Billions Spent on Orange Train in Punjab, Not a Single Rupee for Backward Pashtun Districts: Khushhal Kakar

Zhob (Daily Qudrat Quetta) — Pashtunkhwa National Awami Party (Pashtunkhwa NAP) Chairman Khushhal Khan Kakar has said that the struggle for national rights and authority will be made more extensive, organized, and intensified, and it has now become our duty that we will not hesitate in any sacrifice for the protection of the lives, property, and honor of our proud people, and by establishing national unity and consensus, we will not allow any bargain over the rights of our homeland and people. The provision of basic necessities and facilities of life is the responsibility of the state and its governments. He was addressing a public gathering at Zhob New Adda, which was also addressed by the party’s Senior Deputy Chairman Raza Muhammad Raza, Haji Zahir Shah Pkhizai, Khudai Dost Kabzai, Central Traders Association President Abdul Jabbar Mandokhail, Transport Union President Abdul Jabbar Harmzai, Maulvi Abdullah Mandokhail, and Mamoon Shaoor. While Malik Ataullah Kakar placed a Pashtun turban on party chairman Khushhal Khan Kakar, and Shahzada Kakar placed one on Senior Deputy Chairman Raza Muhammad Raza.

Party Chairman Khushhal Khan Kakar, thanking the proud people of Zhob, made it clear that our representation in the National Assembly was made possible by your support and votes, and through this representation we will make every effort to highlight all your problems on every forum and resolve them, and through this representation we will raise our voice to deliver the country’s subjugated nations and oppressed people from a painful situation. He said that Zhob city is a divisional headquarters and the center of this region, and it urgently needs development works at every level. The restoration of New Adda alongside Zhob Mandi is necessary, and along with it, the National Highway Authority must construct the Zhob-Tank highway, Zhob-Sambaza, Zhob-Qamardin, and Zhob-Margha Kabzai road, then the Taunsa Sharif road, and further slackness and laziness in the construction of the Zhob-Quetta National Highway is unacceptable, while the extensive construction of a bypass road alongside Zhob city is urgently needed, and for this, meetings will be held with all authorities including the Prime Minister to make this situation clear to them.

He said that 80 percent of the country’s clean river water belongs to Pashtuns; if ten percent of the water of the Abasin (Indus) is given to southern Pashtunkhwa, the fate of our people can be changed. In various countries including China and the United States, water has been channeled from mountains larger than grain. Punjab’s rulers spend billions of rupees on projects like the Orange Train for themselves, but nothing for us. Shaheed Mili Usman Lala had proposed that a project of 240 billion rupees for the Zhob River be approved, which could irrigate the entire area including Qila Saifullah, Zhob, Abdullahzai, and Sherani.

He said that the Zhob area deserves to be declared an economic zone, and people here should be given grants and interest-free loans, and the construction of a large university in Zhob is urgently needed. He said that according to a survey, the least developed district is Sherani and its surrounding areas. Shaheed Mili Usman Lala had worked as chairman of the committee for backward areas, and poverty is highest in these areas, but in the Benazir Income Support Programme, these poverty-stricken areas of Zhob, Sherani, and Qila Saifullah are not getting their share, and from the federation there is not even a single rupee project for these backward areas.

He said that artificial terrorism and lawlessness have been imposed on the entire Pashtunkhwa homeland, and the purpose is to seize and loot our homeland’s mineral resources under the cover of this unrest, which is unacceptable under any circumstances. He said that due to this imposed artificial terrorism, our innocent Pashtun people are facing the worst and most painful situation, and conspiracies to displace us and you from our areas are also part of it, but the proud Pashtun people, like their forefathers, must adopt the path of national unity and consensus and stand united and organized against these conspiracies. He said that if the need arises to launch a movement against this artificially imposed terrorism, unrest, and lawlessness, and to resolve your problems, the party will launch a full-fledged protest movement. We appeal to our entire proud nation to rise above all kinds of differences and raise a common voice for the protection of their homeland, its resources, and the lives and property of the people, and for the achievement of development and prosperity.