promoting the economic massacre and unrest of millions of Pashtuns. We have stood with the people of Chaman at every opportunity, and whatever decision the people of Chaman make in the future, we will stand with them at every level.

He said that by enforcing the Mines and Minerals Act and imposing terrorism and unrest, fear and panic are being spread to loot and occupy our people’s resources, lands, forests, and minerals. Terrorist incidents and the loss of innocent human lives in Harnai, Awaran, Ziarat, Shahrag, Harnai, Duki, and other districts and areas, the insecurity of highways, kidnappings, theft, and robbery incidents have put the lives and property of citizens at serious risk. And the government of Form 47 is responsible for this entire situation, which has completely failed in good governance, establishing peace and order, and protecting the lives and property of the people.