Jannat Nagar, Jamhoori Manzil
My dear Mahmood Khan, may Allah Almighty protect him!
I hope you are in good health. This is my first letter to you, although acquaintance and familiarity have existed for years. I also had considerable closeness with your father Abdul Samad Achakzai in the 1970s, and here in the Garden of Eden too, we meet frequently. Gatherings are often held with the martyr Abdul Samad, Wali Khan, and Bizenjo; we often recall the period of struggle spent in the mortal world. Sometimes disagreements also occur, but there is complete consensus on the point that the future of Pakistan is democracy, and its only path is the implementation of the agreed-upon 1973 Constitution.
My dear!! Great concern is being felt here regarding your absence from negotiations and expression of displeasure on several matters concerning the resolution of the ongoing crisis between the government and the opposition. In fact, since the founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Prisoner No. 804, appointed you as the Leader of the Opposition, expectations and hopes here had increased significantly. In fact, I had openly told my like-minded friends here that after stepping down from power, Imran Khan made his biggest and wisest decision, because we all believe that you have complete faith in both democracy and reconciliation. It has also been coming to our knowledge that you have always been the custodian of moving forward through negotiations and reconciliation and walking upon democratic traditions. The long struggle of you and your father is also proof that you cannot even think of deviating from your mission.
Dear Mahmood! Floating news reached here in Jannat Nagar that nowadays you are upset, boycotting negotiations, agreeing neither to sit with the Speaker nor willing to go to the Prime Minister’s House to meet. It has also been heard that initially Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf tried to persuade you, but when you did not agree, they agreed to negotiations without you. Rana Sanaullah, in an interview, not only expressed surprise at your behavior but also termed it contrary to the past and entirely contradictory to your logical personality and democratic training. It is not necessary that these talks and impression are correct. It is being heard that you first want implementation of the condition of your meeting with Imran Khan, and want negotiations on remaining matters after that. There is logic in your point that any agreement or reconciliation made without Imran Khan’s consent and willingness will not be effective, but there is weight in the logic of continuing negotiations and consensus as well that the meeting with Imran should take place when an agreement is reached with the government on some concession for the prisoner and fellow prisoners. If the meeting with Imran takes place without any progress, it will be useless; if the meeting with Imran Khan takes place with progress, it can be more beneficial.
My dear! I realize that you are deeply upset with Speaker of the National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq, and then naturally you would also have complaints against the behavior of inexperienced people of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. You would also have a grievance with your old PML-N friends Nawaz Sharif and Shehbaz Sharif that, not respecting the decades-old relationship, they neither met you separately nor gave you the honor and respect you deserve. It is also being heard that you are not happy about Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s contact with Maulana Fazlur Rehman behind the scenes. In response to your criticism, government circles say that earlier there was thick friendship with Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, but then a disagreement arose over the appointment of a Customs Collector in Balochistan; there are also differences over the protocol and privileges of the Leader of the Opposition. All this could be rubbish and lies, and there could also be a possibility of a mix of truth in it. It could also be that Mahmood Khan, you are one hundred percent truthful and this is propaganda. It is also possible that your opinion is more democratic, more logical, and more principled, but it is absolutely wrong for the impression to emerge that you want to fail the negotiations or that you are an obstacle in the path of negotiations.
Dear Mahmood! Just yesterday, I happened to meet Mian Muhammad Sharif and his daughter-in-law Kulsoom Nawaz at an event. Mian Sharif and Begum Kulsoom were both talking about your democratic struggle and past services as an ally of PML-N, and were also surprised and worried about why Achakzai has become so upset. A Pashtun leader sitting there said that if a Pashtun’s ego is hurt, he does not agree to peace.
My dear! Doing opposition in the Third World is the most difficult thing. What did Bhutto not do to the opposition? We went to prisons, but I and your father Abdul Samad Achakzai still supported the enforcement of the 1973 Constitution. Then in 1977, Mufti Mahmood and Professor Ghafoor were locked in prisons; we were brought from Sihala Rest House for negotiations. We used to go for negotiations without hesitation to government chambers, the Prime Minister’s House, and Parliament everywhere. Despite severe opposition, we also accepted that if Bhutto holds elections again as Prime Minister, we would accept it. But Asghar Khan and some associates of Zia-ul-Haq had contact, due to which negotiations were on the verge of success but remained incomplete, and then Zia-ul-Haq’s long martial law was imposed. If the negotiations had succeeded, perhaps the direction of history would have turned, and repeated martial laws would not have been imposed in Pakistan. Keeping past experiences in mind, the conclusion is that negotiations and reconciliation among political parties can be the guarantors of running democracy and the democratic system. Be it NRO, a deal, or government-opposition reconciliation, this is the only way through which you can block the path of dictatorships.
Dear Leader of the Opposition!
The biggest test of any era is that the wiser and more experienced person has to ignore his ego and temporary anger to take the less wise and less experienced along. If the wise and experienced politician himself gets upset and sits at home, how will the ship of the country cross? If you were part of these negotiations, it was entirely possible with your personal weight and logical arguments that these negotiations would not only succeed, but you would also secure for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Imran Khan that which seems impossible. Even now, spit out the anger, do not let the plume of ego come in the way, give another twist to the shawl placed on your shoulder, and soften your stance. Recently, regarding the new constitution your party drafted, there is debate going on inside the Election Commission and it is being declared against Pakistan. Your attitude and thinking have always remained positive for a democratic Pakistan. It is the request of all residents of Jannat Nagar to you that sacrificing personal interest or enmity for the national interest has been the tradition of great leaders. Become big; small matters and behaviors make a human small, avoid this path.
Yours in peace,
Nawabzada Nasrullah Khan