PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar has alleged that the Punjab government is continuing with its ‘racial policies’ and hasn’t even honoured a joint resolution passed by the KP Assembly in this respect.

Addressing a news conference here on Wednesday, Mr Qaisar said Pakhtuns continued to face persecution by the police in Lahore and other parts of Punjab despite the passing of a joint resolution by the KP Assembly to condemn the ‘ethnic profiling’ of Pakhtuns in Punjab.

The resolution demanded the immediate release of the arrested people and urged the Punjab government to give up its discriminatory policies against Pakhtuns.

Accompanied by public health engineering minister Shah Farman and elementary and secondary education minister Atif Khan, the speaker said he along with other leaders of the party would go to Lahore on Monday to meet the representatives of Pakhtun community living there to learn about the victimisation of the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

PA speaker says he’ll lead parliamentary delegation to Lahore to learn about Pakhtuns’ victimisation

He urged the Punjab government to review its ‘racial policies’ and check discrimination against the Pashto-speaking people in the province.

Mr Qaisar said parliamentary leaders of other political parties would also be invited to join the delegation.

He said the Punjab government’s policies had put the future of the federation at stake.

The speaker said the joint resolution of the KP Assembly was also ignored by the Punjab government as Pakhtuns were still arrested in the province.

He said a helpline was being set up at the assembly’s secretariat to receive the complaints of Pakhtuns living in Lahore and other areas of Punjab.

Mr Qaisar said the relevant officials would take up the problems of the affected people of Pakhtunkhwa with their counterparts in Punjab.

He said he would also hold meetings with Pakhtun traders and businessmen living in Punjab to know about their issues.

“If the Punjab government treats the people according to the law, then we will support it but it should not harass the people on the basis of race and language,” he said.

Minister Atif Khan said Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was following in the footsteps of US President Donald Trump.

He said thousands of Pakhtuns had been expelled from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states and that the Punjab government had begun following suit by launching a crackdown on Pashto-speaking people living in the province.

The minister declared the ‘victimisation of Pakhtuns in Punjab a grand conspiracy against Pakistan’ and said the people of KP and Fata had rendered great sacrifices for Pakistan but the rulers of Punjab had deprived them of fundamental rights.

Meanwhile, politicians and representatives of different chambers of commerce have expressed concern over what they called ethnic profiling of Pakhtuns in Punjab and described it a conspiracy to destabilise the country.

In a statement here on Wednesday, Businessman Forum leader, Senator Ilyas Ahmed Bilour said Pakhtuns were arrested under a ‘plan’ to force them to leave Punjab. He warned that the practice would harm the federation.

Mr Bilour, who is a central leader of ANP, said that those creating ‘hatred’ on linguistic lines could not be called patriotic Pakistanis. He said unity was need of the hour to defeat terrorism.

He urged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to avoid giving opportunity to anti-state elements to exploit the situation.

In a separate statement, Qaumi Watan Party provincial chairman Sikandar Sherpao said the ‘biased and racial discrimination’ being carried out against Pakhtuns was against the integrity of the federation.

Demanding immediate halt to the ‘anti-Pakhtun campaign’, he said actions should be taken against all those who were promoting racism in the country.

PML-N central leader Khwaja Mohammad Hoti described the police action against Pakhtuns as an attempt to ignite fire at a time when the nation was fighting militancy. He said Pakhtuns living in Punjab had left their homes in search of livelihood and the police action against them without proper verification was totally wrong.

Meanwhile, a joint meeting of representatives of various traders’ bodies on Wednesday also condemned the crackdown on ‘Pakhtuns’ in Punjab.

The meeting was chaired by Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry vice president Mohammad Iqbal.

Beside others, the meeting was also attended by Swat Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Ahmed Khan, Bajuar chamber president Lali Shah, SCCI former president Zulfiqar Ali Khan and members of local trade associations.

The business community described the current situation extremely alarming for solidarity and integrity of the country and said some people were bent upon dividing the nation on ethnic lines.

The traders said the government should stop the crackdown and ensure that people speaking different languages were fully united to offer every sacrifice for the country’s protection.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2017