At a time when the Pakhtuns are being depicted by the Western media as extremists and terrorists, a group of Pakhtun diaspora in Europe has launched a forum named Peace for Pakhtun Now.
Jan Assakzai, a London-based Pakhtun from Balochistan’s Pishin district, is the founding chairman of the forum in London. Hundreds of Pakhtuns from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and other Pakhtun-populated areas in the country live in London and rest of UK and many have already joined the organisation.
Having lived in the United Kingdom for the last 11 years, Jan Assakzai was quoted as saying by an online magazine Pakhtun Voice that the primary task of the forum was to portray the Pakhtun as peace-loving nation to the world and pinpoint the government policies that turned the Pakhtun areas into a battlefield for vested interests.
To a question, he said: “It is commonly believed in Europe that Pakhtun areas in Pakistan are supplying more recruits to Al-Qaeda and terrorists to undermine the interest of the Western countries than any part of the world.” But we have to prove this impression wrong by presenting the true picture, he added.
“We are Pakhtuns and are always ready to stand up for Pakhtuns’ rights to have a peaceful coexistence in a democratic Pakistan and that is why we have the right to criticise the anti-Pakhtun policies of the government and establishment,” he stressed.
The initiative of launching the forum for presenting Pakhtuns as peaceful people was taken by a small group of Pakhtuns living in the UK. It plans to arrange a get-together in London from all over Europe from where they would expand to other parts of Europe with a consensus agenda.
To a query, he said that over 1,000 people had sent him emails and every day more people were appreciating the forum. “People are sending me emails from Europe, North America, Middle East and Pakistan for joining the group,” he added.
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