We must unite against undemocratic system, says Mahmood Khan Achakzai

ISLAMABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party chairman and Tehreek Tahaffuz-e-Ayeen Pakistan head Mahmood Khan Achakzai told the media outside Parliament House that it is said Mahmood does not do this and Mahmood does not do that.

He said that in the Assembly yesterday he had asked Shehbaz Sharif to come to the opposition office, have tea with them and invite them. He said he was ready to go wherever the talks were to be held. Or he would himself go to the Prime Minister House and invite him for talks.

Talks and the Speaker’s role

Mahmood Khan Achakzai said the talks would not be held the way Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the leaders of the Tehreek Tahaffuz-e-Ayeen Pakistan had been mocked. He said these people made speeches and gave the names of their representatives, and the names of all of them were struck off.

Addressing the Speaker, he said: what kind of policing is this, who gave you this authority, who are you? Those who watch our conduct will look at the rules, the Constitution and the law. Here everyone becomes a spokesman for undemocratic forces.

He said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was going through a bad time today. He and Allama Raja Nasir Abbas, he said, promise God and the people that they will fight this undemocratic system democratically in the streets. They will not abuse anyone and will go to bar rooms to speak to lawyers.

He said it is the duty of every Pakistani who wants to save this country, and wants Pakistan to be a democratic country where the vote is respected, Parliament is powerful and every institution stays within its limits, to unite against this undemocratic system. Otherwise, he said, they will leave Pakistan nowhere. “We will not let them break Pakistan.”

Recording of speeches and censorship

He said assemblies have rules and regulations, and under the Constitution every speech made in the House must be recorded so that the people can hear what their representatives say. He said the people are the final judge, and the history of nations is preserved in speeches.

He said that yesterday the remarks of his colleagues were struck from the proceedings. According to him, he had named 10 members of the National Assembly and nothing he said was wrong. He said he had said all this in nine minutes, but a speech of four and a half minutes was broadcast for the people of Pakistan.

He said that in France lakhs of people came out, hundreds of vehicles were set on fire and the Eiffel Tower was also set on fire, but French police have not yet fired at anyone. According to him, people were killed in Kashmir, among Labbaik workers and in Gilgit-Baltistan, and the Speaker censored all of it on his own authority.

He said: “You keep censoring, we will keep coming here and speaking, or we will build a system in which our words are recorded even if you do not want it.”

Giving historical references, he said the first emergency was imposed in 1954, which resulted in the defeat of the Muslim League in East Pakistan. He also mentioned a gathering of political parties in London and the withdrawal of nine thousand criminal cases.

He said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s only demand was that it be allowed to meet its leader. According to him, the agreement was to be approved by the cabinet, but on Sunday itself the cabinet announced that everything was over and that governor’s rule be imposed.

He said a democratic Pakistan must have a powerful Parliament, and whoever wins an election must be given their right. Otherwise, he said, he will no longer have trust in this system.