New Provinces Plan Is Colonial Scheme, Says Pashtunkhwa National Awami Party
QUETTA: The Pashtunkhwa National Awami Party (PkNAP) has strongly rejected the proposal to create new provinces on a divisional basis, describing it as an “anti-state and colonial project” aimed at dividing the country’s historic national units.
In a statement issued by its central secretariat, the party said the 1940 Lahore Resolution was essentially a proposal for a union comprising autonomous and sovereign national states. It argued that the Cabinet Mission Plan of 1940 had also envisaged a union in which each national unit would have the right to separate after 10 years.
The party said that under the Mountbatten Plan, elected assemblies of the national units were given the choice of joining Pakistan or India, and the elected assemblies representing the Pashtun, Baloch, Sindhi, Saraiki, Punjabi and Bengali national units opted for the creation of Pakistan.
According to PkNAP, Pakistan was therefore created by its national units, and colonial rulers had no authority to divide those historic national identities.
The party alleged that after the establishment of Pakistan, colonial and reactionary forces influenced by British rule prevented the development of a democratic federation based on equality among national units and obstructed democratic governance through prolonged periods of military rule.
It said that although people eventually gained the right to vote after 23 years, the refusal to accept election results led to the breakup of the country. The party also criticised the subsequent abrogation of the 1973 Constitution and claimed that the 18th Amendment of 2010, achieved after prolonged democratic struggles, had been undermined by later constitutional amendments.
PkNAP alleged that an undeclared form of severe martial law currently prevailed in the country and accused the ruling establishment of pursuing a plan to divide historic national units under the banner of creating new provinces.
The party warned that such a policy could have serious consequences for the integrity of Pakistan. It said the historical division of Pashtun territories remained unresolved and called for a unified national province comprising Pashtun-majority areas from Bolan to Chitral, including southern and northern Pashtunkhwa as well as Attock and Mianwali.
The party also called for recognition of the autonomous status and identity of the Saraiki national unit.
PkNAP proposed the establishment of a genuine democratic federation based on linguistic, cultural and historical realities, comprising the Pashtun, Baloch, Sindhi, Saraiki and Punjabi national units. It demanded recognition of equality among nationalities in the National Assembly and all federal institutions.
The party said powers should be transferred to the national units in all matters except defence, foreign affairs, currency and communications.
The statement maintained that the Pashtun and other national units would not abandon their historical, autonomous and sovereign national identities, nor accept what it called a colonial plan to divide them in the name of creating new provinces.
PkNAP appealed to democratic and nationalist forces representing all oppressed nationalities to unite and organise themselves to resist and defeat the proposed plan through democratic and popular political mobilisation.
