ESHA WAR, Dec. 16: The NWEP Governor, Fida Muhammad Khan, has opined that a time will come when the 40 crore Muslims in the subcontinent will demand Akhand Bharat while the Hindus would be constrained to ask for their share in a subservice capacity.
In his candid comments at a reception hosted in his honor at Galyara village 10 miles from Mardan, he said the Muslims of the subcontinent were capable of becoming a force to reckon with. He, however, claimed that the 18 crore Muslims in India and the 10 crore in Bangladesh were living an inferior life than the Muslims of Pakistan. The Governor remarked that it now depended on the younger generation to revenge the wrongs perpetrated against Muslims and to give a befitting reply to the late Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s boastful remarks after the fall of Dhaka that the Hindus had avenged 1100 years of excesses at the hands of the Muslims. The Governor who was totally uninhibited in his remarks, maintained that Pakhtoonistan had already come into being with the coming of the 30 lakh Afghan refugees to NWEP. He said he and his friends will have no objection if the name of the province was changed to Pakhtoonistan. He, however, questioned those who were in the forefront in demanding Pakhtoonistan in the past but had now changed their battle cry and were hinting at a bloody revolution. Fida Muhammad Khan lamented that those who spent months in Kabul savoring the hospitality of Afghan kings like Zahir Shah and dictators like Sardar Daoud were now reluctant to welcome the shelter less Afghan refugees and call them brothers.
The Governor said Pakistan was a small and weak country but it could still not be cowed down by a superpower like the Soviet Union. He added that Pakistan was capable of defending its integrity. He argued that the Muslim League had brought Pakistan into being and it was the only political party capable of saving the country.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 16, 1987
