Reference in Memory of Shuhada-e-August, Democratic Forces Announce Joint Resistance Against Every Undemocratic Move

Quetta (Syed Sardar Mohammad Khondai)
Speaking at a reference organized by the Awami National Party (ANP) at the Quetta Press Club in memory of the Shuhada-e-August, leaders of the province’s genuine democratic political parties said that every attempt to victimize politics, journalism and the judiciary will be strongly resisted.
The leaders said that the idea of new provinces on administrative grounds is being floated to occupy and usurp the resources of Pashtunkhwa and Balochistan. Any attempt to mislead public opinion on such sensitive matters through non-political and unelected individuals is in no way acceptable.
Today, the people of Balochistan and Pashtunkhwa are facing politics of division upon division. When our elders were united and struggling, the opposing forces could not harm them at all, but today our mutual division is benefiting those same forces. History is a witness that when the government of Sardar Attaullah Khan Mengal was dismissed in Balochistan, Mufti Mahmood resigned from the government of Pashtunkhwa in protest. Unfortunately, today political parties are going through fragmentation in the race for power.
The speakers said that the issue of Balochistan is political and cannot be resolved on tribal, strategic or clan bases. From Surab to Quetta and Ziarat, the blood of Pashtun, Baloch and Hazara nations is being shed, their political and economic blockade continues, while the people are being deprived of basic human rights, employment, peace and control over resources. The problems of Balochistan and Pashtunkhwa cannot be solved through decisions imposed by sitting in Lahore, Islamabad and Pindi. Our stance is political; the solution to the problems of these regions lies in the will of the people here, political representation, democratic process and respect for constitutional rights.
They said that if the current situation is to be stopped, politics and the political process will have to be strengthened, because this is the legacy that political and national democratic elders like Bacha Khan, Wali Khan, Ghaus Bakhsh Bizenjo, Khan Shaheed, Sardar Attaullah Mengal and Khair Bakhsh Marri have passed on to their generations.
These views were expressed by Awami National Party Provincial President Asghar Khan Achakzai, National Party Central Secretary General Senator Kabir Mohammad Shahi, Balochistan National Party Central Deputy General Secretary Malik Naseer Shahwani, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Provincial Finance Secretary Haji Ainullah Shams, Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party Provincial General Secretary Kabir Afghan, Pashtunkhwa National Awami Party Central Spokesman Essa Roshan, National Democratic Movement Provincial President Ahmed Jan Khan, Hazara Democratic Party Central Spokesman Qadir Nail, ANP Provincial Parliamentary Leader Engineer Zamrak Khan Achakzai, Jamaat-e-Islami Provincial Vice Ameer Jameel Mushwani, ANP Provincial General Secretary Mabat Kaka, National Lawyers Forum Provincial President Kaleemullah Kakar Advocate, District Quetta President Sanaullah Kakar and others.
The speakers said that terrorism is not a heavenly calamity that descended suddenly, but it was imposed on the people of this region as a result of the policies and wrong decisions of certain dominant forces, the price of which the Pashtun, Baloch and Hazara people have been paying with their blood for decades. Our walls are stained with blood, mothers’ laps have been left empty, the future of the youth has been destroyed and ordinary citizens, including women, children and the elderly, are constantly facing insecurity.
They said that the thought of Bacha Khan is not just a political slogan, but a movement spanning a century of continuous struggle, sacrifice, non-violence, democracy, peace and the rights of oppressed nations. From Anjuman-e-Islah-ul-Afaghina and the Khudai Khidmatgar Movement till today, workers associated with this thought have not abandoned their struggle despite oppression, imprisonment and state hardships. The sacrifices of the Shuhada-e-August are a bright chapter of this history.
Paying tribute to the leadership of the Awami National Party, the speakers said that bringing together different genuine democratic and political forces of the province on one platform in the current difficult circumstances is a positive and historic step.
They said that the process of making parliament meaningless, rendering the public mandate irrelevant and making the electoral process suspicious to install unelected people in the corridors of power is extremely dangerous for democracy. They strongly condemned the arrests of political workers, restrictions and keeping them away from political activities through the Fourth Schedule.
The speakers further said that violation of basic human rights has become a daily routine, national highways are unsafe for the public and complaints of ill-treatment, humiliation and discriminatory behavior towards Pashtuns and Balochs at various places are continuously coming to light. They also expressed deep concern over the difficulties, limited employment opportunities and discriminatory attitudes faced by Pashtun laborers and the business community in Sindh, Punjab and especially Karachi.
They made it clear that the people of Balochistan and Pashtunkhwa will not give up their resources, identity, language, culture and democratic right to representation. The solution to the people’s problems does not lie in force, bans, division and administrative experiments, but in political dialogue, genuine democracy, supremacy of the constitution and recognition of the people’s right to rule.
In the end, prayers were offered for the elevation of the ranks of the martyrs and elders and langar was distributed.