Preface

This booklet of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan's (also known as Baacha Khan/ Badshah Khan) speeches in legislative Assembly/parliament, in the formative phase of Pakistan, reflects his piety, simplicity, wisdom, boldness and love for his nation. It bears testimony to how true he was to his cause and his nation and how he was mistreated and under taken by the ruling elite, who pushed a newly born country from democracy, constitutionalism and purity to a dark labyrinth of theocratic constitutionalism, Mullahism, feudalism, sectarian and conservatism in its embryonic stage. It is an irony of fate that the colonial mindset of the founding fathers of the country in the pre-partition period's socio-political scenario did not change even with the colossal human losses and mass migration from one dominion to another in 1947.
The other reason for the conflicting approach between the new rulers of Pakistan and the Pashtun leaders was that the Pashtun nationalist movement was secular and pluralistic in its very nature while Muslim Leagueers for various reasons were communalists and pro-West in their approach. So they naturally identified, rightly or wrongly, the Pashtun nationalist movement with the Soviet expansionism and pro-Indianism. All their actions whether political, social or cultural were considered to be a conspiracy of the Bolsheviks in their struggle to secure access to the �warm water� or the design of Kabul regime for creating Greater Pukhtoonistan. We hope that our leaders and parliamentarians would learn a lot from these speeches of our great leader Baacha Khan.
We are extremely thankful to Miss Bushra Gohar (Member of the National Assembly) of ANP who has been kind enough to spare her precious time for searching out Baacha Khan Speeches (in the Legislative Assembly debates) from the library of National Assembly of Pakistan, Islamabad. I am also thankful to the Baacha Khan Research Center, Baacha Khan Markaz, Peshawar for composing and designing this booklet


Dr. Fazal-ur-Rahim Marwat
Chairman Baacha Khan Research Centre

Obaidullah Buneri

" Pakhtuns are victims of turban-wearing terrorists in the nroth and jeans-wearing terrorists in the south". Senator Afrasiab Khattak

 “Pakhtuns went to Karachi for service of Karachiites but their relatives are receiving dead bodies, which is most regrettable”. Bashir Bilour

Karachi/Peshawar/Buner. Unidentified armed men gunned down Obaidullah Yousafzai and his colleague Thursday evening. The incident took place near the Cargo Terminal of the Karachi Airport.
Obaidullah Yousufzai, Chief Security In Charge (Salaar) of the Awami National Party in Sindh Province was working with PIA Cargo. ANP Sindh announces three-day mourning on Obaidullah death.

Dead body of Obaidullah was brought to Peshawar last night and was laid to rest this morning in his native village Ghoorghashto, Totalai area of district Buner. Obaidullah, 55, left two wives, a daughter and two sons.

Senator Mohammad Adeel

Peshawar: Senior vice president of Awami National Party Senator Haji Mohammad Adeel has strongly condemned the statement of Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani wherein he said that flood losses could have been averted if Kalabagh Dam had been build.
Haji Adeel said it seemed that prime minister was issuing statements only to save Punjab province. " Had Kalabagh Dam been made, the floodwater would compounded the crisis in Nowshera, Charsadda and surrounding areas" Adil said.

The un-precedent flooding has had a heavy toll on the lives, livelihoods and infrastructure in 22 districts of the Province. Over 1000 precious lives have been lost and many still unaccounted for. The number of people rendered shelter-less by the floods has risen to over 3 million people. Over 100 main roads and bridges have been washed away, electricity and telephone services cut off making access to the families stuck in remote areas a major challenge for the Government and relief organizations. Rushing water has washed away thousands of acres of crops, government buildings, businesses, schools, bridges and homes. Flood waters have destroyed much of the health infrastructure in the worst affected areas, leaving inhabitants especially vulnerable to water-borne diseases.