Discrimination and Harassment of Pashtun Students and Workers in Punjab Is Blatant Proof of State Prejudice: Khushal Khan Kakar

LAHORE (Daily Qudrat Quetta) – Pashtunkhwa National Awami Party (PKNAP) Chairman and Member of the National Assembly Khushal Khan Kakar has said that student politics is an important part of the Pashtun national movement, and equipping the youth with democratic, political and national consciousness is the need of the hour. Resolving the problems, discrimination and employment difficulties faced by Pashtun students, labourers and workers residing in Punjab, and protecting their fundamental human, civil and constitutional rights, is the responsibility of the state. He expressed these views while addressing an open meeting of the district conference of the Pashtunkhwa Students Organisation (PSO) Lahore, which was presided over by former district secretary Sher Shah Mandokhail.

At the conference, former district secretary Sher Shah Mandokhail presented a report on the organisational performance of the previous tenure, which the participants discussed. Afterwards, an eleven-member district cabinet was unanimously elected, in which Amjad Khan was elected district secretary and Salman Pashtun Yar as senior assistant secretary, while Yahya Khan, Ataur Rahman, Khushal Mandokhail, Abdullah Barmak, Shahzaib Kakar, Pir Muhammad, Saifullah, Farhan Kakar, Changez Khan and Tahira Bibi were elected as cabinet members. PSO Khyber Pakhtunkhwa/Punjab Zonal Organiser Ghairat Khan Yousafzai and newly elected district secretary Amjad Khan also addressed the conference.

Khushal Khan Kakar said that students are the bright future of any nation, and an organised, conscious and ideological student organisation plays an important role in training future leadership. The PSO should make its struggle more effective for the protection of students’ democratic and educational rights, the provision of educational facilities, education in the mother tongue, academic and literary activities, and the intellectual training of the youth. The youth should gain awareness of their history, culture, mother tongue and national rights while promoting organisational discipline, democratic attitudes and collective thinking.

Expressing concern over the problems faced by Pashtun students, labourers, workers and traders residing in Punjab, he said that harassing any citizen or discriminating against them on the basis of their national identity, language or ancestral area is contrary to fundamental human rights and human dignity. All citizens should have equal protection under the constitution and law, while Pashtun students should be provided equal opportunities in educational institutions and workers should be provided fair wages, job security and facilities for a dignified life. National unity and inter-provincial harmony can only be promoted when every nation and every citizen has access to respect, equality and justice.

Khushal Khan Kakar said that the Pashtunkhwa Students Organisation should play its role in highlighting students’ problems, protecting their rights and awakening political and intellectual consciousness among the youth. It is necessary to polish the capabilities of the youth through study circles, academic and literary sittings and political training programmes, and to organise them for the national and democratic struggle. He expressed the hope that the newly elected cabinet will play a full role in strengthening organisational unity, resolving students’ problems and the academic and political training of the youth.