Nawaz not a genuine Muslim Leaguer

LAHORE PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif should not have accepted Pukhtoonkhawa as part of the new name of the Frontier province if he is a genuine Muslim Leaguer. Addressing a programme on 'Muslim League and Renaming of NWFP at the Hameed Nizami Hall here Tuesday PML-Functional (PML-F) General Secretary Sheikh Anwar Saeed further said, Nawaz Sharif leads a party under the name of Muslim League, but he was not a genuine Muslim Leaguer, as he came from Tehrik-e-Istaqlal and never represented the real League. He remarked that Muslim League was an ideological entity and the force behind the creation of Pakistan, and no real League could accept Pukhtoonkhawa in configuration of new name of the NWFP. He asked Nawaz Sharif to tell the masses why he accepted Pukhtoonkhawa demand, as masses would never support him on the issue of new name of the NWFP. If we accept Pukhtoonkhawa today, then the people of Hazara, Swabi and south Punjab may also demand new provinces on the basis of their ethnicity, he maintained. Expressing his apprehensions about the US designs in the region, he said that the US wanted Greater Balochistan, Punjab and Pukhtoonkhawa and the new name of the NWFP was the part of the US plan. The NWFP people had rejected 'Pukhtoonkhawa in a referendum of 1947, and those forces who made this demand were against the creation of Pakistan, he observed, adding they would once again reject Pukhtoonkhawa if a referendum was held today. All the factions of Muslim League except the PML-N were opposing the new name of the Frontier, the PML-F leader said and opined all the like-minded groups of the League on the issue of Pukhtoonkhawa should launch a joint struggle to block this conspiracy for safeguarding the federation of the country. Anwar appealed to the people of Frontier and other provinces to get united to fail all conspiracies against the federation. Suggesting the formula for the new name of the province, he said, We should come up with a name, which should be accepted to all the nationalities of the NWFP and Khyber, while the provinces should be given autonomy but not on the cost of the federation. He demanded of the rulers that they should address the real issues of the masses after the presentation of the 18th amendment in the Parliament, as the said amendment had no concern with the problems of the people of this country. Anwar was against the elimination of 58(2)b, which according to him, could turn the prime minister into a civilian dictator. The programme was organised by The Nation, Nawa-i-Waqt and Waqt News.

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