خان عبدالولي خان

From Wikipedia

خان عبدالولي خان
خان عبدالولي خان
د زېږېدو نېټه ۱۱ د جنوري ۱۹۱۷
د مړينې نېټه ۲۶ د جنوري ۲۰۰۶
ګوند عوامي نېشنل پارټي
سياسي دندې
  • د ګوند مشر

خان عبدالولي خان په ۱۱ د جنورۍ، کال ۱۹۱۷ کې پېدا شوی، دی د مرحوم خان عبدالغفار خان ځوی او د پښتو ژبې فلسفي شاعر خان عبدالغني خان ورور دی. که څه هم چې دده د شخصيت په اړوند د بېلابېلو فرقو خپلې ځانګړې څرګندونې دي او آن دا چې د پاکستان په سياست کې ځينې وخت په ده باندې ګوت نيونه شوې او يو ناندريزه شخص بلل شوی خو پدې وروستيو کې د هغه مړينې نه وروسته ټولو په سياست کې د هغه ونډه منلې ده او قدر يې کړی دی، که هغه نه پُخلا کېدونکې سياسي رقيبان او يا هم د ده دُښمنان دي. ولي خان د ډېرو

"Wali Khan had many qualities. Unlike most politicians, he never sought power through the back door. There were temptations galore and offers were made to lure him but he made it clear time and again that he wasn't interested. In the truest sense of the word, he could neither be bought nor cowed down."(Yousafzai, 2006)

He lived for most of his life under the shadow of his influential father Badshah Khan, as a result his families close links with the Indian government and nationalist/communist Afghan governments led to the acusation of being a traitor. Although no charge was ever proven, his support for issues like provincial rights and democratic expression were perceived by Pro Military supporters as additional signs of his "anti-Pakistani activities".


مرحوم ولي خان د اسيا د لوي سياسي مشر او په سيمه کې د عدم تشدد د سياسي پاليسۍ مخکښ او د خدايي خدمتګارانو د پښتني غورځنګ د بانی مرحوم خان عبدالغفار خان (پاچا خان) زوي وو. د ولي خان پلار چې د پښتنو د حقوقو لوي مدافع وو او له برتانوي، پنجابي او بنسټپاله ښکيلاک څخه يې د پښتنو د ازادۍ لپاره ډيرې هلې ځلې او منډې ترړې وکړې، پر خاني فقيري غوره و بلله او د قام په ننګ يې د ژوند ډېر سهارنه او ماښامونه د فرنګيانو او پنجابيانو په جيلونو کې تېر کړل او خپلې کورنۍ ته يې د پښتو پالنه په ميراث کې پرېښې وه٠مرحوم ولي خان د خپل پلار په پله ډير مزل وکړ، خو د پنجابي استعمار او سياسي اړودوړ تورو ګردونو او تيارو ترې لاره ورکه کړه او د ازاد او خپلواک پښتونستان خوب او ارمان يې د قبر تورو تيارو ته له ځانه سره يوړو ولى خان په خپل ٦٠ کلن سياسي ژوند کې په دوه پړاونو کې سياست کړى وو لومړى پړاو يې د خپل پلار باچا خان تر مشرۍ لاندې د هند د ملي کانګرس ګوند په ملګرتيا له نيمې وچې څخه د انګريز ښکېلاک له مېنځه وړل وو او دويم پړاو يې په ١٩٤٧ کال کې د پاکستان تر جوړېدو راهېسته په هيواد کې د پښتنو او نورو قومونو د حقونو تر لاسه کول وو.ولى خان په ١٣ کلنۍ يعنې په کال ١٩٣٠ کې هغه وخت په سياسي ډګر کې پښه کېښودله کله چې د ده پلار خان عبدالغفار خان د انګريزانو پر ضد د مبارزې په مهال زنداني شو او نوموړي په خپل پلرني ټاټوبي چارسده کې د انګريز ښکېلاک پر ضد وړو وړو احتجاجي غونډو ته ويناوې پېل کړې


نيوليک

[سمادول] د ولي خان پخوانی ژوند

Born on January 11, 1917 in Utmanzai town of Charsadda District, he received his early education from Azad Islamia High School and later shifted to Irish government's Deradun Public School. He completed his Senior Cambridge in 1933 and started his political career by joining Khudai Khidmatgar Movement in 1942. The movement was launched by his father prominent Pashtun freedom fighter Abdul Ghaffar Khan, commonly known as Bacha Khan.

Khan Abdul Wali Khan was one of the most politically active sons of Badshah Khan. Wali Khan was a senior politician in Pakistan. He served as President of the National Awami Party, National Democratic Party and Awami National Party (ANP) for many years and served as as the ideological mentor (rehbar) of his party from 1991 till his death. He remained a strong proponent of renaming NWFP Pakhtunkhwa as well as Pashtun and provincial rights throughout his life.

[سمادول] دده سياسي ژوند ته يوه لنډه کتنه

  • 1970 elections Elected from to both National Assembly and Provincial assembly from Charsada. He became the leader of opposition in the National Assembly during the era of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. During that period Wali Khan also played a pivotal role in making the 1973 Constitution.
  • 1988 elections, Khan Abdul Wali Khan elected Member of National assembly from NA-5 after defeating Nisar Muhammad Khan.
  • 1990 general elections Khan Abdul Wali Khan was defeated at the hands of Maulana Hassan Jan of JUI(F).

After his defeat, Khan Abdul Wali Khan was offered a seat in the Senate by the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif or the offer of contesting for the National Assembly from Lahore. He instead chose to retire from politics.


[سمادول] پخوانی سياست

Prior to the creation of Pakistan, in 1947, Wali Khan remained member of the All India Congress Committee and was provincial joint secretary of the party.

His early politics after Pakistan's creation were said to be influenced by two events; one his elder brother Ghani Khan's decision to withdraw from politics, the second his uncle Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan (known as Dr Khan Sahib). Dr Khan Sahib preferred a more pragmatic approach to Pakistani politics and advocated a political reconciliation with Pakistan's establishment.

His Uncle's assassination in front of a young Wali Khan in 1958 influenced him considerably. After the first Military regime of Ayub Khan came to power in 1958, Wali Khan along with many other politicians at the time was imprisoned and disqualified from contesting elections or participating in politics.

[سمادول] Prisoner of Conscience

Wali Khan served several stints in prison during his 48 year long political career. The first was when he was arrested under the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) by the then British Raj in 1943 for his role in the Khudai Khidmatgar movement. In 1948, he was once again arrested this time by the new Pakistani government and he was released in 1954. His third stint in prison was after Ayub Khan's Military government came into power. This was followed by another brief arrest after Yahya Khan ousted Ayub Khan. It was during the Army action in East Pakistan that Wali Khan and the NAP was one of the few parties and groups to oppose the Military Operation.

His final stint in prison was considered a more bitter experience. Arrested on the orders of Prime Minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, accused of treason and put on a trial for his alleged role in the "Hyderabad Conspiracy" and the murder of Sherpao along with close party colleagues, his party was banned and a brutal crackdown was launched against his family and friends. His brother in law was forced into exile, his son was tortured (Cowasjee 1998). In his book Facts are Sacred, he wrote of his various stints in prison with some bitterness: "Much of this book was written during two spells in Jail, one under Field Marshal Mohammad Ayub Khan 1n 1969 and next during the time of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1973. I was handicapped by the fact that I could not obtain the reference books I needed. During the second term especially, I regretted the time wasted. I was mostly in solitary confinement, and could have wholly devoted myself to writing. But under Bhutto, even pen and paper were often not available, leaving alone books."

In addition to prison terms Wali Khan also survived four assasination attempts during his political career. Two of the attempts occurred in Malakand and one in Dir.

[سمادول] Traitor or Patriot?

He has been criticized for backing separatist ideals as well as social unrest in Pakistan. His critics also blame him for alienation of Pashtuns from rest of Pakistan and for supporting "anti Pakistani forces". He remained tagged with the title of traitor by the state run Media and Pakistan's ruling establishment for much of his political career (Ahmed 2006).

His supporters disagree and believe he promoted left of centre progressive and secular politics in Pakistan. Prior to his arrest in 1974 he was in fact striving for a more National role more in line with his position as Leader of the Opposition in Politics and he had started campaigning heavily in Punjab and Sind, where he was attracting large crowds. He also worked with many politicians from Punjab and in particular Baluchistan.

He was also tagged with the accusation of being a communist, he was in fact more of a secular Pashtun Nationalist, his falling out with Baloch Leader Ghous Bizenjo in the late 70's can be traced from his disillusionment with Communism. The role of his ministers in the NAP-JUI government was more pro-business especially in contrast to the leftist programme that the Federal government under the PPP was simultaneaously launching.

Wali Khan and by extension his party and family had a long association with senior leaders in the Congress Party of India because of his fathers close association with Mohandas Gandhi. The preference for dialogue over conflict with India and his links to the country also strengthened the impression that he was anti-Pakistan.

[سمادول] Politics: The Ayub Era & 1964 Presidential Elections

As part of the COP (Combined Opposition Party), the NAP under Wali Khans increasing influence supported the candidature of Fatima Jinnah (sister of of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah) against Military dictator Ayub Khan. Wali Khan supported the COP because of it's political manifesto which advocated the restoration of adult franchise, provincial rights and the dissolution of the controversial One Unit scheme. The election campaign proved a failure, in part because of rigging alleged by the Central government and also because of divisions in the opposition. In particlular in the NAP divisions between Wali Khan and Maulana Bhashani, Bhashani was alleged to have unofficially supported Ayub Khan because of the his governments pro China policy.

These divisions came to the surface in 1967 with the split of the NAP into Wali Khan and Bhashani groups.


[سمادول] Politics: The Bhutto era

Wali Khan was elected to both the provincial Assembly as Member of Provincial Assembly and as Member of National Assembly in the 1970 elections from his home constituency of Charsadda. In the 1970 elections, the NAP swept Baluchistan and won a plurality in NWFP.

  • Tripatriate Agrement

As leader of the largest party in the National Assembly Opposition, Wali Khan led to the signiging of the joint NAP-JUI in 1972, with the PPP called the tripatriate agreement. The agreement led to the lifting of Martial law and the formation of NAP-JUI provincial governments in NWFP and Baluchistan. Despite the initial positive start, the NAP-JUI government in Baluchistan was dismissed by the Federal government, while the NWFP, NAP-JUI government was toppled through defections engineered by the Federal government.

  • Framing the Constitution

Wali Khan subsequent to the tripatriate agreement was appointed leader of Opposition by the joint agreement of all the Opposition. He then led negotiations with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto for the passage of a unanimous constitution. Despite disagreements over various issues ranging from provincial rights to the renaming of NWFP, according to federal negotiator Pirzada, Wali Khan preferred a compromise with the precondition that issues of Judicial independance and provincial rights would be granted by the federal government after transition periods of five and ten years.

[سمادول] Relationship with Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto

His relationship with PPP leader and Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was characterised by bitterness. Wali Khan accused Zulfiqar Bhutto of attempting to arrange his assassination and used to criticise the Prime Minister for his "fascist tendencies" by calling him "Adolph Bhutto".

After the death of ZA Bhuttos close ally in the NWFP, Hayat Sherpao, in a bomb blast. The Federal government banned the National Awami Party and ordered the arrest and imprisonment of most of it's senior leadership including Wali Khan. Wali Khan and his colleagues were put on trial by the widely discredited Hyderabad tribunal (Newburg 1995). The tribunal was subsequently disbanded by Zia-ul Haq after the coup of 1977. The brutality in which Wali Khan and his family experienced during his imprisonment led to little sympathy from him for the plight of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto who was facing execution. Wali Khan is reported to have said to the BBC: "there is one grave and two people (meaning Zia or Bhutto) lets see which gets buried".

[سمادول] Politics in the Zia era

After being freed in 1977, Wali Khan joined the National Democratic Party (NDP) which was led at the time by Sherbaz Mazari and had many former NAP colleagues as members. He refused the post of President preferring to work as an ordinary political worker. Preferring the politics of principles he and his party refused many an offer to join the Zia government as well as one offer to become the head of an interim National government (Mazari 1999). Despite that at the time that many of his political allies had already been co-opted by the offers of Ministries. He later on became one of the founders of the Movement of Restoration of Democracy in 1981.

  • Referendum Boycott

As part of the (MRD), Wali Khan supported the joint decision to boycott the referendum held by Zia ul Haq. The boycott was successful, and turn out in the referendum was poor. However the confidence it gave the opposition proved costly in the 1985 partyless elections.

  • 1985 elections

Zia's decisiont to hold partyless elections in 1985 proved a milestone in Pakistan's political history. Fresh from the success of the refernedum boycott the MRD decided to boycott the partyless elections despite other leaders suggestions to use jointly contest it and use it as another platform to put pressure on the Military government. The boycott proved a mistake, the MRD was hit by defections and turnout in the elections proved relatively high.

  • Awami National Party

In the late 1980's Wali Khan and other former NAP members merged their parties and formed the Awami National Party. The ANP under Wali Khans Presidency contested the 1988 national elections in alliance with former rivals the PPP. The ANP's success in the elections was limited to the NWFP and certain parts of the Province in that election, a sign of the decline in popularity and the growing electoral strength of the PPP. The party subsequently formed a coalition government with PPP leader Aftab Sherpao as Chief Minister of NWFP. The ANP-PPP alliance collapsed in 1989 after a perceived snub by PPP leader and Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and a dispute over Ministerial posts and the governorship of NWFP. After joining the opposition, the Wali Khan started talks with the Army backed IJI (Islamic Democratic Alliance) and joined the alliance for the 1990 elections.

[سمادول] Post Retirement politics

As Wali Khan withdrew from active politics, his contact with the press and public became quite limited. The exception was in 1998 when in response to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's announcement of the construction of Kalabagh Dam Wali Khan led a massive rally against the dam in Nowshera. The rally spurred other parties in particular Benazir Bhutto's PPP into leading a campaign against the construction of the dam. The campaign was successful and Nawaz Sharif dropped the plan.

In another press conference in 2001, Wali Khan showed once again his preference for secular politics over populism. Despite popular Pashtun sympathy for their fellow kinsmen facing the brunt of the US attack post 9-11. Khan Abdul Wali Khan addressed a press conference in Peshawar. In that meeting Wali Khan said that had the US not attacked Afghanistan, the country would have turned into an Arab colony since Osama Bin Laden had a well-equipped army of 16,000 people which far outnumbered the trained soldiers in the Afghan army (Ahmed 2006)

Wali Khans final press conference was in 2003 when he announced his close friend and colleague Ajmal Khattak's rejoing the ANP along with many other colleagues who had briefly led a splinter between the 2000-2002 period.

Wali Khan passed away on the 26th of January 2006 after a long illness. True to the political traditions of his family, his eldest son Asfandyar Wali Khan is now a well respected politician in Pakistani political circles and the present President of the Awami National Party.

[سمادول] References

  • Ahmed, Sarfaraz ( 25th January 2006). Wali Khan leaves behind his ‘mark of treason’. The Daily Times. Available online at [1]
  • Alam, Imtiaz (January 31, 2006) Wali Khan and Pakhtun nationalism . The News. JANG Group. Available online at [2]
  • Cowasjee, Ardeshir (21 June 1997) Murtaza's murder. The Dawn. The DAWN Group. Available online at [3]
  • HP (January 25, 2006) Khan Abdul Wali Khan: His Fathers Shadow? Chowk.com. Available online at [4]
  • Newburg, Paula (2002) Judging the State: Courts and Constitutional Politics in Pakistan (Cambridge South Asian Studies). Cambridge University Press. pp 146-150 ISBN: 0521894409
  • Yousafzai, Rahimullah (31st January 2006) Remembering Wali Khan. The NEWS. Jang group. Available online at [5]

[سمادول] Bibliography:

  • A Journey into Disillusionment by Sherbaz Khan Mazari
  • Pakistan: A dream gone sour by Roedad Khan
  • Facts are Sacred by Wali Khan

[سمادول] See also

  • Awami National Party
  • Badshah Khan
  • North-West Frontier Province
په نورو ژبو کې