The chief minister of Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday endorsed Bangladesh’s founding father Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman statement that Islamabad’s roads were probably being built through revenue earned from Chittagong’s jute fields.
“Sheikh Mujeeb was very right in saying that we, the politicians from West Pakistan, looted Bengalis and deprived them of their rights. The pace of development is fast in Bangladesh now as they have improved their system of governance and are now among few developing nations,” The Express Tribune reports on Sunday quoting CM Pervaiz Khattak while he was addressing rallies at his province.
Khattak’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), is currently in power in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
According to Express Tribune, the head of the PTI Central Media Department Iftikhar Durrani denied Khattak made any statement mentioning East Pakistan or Bangbandhu. He referred to the official PTI handout of Khattak’s address wherein there was no mention of the statement in question. Durrani added that PTI owns “whatever is written in the official handout.”
Meanwhile, political leaders based in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Hazara region called for initiating a treason case against Khattak for “endorsing Sheikh Mujibur Rehman’s views” in a rally.
Aurangzeb Khan Nalotha, the parliamentary leader of ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, called Khattak’s statement a clear violation of the Constitution and said it “proved” the CM was not loyal to the cause of Pakistan. “Saying Pakistani politicians looted Bengalis and clearly endorsing Mujib amounts to sedition,” he said while demanding legal action against Khattak.
Former member of provincial assembly and incumbent nayeb-e--ameer of Jamiat-Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) Mufti Kifayatullah said the chief minister’s comments proved the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership was loyal to India’s cause.
“Mukti Bahini led by Mujib dismembered Pakistan in 1971. The way Khattak endorsed his statement is solid evidence that he has violated the Constitution of Pakistan, which he is sworn to uphold,” he said.
The JUI-F leader added that the timing of Khattak’s statement “suggests it is a deliberate move to convey some message to India.”
“Khattak, after his comments which clearly support India and Bangladesh, does not deserve to be chief minister,” Kifayatullah said.
The chief of Tehreek Suba Hazara Party, Baba Haider Zaman, also expressed similar views, saying that Khattak, by calling Mujib right, showed he supports the India-backed Mukti Bahini. Labelling him ‘anti-state’, Zaman too called for trying the K-P chief minister for treason.
