QUETTA: The Balochistan Assembly on Saturday adopted a unanimous resolution condemning the alleged harassment of Pakhtuns living in Punjab and Sindh.
A member of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), Nasrullah Zarai, tabled the resolution during Saturday’s session of the Balochistan Assembly, while the party’s parliamentary leader Rahim Ziaratwal, MPA Syed Liaquat Agha and others endorsed the resolution.
The House demanded that the federal government take serious notice of the alleged harassment of Pakhtuns by police in Punjab and Sindh.
Speaking on the resolution, Zarai claimed that police in Punjab and Sindh had rounded up a large number of indigenous Pakhtuns under a crackdown on miscreants and terrorists.
“We strongly condemn the inhumane attitude shown by the Punjab Police,” he said while presenting the resolution.
The Balochistan Assembly demanded that the federal government ensure the release of all local Pakhtuns in Punjab and Sindh and avoid keeping them behind the bars on false pretexts.
Dr Ruqia Hashmi, a PML-Q legislator, also lashed out at the Punjab Police for harassing Pakhtuns under the guise of anti-terrorism operations.
“Pakistan belongs to everyone,” she reiterated, demanding stern action against those who had allegedly singled out the ethnic group for “profiling”.
Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran, a Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl legislator, strongly condemned the harassment of Pakhtuns and demanded that the federal government ensure safety of every Pakistani. “We stand for a Pakistan without any discrimination,” he said. The Balochistan Assembly also demanded an immediate end to the closure of border between Pakistan and Afghanistan at Chaman and Torkham.
