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The inevitable Pakistan-Afghanistan union?

By Moin Ansari

Jean Monnet recommended a United States of Europe. Some European like T.R. Reid, Andrew Reding, and Mark Leonard, among others, believe that the power of the hypothetical United States of Europe will rival that of the United States of America in the 21st century.

“Such proposals include those from King George of Podebrady of Bohemia in 1464; the Duc de Sully of France in the seventeenth century; and the plan of William Penn, the Quaker founder of Pennsylvania, for the establishment of an “European Dyet, Parliament or Estates.”

George Washington wrote to the Marquis de La Fayette: “One day, on the model of the United States of America, a United States of Europe will come into being.”

Like the EU and future of Muslim Asia is MUSLIM ASIA. Call it the United States of Muslim Asia. Call it what you will. United we stand, divided we fall.”

Felix Markham notes how during a conversation on St. Helena, Napoleon remarked, “Europe thus divided into nationalities freely formed and free internally, peace between States would have become easier: the United States of Europe would become a possibility.”[5]

United States of Europe was also the name of the concept presented by Wojciech JastrzÄ™bowski in “About eternal peace between the nations”, published May 31, 1831. The project consisted of 77 articles. The envisioned United States of Europe was to be an international organisation rather than a superstate.Wikipedia

Once the dust settles and the blood is washed. Once the flag goes up to full mast. Once the healing is done, and the battle and lost and won, it will be time to reassess our future.

Not a caliphate or a religious theocracy; Not a means to wage war or expansion; Not through conquest or caputuring captials; not to threaten anyone, but just so that we can all live together in peace.This map is the future.

…the pro-Pakistan Hizb-i-Islami Afghanistan holds about 40 seats in the 249-seat parliament - a sizeable chunk - and it hopes to put up a candidate in next year’s presidential polls. Even if it does not beat President Hamid Karzai, it could serve as a strong opposition catalyst. Antagonism against Karzai and his American masters is also on rise, and Tajik warlords in the north have started negotiations with the Taliban. A Times

Its time to give the NATO soldiers a break. The poor guys are struggling and need to go home. Pakistan can surely help. Leave South Asia alone and leave us to misery. The future of this region is to work together. Afghania and Pakistan can make it work and a peaceful world.

According to Gauhar Ayub in his various writings procalims that King Zahir Shah of Afghanistan had agreed to a confederation with Pakistan with Zahir Shah as the titular head of state of the new country. Mr. Gauhar Ayub calls this an opportunity lost. The desire of uniting the Paskhtuns on both sides of the border is mutual

Chaudhry Rehmat Ali was the Jean Monnet of South Asia. The Original “Now or Never” was produced in 1939 by Ch. Rehmat Ali. This is the new “Now or Never- 2007″. A Muslim Asian Common-market like ASEAN or the EU.

This is the Pakistan we were supposed to get. Chaudhy Rehmat Ali foresaw PAKISTAN as follows.

Continent of Dinia and dependencies Large Ch. Rehmat Ali Big map

Chudhy rehmat Ali forsaw PAKISTAN as follows.Chudhy rehmat Ali forsaw PAKISTAN as follows.

P= Punjab

A= Afghania

K= Kashmir

I= Islam

S= Sindh

TAN= Baluchistan

Chudhy rehmat Ali forsaw PAKISTAN as follows.Like the orignal “Now or Never” this proposal is not to threaten anyone or to create power or territory. This is not a document to incite, or to create a caliphate. This is not a license for military adventures, or terror, or occupation. This is a vision like the vision for the EU. This is a vision for Muslim Asian Union, a voluntary common market. It is to take care of ourselves without help from the outside.

The area controlled by the ISAF-NATO forces in Afghanistan is growing. The area under the anti-occupation forces is growing. The only solution is the merger of Afghanistan into Pakistan as the province of Afghania

Alama Iqbal clearly said “PAKISTAN MANZIL NAHIN NISHAN E MANZIL HAI:”

Chudhy rehmat Ali forsaw PAKISTAN as follows.In the face of carnage and depression, Pakistanis need to keep their head high and keep track of the “Manzil”.

Europe has an image of the future. This is our image for the future. No! Not through wars and revolution, but like the European Union, the future for or part of the world looks green!

The Durand’s experiment has failed. It is time to erase the Durand Line. Mr. Karzai cannot control his area and his writ does not extend beyond Northwest Kabul. Foreign forces should exit the defunct country and failed state called Afghanistan.

The Inevitable Pakistan-Afghan Union by By Abid Ullah Jan

After that a peace Pakistan-Pashtun Peace jirga should be held and all Pashtun provinces should be placed under the command of the tribals and the Pakistani authorities. As a first step all Pashtun provinces should be inculcated into the NWFP now renamed “Afghania”.

As a second step the Pakistani boundary should extend on the the Oxus (Amu Darya). Pakistani forces can keep the peace and NATO will not be needed to take the casualties.

This is not a hair brained scheme of some crackpot to create a caliphate. This is what Chaudhry Rehmat Ali had envisioned when he created the “Now or Never” phamplet on Pakistan.

Afghanistan and Pakistan were part of the Indus Valley Civilzation trading with each other, and with the Silk route ot China and to Sumer and Urr. This is not the first time Afghanistna and Pakistan will be united. Afghan and in particular Tajik traders and scholars regularly travelled to the Indus Valley in ancient times and plied their trade.

The trade corridor from Gwadar to Khyber to Amu Darya would be powerful engine. The economic potential of such a confederation would be enormous and help propel both countries forward economically particularly for Afghanistan, but Pakistan would also benefit considerably. This new confederation would stabilize the entire region as a whole. The economies compliment each other. Pakistan supplies the surplus food to Afghanistan and Afghanistan provides links to Central Asia.

The Pathans of Pakistan.Karachi is the largest Pashtun city in the world. More Pashtuns live in Pakistan than any other country in the world. In Pakistan Pashtuns have been part of the ruling class and make a huge number in the armed forces, totally disproportionate to their population. There have been two famou Pushtun heads of states in Pakistan, Ayub Khan and Yahya Khan.

Pashtuns are known as Pathans in Pakistan. They control the transport business in Karachi and other areas, and are some of the hardest working Pakistanis. They liberated Azad Kashmir and defeated the USSR in Afghanistan. Millions of Afghan Pathans were born in Pakistan. Pakistan hosted the largest number of refugees in the world from Afghanistan, About 3 million refuse to go back and have become part of the Pakistani fabric.

One of the greatest Pathans was Ahmad Shah Abdali who went all the way to Delhi and took the Peocock throne and the Kohinoor.

Da Dili takht herauma cheh rayad krhm, Zma da khkule Pukhtunkhwa da ghre saroona. “I forget the throne of Delhi when I recall, The mountain peaks of my beautiful Pukhtunkhwa.” Ahma Shah Abdali

The Pakistani province of NWFP, popularly known as Sarhad is now being renamed to Paskhtunkhwa based on Ahmad Shah Abdali’s words. Khushal Khan Khattak was one of the greatest poets of Pakistan and of Pakhtunkhwa.

Pashtuns comprise over 15.42% of Pakistan’s population or 25.6 million people.[2] In Afghanistan, they make up an estimated 39%[19] to 42% of the population or 12.4 to 13.3 million people. The exact numbers remain uncertain, particularly in Afghanistan, and are affected by approximately 3 million Afghan refugees that remain in Pakistan, of which 81.5% or 2.49 million are ethnic Pashtuns.[3] An unknown number of refugees continue to reside in Iran.[20] A cumulative population assessment suggests a total of around 42 million across the region Source Wikipedia

According to many historians including Humayun Gauhar and Aslam Khattak (” A Pathan Odessy) a confederation almost happened with Afghanitan in 1956.

The missed opportunity came in 1956-57 when Aslam Khattak was first our First Secretary and then Ambassador in Kabul. By then we had a full-blown ‘Afghan Problem’. Prime Minister Suharawardhy called a meeting in which Army Chief General Ayub Khan “dismissed our neighboring country in proper Sandhurst style. ‘Afghan problem?’ he said gruffly. ‘What is the Afghan problem? A little strategic bombing and an armoured thrust would settle it once and for all!.’” It was then that Pakistan, with Aslam Khattak in ‘Track Two’ mode, so to speak, started the proposal for a Pakistan-Afghan confederation. He wanted to get Prime Minister Sardar Daud on his side because “Daud honestly believed that the Pathans were oppressed in Pakistan. He considered it a duty to help his brethren. He may also have been suspicious about the ‘A’, for Afghan (Afghanica) province in Pakistan. Did it mean we wanted to take over his country? At the same time, we thought that Daud was in league with India and bent upon dividing our country with Delhi. As was often the case in such circumstance, both sides were wrong.” Daud was King Zahir Shah’s first cousin and married to the King’s sister. It was he who eventually deposed Zahir Shah. Khattak went to see Daud and told him that he wanted “to remove the misunderstanding between our countries…”

Next, Khattak separately met the “royal uncles”, Shah Wali and Shah Mahmood, and took them into confidence. “I told him that Pakistan and Afghanistan would have to form a confederation if they were to survive threats from the USSR and India.” After considerable humming and hawing both agreed to take the idea further. “Now I was ready to try my hand with Sardar Daud, whom I thought would be my most difficult hurdle.” After Daud had made his complaints and Khattak had clarified them, including the letter ‘A’ in the name ‘Pakistan’, they decided that there should be an exchange of visits between King Zahir Shah and President Iskander Mirza. Actually both President Mirza and Prime Minister Suhrawardy went to Kabul together, which is highly unusual. While King and President were involved in ceremony, the two Prime Ministers started talking. After they left, Khattak continued the dialogue with Daud, who “suggested that we include some friendly missions in our discussions, such as Turkey and the USA. Sardar Daud said that the Americans should foot the bill of our mutual development projects when we confederated. Both sides would maintain internal autonomy, he proposed, but they would form a Central Government for defence, foreign policy, foreign trade and communications. The Prime Ministers would rotate.”

If you are surprised at how far the dialogue went, there was more. Feroz Khan Noon had replaced Suhrawardy as Prime Minister. Khattak raised the question of head of state of the confederation with him. “In his grand way [Noon] said we should have no difficulty accepting King Zahir Shah as the constitutional head of state. ‘After all, for some time after independence we had a Christian queen. Now we would have a Muslim man’. President Mirza concurred in this.” When Khattak next met Daud, he said that “…a confederation was the correct step to realise our common destiny. I noted that Pakistan was a democratic country and asked what would be the position of the King. He promptly replied, ‘We shall be a republic if Pakistan so desires.’” So here was Pakistan ready to accept the constitutional monarchy of Zahir Shah in the new Pak-Afghan confederation and there was Afghanistan prepared to become a republic.

As to the USA, Aslam Khattak says, “The Americans agreed to help in a big way. They were prepared to enlarge Karachi harbour and to develop another port. They agreed to provide fifty locomotives and five hundred wagons and to extend the Chaman railway to Kandahar and the Torkham rail line to Jalalabad. Sardar Daud wanted them to extend the Jalalabad railhead to Kabul and to commit to connect Kandahar and Kabul by rail.” They had actually got into post-confederation details.


Then came mistakes. Daud came to Pakistan and while inspecting a shipyard in Karachi a bullet ricocheted off a ship and hit Aslam Khattak instead. Undaunted, they decided to bring Ghaffar Khan into the equation. He was released from prison and sent to Kabul, where he agreed to help in removing Pakistan-Afghan differences provided President Mirza agreed to hold a referendum on the One Unit. Mirza agreed. The American Ambassador in Karachi assured Ghaffar Khan through the American Ambassador in Kabul that the referendum would be held. But it wasn’t. “I have never known,” says Aslam Khattak, “exactly why he did not go ahead and do the job that he said he would. He may have got word from some important Pathans in Pakistan that, if the Afghans stopped speaking about the Pushtuns, the Punjabis would literally turn them into camp followers and second-class citizens. At any rate a great chance to change the face of history was missed.” Indeed. Let’s leave it at that. So much water has flown since then.

But consider. If the confederation had happened, it would have automatically meant the end of the Parity Principle and One Unit because the anti-democratic 1956 Constitution would have had to be changed. There would have been no Ayub Khan regime and East Pakistan may still have been with us. The Soviets would not have such a large country. No Soviet occupation means no Jihad. No Jihad means no Mujahideen. The Americans could not have created Osama bin Laden. No Osama means no 9/11.

ZULFIQAR ALI BHUTTO DESTABILIZED SARDAR DAUD

In the 1970s, the roles between Pakistan and Afghanistan reversed despite the Pakistan government’s fresh crackdown on the Baloch and Pashtun Nationalist’s by the government of Zulfiqar Bhutto. The Pakistan government decided to retaliate against the Afghan governments Pakhtunistan policy by supporting Islamist opponents of the Afghan government[6] including future Mujahidin leaders Gulbadin Hekmatyar and Ahmed Shah Masood. This operation was remarkably successful and by 1977 the Afghan government of Sardar Daud was willing to settle all outstanding issues in exchange for a lifting of the ban on the National Awami Party and a commitment towards provincial autonomy for Pashtuns.

The case for a Pakistan Afghanistan Confederation

Pakistan Afghanistan union map

Most Pakistani foresee the eventual unification or reunificaiton of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Both countries are ethnically diverse with large Pashtun minorities. Both countries depend on each other. Pakistan depends on Afghanistna for access to Central Asia, the brithplace of Babar and many Sufis. An unstable Afghanistn has spread instability in Pakistan and vice versa. Afghanistan and Pakistan depend on each other for trade and commerce. Landlocked Afghanitan would benifit from Gwadar and Port Qasim. Pakistan would ebnifit from having access to Uzbekistan. There is commonality of economic, linguistic, cultural, poliitcal, and historical bonds. Most of all both countries are Muslim and share a very strong link in the post-USSR era.

Most scholars agree that its not a matter of if the two countries unite, but rather of when they unite as the two countries histories seem inextricably intertwined. Such a union, would prove beneficial in many aspects. The Afghan (Pashtun) ethnic groups would finally be united and balance each other when part of a myriad of ethnic groups.

Traditionally, when Afghans were united in a nation of their own, they have often been bogged down in internal warfare and tribal feuds. However, when part of a multi ethnic state, they would flourished.

Afghanistan abundant untapped natural resources offer strategic depth which Pakistan lacks. The two countries were united as recently as the 18th century under the Afghan Empire founded by Ahmed Shah Durrani, an Afghan born in Multan, in the province of Panjab in modern day Pakistan

HelmandThe gloomy picture of Afghanistan keeps getting gloomier.

“The Fatherland of Pak Nation (Ali 1940) “North West Frontier Province - is semantically non-descript and socially wrongful. It is non-descript because it merely indicates their geographical situation as a province of old ‘British India’ [which no longer exists]. It is wrongful because it suppresses the social entity of these people. In fact, it suppresses that entity so completely that when composing the name ‘Pakistan’ for our homelands, I had to call the North West Frontier Province the Afghan Province.“Choudhary Rahmat Ali in his book, “Pakistan”

ISAF forcesISAF forces to withdraw ASAP

Taliban controlled areas in AfghanistanTaliban controlled areas in Afghanistan

AfghaniaErasing the boundryCurrent situation in South Asia. Divided tribes, families and people.

Step 1: Confederate the Pashtun together with their Muslim brothers in PakistanAfghania and Pakistan

Federate the provinces togetherGreater Pakistan

Comments

  1. I am a pashtun, I believe we and punjabies are very different in every way. Punjabies are as strange to us as African or American. There is absolutely no way we can live togather. so please give your self a favor and don't day dream. We will never ever forget what Paki punjabi establishment have done to us!!! we will return the favor 1000 fold according to the fundamental pillar of pashtunwali.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rest assured! it is going to be our turn now.

    Log live US of A!!!!!!!!!!! and long live pashtunwali!!!

    ReplyDelete

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