Mahmood Khan Achakzai’s Speech Censored Again; Urges Parliament to Become Source of Power

ISLAMABAD (Qudrat Roznama): The speech of Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) Chairman, Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Aaeen Pakistan (TTAP) head and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Mahmood Khan Achakzai was once again censored by the “Form 47 government.”

Mahmood Khan Achakzai said that his friend tried very bravely, using fine words, to prove that terrorism was not being stopped in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, or that they were aiding it. If we take the meaning of terrorism — let no one take offence, I have no personal enmity with anyone — in the last elections, as a result of which our ministers are sitting in triumph, you should all, with God as witness, say before your sisters and daughters that we have won the election and will celebrate with drums. Mr Speaker! This government, imposed on February 8, 2024 by force, with the support of our uniformed institutions, by terrorising 2.4 billion people, is a terrorist government. This government bought its assemblies with money and the power of the gun, and formed a terrorist government of its own liking. And Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s crime is that it saved its province through the courage of its people against this terrorism. The throne of Lahore is very cruel, Mr Speaker. The Bengalis’ parties’ crime was that they formed a united front and defeated the parties of West Pakistan. They had to be punished for it. Mujibur Rahman was a Muslim League worker who was called a traitor and God knows what else; he used to work for the Muslim League riding a bicycle. More than 48 percent of the people of East Pakistan voted in favour of Pakistan. You forced them with this attitude: “Accept my word! Or else…” Just as Sheikh Mujib was arrested from his home and brought to Lahore, you showed this kindness that you did not bring our Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi here handcuffed. You did that too. Whether Imran Khan was good or bad, I do not go into the past. But you attacked him to compete with him, snatched his election symbol. His party workers made the mistake of contesting elections on 200 election symbols and overturned your entire spectacle. You are punishing them and the country’s 2.4 billion people for it. The root of evil is this government, and to set this evil on the right path, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister was right — he neither abused nor threw stones — saying: “Brother, rise up against this evil.” Shahbaz Bhai is not here, but this is our decision: when you try to snatch our right to self-determination and right to vote by force, we will all stand against you — all the people, all the provinces: Balochistan, Punjab, Sindh, everyone. I feel pain that our Sindhi brothers participated in this disaster. The next governor’s rule will be imposed in Sindh over the seizure of waters, mines and canals, and then you will remember what mistake we made. Mr Speaker, there is still time — take back these decisions. Come, let us all repent, make this Parliament the source of power. Let the PPP, Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamiat Ulema, Muslim League, ANP — all parties — say Bismillah, that the mistakes we made… here there will be one Parliament, it will be the source of power; the people of Pashtun, Baloch, Sindhi and Saraiki homelands will rule their own lands, then Pakistan will be saved.

Mahmood Khan Achakzai said: Mr Speaker, what is loot? The lands of Cholistan in the Saraiki region have been allotted for one hundred rupees, for one hundred rupees! When you allot the lands of nations at one hundred rupees per acre, seize their minerals and waters, and when you seize the entities of nations, there will be rebellion. Did you see yesterday or not — in Bara, small children were falling like birds. Small children were falling to bullets. Until when? Fear that day, believe in God! Believe in God and do not harass people. You used the same method in Bengal — that Bengalis are small people, they cannot fight, and what is their status? When you imposed martial law, one honourable general refused. When you imposed martial law, Sahibzada Yaqub refused, saying: “I will not fire on my own people.” Then you sent another man who said: “We want land, we do not want Bengalis.” So what happened then? Here it was said that the state is like a mother — the state raises children and the state strokes people’s heads with affection. But when the state fights against its own people, then the people are forced to look outside the country. We made a spectacle of the Bengalis; the Bengalis fled, became the Mukti Bahini, and as a result our country broke. And the man who spread all this destruction, we brought him here as a senator. We gave him this medal — that you did very well, you did a great favour — so you too come, become a senator. This attitude is one of ruin. Come, say Bismillah, come make this Parliament the source of power. Come, give the provinces the powers they have. What does the Sindhi, Baloch, Pashtun, Saraiki — and your poor Punjabi — ask of you? Are we not ashamed? My friend Asif sometimes says: “Be ashamed, have modesty.” Are we not ashamed, Mr Speaker? What is the condition of the common poor man? Six crore people are below the poverty line, and here the Finance Minister said that the person who is well-off is one whose monthly income is 20 or 25 thousand rupees. Let us tell our civil and military agencies to tell us how many trillions of corruption occurred in the three years of the current government? Let our civil agencies, our military agencies tell us: are governments formed so that you become a minister and loot? Become a minister and put on a show? Become a minister and live in luxury? Obama became US president twice, but two weeks after his second term ended, he was washing plates in a hotel. Here a man becomes a council chairman and becomes a millionaire — where does this money come from? You state people! You are responsible for Pakistan’s ruin; you are looting Pakistan’s resources and tearing open the stomachs of Pakistan’s people. Yesterday someone was saying that we have 23 thousand civil and military bureaucrats. In America, a woman had a luxury car worth two or three hundred thousand dollars. When she was asked what her name was and what she did, she replied: “I do nothing, I am the daughter of a retired Pakistani officer.” Have we sat down only to loot the country and flee to Canada and America? For God’s sake, have mercy on this country. For God’s sake have mercy on this country — the country is sinking, and it is sinking because of internal mischief, because of our own mistakes. There is one way to save it: Pakistan’s Constitution, Pakistan’s Parliament, the democratic system here. These people we are running after — you are also honourable people, you have a Prime Minister. Then your Prime Minister is answerable to so-and-so, then he is answerable to that one — it is a matter of shame. The elected Parliament — the Parliament of Pakistan’s 2.4 billion people — has been reduced to such a state that anyone can come and just look at us. We are people who love this country. Here there is no victor and no vanquished. This is a voluntary federation. We are all here. These people say we will make rivers of milk flow. They ruled for thirty-five years without a partner. General Ayub stayed ten years; after him, the father of my friend Ijaz-ul-Haq, Zia-ul-Haq, stayed eleven years. After him, Musharraf stayed eleven years. What revolution? Their every sentence was a final command. Whatever they wanted, whatever they wanted to do — after they left, Pakistan became a base for terrorists. Pakistan became a base for terrorism and the world’s mafias. We jumped into the Afghanistan war, and now we cry about terrorism. We trained all the world’s terrorists; they were trained. Now there is talk of terrorism; you trained all the world’s terrorists, you gave them training. Pakistan was a base for all the world’s terrorists; Arabs, non-Arabs and the world’s villains were present here. More than six thousand Arab terrorists came here; then you left them in FATA. In FATA, twelve hundred social figures were killed one by one — honourable people who even today say “Pakistan Zindabad.” Repent, repent now; we too repent, you too repent. Come, tell the Sindhi people that Sindh’s resources are handed over to you; tell the Baloch that your resources are handed over to you. Come into a democratic system, say Bismillah; tell the Saraiki, tell the Punjabi — this country can still be saved.

Mahmood Khan Achakzai said that our country has become isolated externally. In this Parliament, where Shahbaz Sahib is sitting, no respected personality has come, nor have we been told why Iran started such a long war, America came, NATO came, God knows what calamity came — this Parliament was not taken into confidence by anyone. No one asks; there is no collective wisdom; the people must be asked, the people’s opinion is sought. All the neighbouring countries — everyone’s horns are locked with yours. Why? With India, fine, one issue; with Afghanistan too a quarrel, with Iran too a quarrel, with so-and-so too a quarrel — over what? That day, Russia’s most responsible people said that Afghanistan’s government is the correct government there, a national government. Then what remained of us? Their Defence Minister has come; God knows what you talked about. Take this Parliament into confidence, trust it.

Mahmood Khan Achakzai said that just now there was talk of the sit-in. What was the condition for the sit-in? There are two conflicting groups and two conflicting parties. One’s leader is in jail, while our basic demand was that we be allowed to meet our leader. Which article of the Constitution, which verses of the Holy Quran, and which law of the world permits that a ban be placed on meeting the country’s most popular leader? Which article of the Constitution, which verses of the Quran, which law of the world places a ban on meeting a most popular leader? In the world, drug smugglers, murderers, villains — there is no such ban on anyone’s meeting. Arrest the sister too, arrest the wife too, arrest the father too — no meeting will be allowed. Why not? Why? And this is a very great criminal act, Mr Speaker, that you force a prisoner to make an agreement with you. Because you have done this before too. You locked Nawaz Sharif in Attock Jail, handcuffed him on the plane, and forced him: “Go to Saudi Arabia.” Benazir — with small children, she kept moving around all of Pakistan and even from France — you were forcing her. What benefit came of it?

Mahmood Khan Achakzai said that the talks you held with Imran Khan, or where your matter got stuck, you cannot resolve it yourself. Trust political personalities. What conversation did you have with Imran Khan, what demands did you place and what did he reply? We promise you that we will meet Imran Khan, assess his health, and make every effort to resolve where your matter got tangled. This tangle will not be resolved by anything other than the truth. We promise that we will keep the meeting with Imran Khan confidential. If Imran Khan’s words are wrong, we will say openly before everyone that he is wrong. And if his words are correct, do you want to suppress him by force? Do you want to eliminate him? We promise that we will meet Imran Khan and keep this matter secret. If any of Imran Khan’s words are wrong, we will say before you that he is wrong; and if his position is correct, then the use of force is extremely wrong. In the history of political parties and the Pakistan Armed Forces, opposition to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto has been a common value. For God’s sake, do not do such things in this enmity. We said even then that removing Bhutto Sahib in this manner is a decision that will become a bone in the throat that can neither be swallowed nor removed. Bhutto Sahib remained in jail for twelve months, and at that time there were no public-level protests, but the cruel manner in which you targeted him and his family — today they have become part of history. If such actions are repeated and this serious mistake is made, its consequences will be disastrous for the whole country and Pakistan cannot bear it. Bhutto Sahib was in jail for 12 months; there were no processions. The cruel manner in which you struck him, his daughter and his sons — today Bhutto has become a greater saint than a Qalandar. Do you want to make Imran Khan a Qalandar too? Do you want to repeat this mistake? If you make these mistakes, Pakistan will burn. For God’s sake, take hold of reason; come and talk.

Leader of the Opposition Mahmood Khan Achakzai said: Leave all these emergencies and matters. You, in the Pashtun and Baloch areas… when common tribal people oppose, immediately the talk turns to guns. It is a good thing that people did not pick up guns, God forbid. In Waziristan you are seizing minerals, targeting the people there. Speak plainly — today you tell us what sin the Kashmiris committed? Under one thinking, you targeted them. What sin did the people of Gilgit-Baltistan commit? This love of the gun — please, this is very dangerous, it will break the country. And we will try according to our capacity. We will not become part of any process that harms or weakens Pakistan, by this government or any other government; rather, we will stand firm against it. Please! Stop this method immediately and talk directly to the people. Pakistan is not a limited area; Pakistan is very vast. Where are these injustices and unconstitutional actions written? Sit inside Parliament and hold serious talks; do not create any disruption or twist words. Injustice and unfairness are being done by you; stop what is being done in Peshawar. The imposition of emergency is completely wrong; what kind of emergency is this and for what purpose has it been imposed? You yourselves are occupying power by spreading fear and panic among the people and through coercion. This government is illegitimate, illegal and unconstitutional. It is not right to remove others by adopting unconstitutional methods yourselves. “Stop it! For God’s sake, stop it! Talk to the people. Come — whether it is the Election Commission or Mahmood Khan Achakzai — sit down. Place chairs here; I will sit with him. Is Pakistan just an offshore cup? Just an offshore cup? Pakistan is very big. Where is this written? In which law is it written? That the cameras should be under such-and-such a tree? Place two chairs here right now — this is Parliament. Place two chairs here: Shahbaz Bhai and I — say Bismillah, let us talk. Do not create disruption! Do not twist words. You are committing cruelty, you are committing injustice.” Do not do this; this is cruelty and unfair treatment. This is absolutely wrong; the emergency is also wrong. After all, what kind of emergency is this and for what purpose? Whatever is happening in Peshawar, please stop it. #