Whenever I post anything like this I hear shouts of traitor lol but do give it a read if you want a different perspective on Pakistani politics.
More autonomy for smaller provinces
By Asfandyar Wali
In a Dawn Dialogue interview in Islamabad, he said the ANP, with the return of some leading personalities to the party fold, was moving towards reversing its rout in last October’s “engineered” election in its Frontier stronghold.
He said his party sought creation of a separate province of Pakhtun-inhabited regions of the country but suggested a referendum on the issue in the Pakhtun areas of Balochistan and the Federally-Administered Tribal Areas.
The ANP chief saw an “ego problem” hampering a settlement between the government and opposition parties on the Legal Framework Order, but said any constitutional amendments sought by this controversial package of decrees giving sweeping powers to President Pervez Musharraf must go to parliament for approval.
He feared prolonged tensions with Afghanistan if Islamabad failed to remove the concerns of the Afghan government about the alleged activities of the Taliban from Pakistani soil, and warned against perceived moves to promote ideas of a division of Afghanistan on ethnic lines. The following is the edited text of the Dawn Dialogue interview with Awami National Party (ANP) president Asfandyar Wali Khan:
QUESTION: The ANP was a leading party in the NWFP but in the last general elections it could not send even a single representative to the National Assembly. What was the cause of this defeat and what are your plans to rectify the situation?
ANSWER: It is a fight between a human being and an angel and, of course, the angel is always going to win instead of the human being. I resigned as party president, and in spite of all the reservations I had regarding the conduct of the elections, I want to turn a new leaf in the political spectrum, and I will not say that rigging has taken place. I accepted complete responsibility and I resigned. It was, yes, an engineered election.
Q: Who were the angels?
A: If you have lived in Pakistan for 56 years and you don’t know who the angels in Pakistan are, then I don’t know.
Q: You mean the elections were engineered to bring the MMA into power?
A: Yes, the elections were engineered to bring the MMA to power. There are two aspects to the whole thing. If you look at the overall scenario that has emerged after the elections, all forces that worked for provincial autonomy got hit the most. Two, how would they tackle the fundamentalists except by bringing them to power, knowing that whoever comes into power can never ever live up to the expectations of the people because we don’t believe in collective things. We believe in personal things, personal postings, personal jobs and things like that. No government is in a position to deliver. So what better way then…
Q: Have you any plans to restore your party’s position in the next elections?
A: Yes, we are working on that. I think the biggest sign you can have is that (former ANP president) Ajmal Khattak has come back, saying it was a mistake to part ways. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan president Afrasiab Khattak has also come back to the party. So we are surely working on getting all the people back on the same platform.
Q: Are you satisfied with the present state of the Pashtuns and provincial autonomy?
A: No, no one can say he is satisfied with the way the federation is being run or that powers have been transferred to the provinces. Until and unless smaller provinces have a sense of participation in the body-politic of Pakistan, I feel we will be heading in a very wrong direction. Nuclear power will not put the country together… It will be done by the nation. Whether we like it or not, it is a fact that Pakistan is a multi-ethnic and multi-national state. The rights of the nations, or nationalities, or whatever you call them, have got to be protected. Are they protected today? The three provinces, or provincial assemblies, passed unanimous resolutions against the Kalabagh Dam - that is consensus. When we passed the resolution, the PML, the JUI, the Jamaat-i-Islami, the People’s Party all voted against Kalabagh. But one province insists on Kalabagh. And you have heard President Musharraf saying “today or tomorrow, Kalabagh Dam will be built”. Now what is the message?
Q: You mean to say he advocated the interests of the larger province?
A: Yes, of course. We in Pakistan have never ever differentiated between morality and legalities. We have gone in for legalities, and never cared for morality. And I feel morality is more important than legalities. Morally, the president represents the federation of Pakistan, all the four federating units. How does he then turn around to the smaller provinces and say whatever you are saying is rot, I don’t give a damn?
Number two, a few days back you must have heard that we were putting a ban on wheat going into the smaller provinces, specially the NWFP. And what do they say? We ban wheat because wheat will be smuggled out. When a smuggler can take out wheat, why can’t he take out flour? Are there not enough forces with the state of Pakistan to control smuggling?
No, we are being supplied flour instead of wheat so that even the few flour mills we have in the province are today shut because they don’t have wheat. How, then, can I say that the smaller provinces are satisfied? FATA means Federally Administered Tribal Areas. It is not a provincially administered tribal area. Now when I sit down with Wapda, at source they deduct all electricity charges of Fata from my province. Why should I be responsible for the liabilities of Fata when I do not have rights over it? Let the federal government pay its bills.
We fought the elections on two fronts. We used to say all right we are fighting for the rights of the province and for the wealth that belongs to this province, and it is somewhere else, and we want to bring that wealth back. The MMA said no, the elections are a fight between Islam and ‘kufr’. I think in the parliamentary history of the world, (it is) the first instance when during the last budget session (of the NWFP assembly), the parliamentary party leader of the ANP got up and moved a resolution that because there had been no NFC award, the budget should not come. And as a protest I walked out. Except for the speaker, the government and the opposition combined walked out. That shows where the sentiments of the political entities are.
And then one point I will really want to put across is that when I fight for the rights of the provinces, for provincial autonomy, for transferring powers from the federation to the provinces, will that power also not be transferred to Punjab? It is not only our battle. It is the battle for all the provinces that we are fighting. The same powers will be transferred to Punjab, and it should feel happier because due to more financial autonomy, they will have more money in their own kitty.
Q: If there are constitutional amendments, would you like to plead for more provincial autonomy?
A: At a recent seminar in Islamabad, I asked (former law minister) Abdul Hafeez PirzadA: You say that the 1973 Constitution was unanimous (but) was it unconditional or was there a condition? Mr. Pirzada said, yes, there was a condition because the smaller provinces were not satisfied with the quantum of autonomy given in the 1973 Constitution and we asked them that because of the conditions of the country and dismemberment - Bangladesh coming into being and all that - let us pull on for 10 years after which we will reopen the subject of provincial autonomy. He said that was an agreement. Because of that agreement the opposition agreed to sign the Constitution.
Q: Was it a verbal agreement?
A: Yes, it was a verbal agreement. Mr Pirzada said after 10 years we were not there, it was General Zia-ul-Haq sitting there, and the chapter was closed. Now, leave the story aside, everyone of you must remember the speech given by General Musharraf when he said there is a sense of deprivation in the provinces and I want to remove that. Today, powers have devolved from the provinces to the districts but the second phase still remains - where power from the centre is going to be devolved to the provinces.
We were fighting over the part of the Constitution that related to provincial autonomy when (former National Reconstruction Bureau chairman) General Naqvi came and handed over the little powers that the provinces had to the districts. Devolution everywhere has got to start from the top and then starts coming down.
Q: Have you any plans of merger of nationalist or Pashtun- based parties standing for provincial autonomy?
A: Why confine it to the Pashtun-based parties? Let us face facts. If elections are held in the country tomorrow, there will be a government either of the PPP or the PML. Why can’t you face facts?
Q: So you would like to have one province having some areas of the NWFP and Balochistan?
A: Yes, certainly. What we have suggested at the central executive of the party is that a referendum should be held in the Pashtun belt of Balochistan and in Fata and let the people of those areas decide. Suppose if Fata wants a separate province - it has enough population for that - it should be a separate province. But it is the right of the people to decide. If you are fighting for the rights of Kashmiris, how can you deny your own people the same right?