September 7, 2003	Sunday	Rajab 9, 1424

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QUETTA, Sept 6: Balochistan National Movement Chairman Dr Hayee Baloch on Saturday accused the government of hatching a conspiracy to turn the native population of Gwadar town into a minority in the name of development programme.

Talking to newsmen, he said the federal government was hesitating to take the provincial assembly into confidence on the master plan of Gwadar.

He said details of the projects were not being divulged to the elected representatives of the area, which showed that the government was denying the local people any role in decision making about the exploitation of resources.

Dr Baloch referred to the strikes by the Sui Gas Company employees and said the fields fulfilled 60 per cent of the national requirement but they were denied facilities.

He said the Baloch people were opposing exploration of resources in view of the treatment of the management of the company with the people in Sui. He said the people opposed development projects because they did not expect to benefit from those plans.

He said the government should honour the decisions of the provincial assemblies of Balochistan, Sindh and the NWFP, that had passed resolutions against the Kalabagh dam and the Thal canal.

The BNM leader said insistence by the government on going ahead with the projects would create disharmony.

He warned that the political parties of the oppressed provinces would resist the policies of the federal government if the sentiments of the smaller nationalities were ignored.

He said the government should abandon the projects that were controversial or unacceptable to the people.

PROTEST MEETINGS: The Jamhoori Watan Party, the Balochistan National Party (Mengal) and the BNM in a recent meeting decided to launch a ‘save Gwadar movement’ and hold protest meetings on Sept 14 and Oct 2 at Sui and Gwadar, respectively, to mobilize the people in this regard.

Speaking at a press conference, BNP-M Secretary-General Habib Jalib Baloch, JWP Information Secretary Senator Amanullah Kanrani and BNM Information Secretary Dr Ishaq Baloch alleged that President Gen Pervez Musharraf’s government was not sincere with Balochistan. They said the usurpers were using Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and Chief Minister Jam Mohammed Yousaf to carry out exploitative projects in the province.

They claimed that the government had decided to implement the so-called uplift programmes by using military force to suppress the natives of Dera Bugti, Kohlu, Jhalawan, Chamalang and Gwadar to utilize the the resources from there for the betterment of Punjab.

They alleged that the government wanted to settle three million people from Punjab and other areas in the Gwadar to change the demographic ratio there.

They expressed the fear that the coastal belt would be separated from the province and linked with the Karachi port to be controlled directly by the federal government.

They said that to foil the conspiracy, their parties had no other option but to demand that the Gwadar project should be wrapped up.

They said the guarantees given in the 1973 Constitution related to oil and gas rights had not been honoured and gas development surcharge and royalty of billions of rupees had not been paid.

The Coastal Development Authority, the Gwadar Port Authority and the Gwadar master plan were established by the federal government to run the projects directly from Islamabad, they said and added that the natives of the town would be shifted 45km away to settle other people.

They warned the government against any military operation or attempt to forcibly impose decisions from Islamabad.