October 26, 2003	Sunday	Sha’aban 29, 1424

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GWADAR, Oct 25: Chief Minister Jam Mir Mohammad Yusuf has said that his government will foil all conspiracies hatched against the province of Balochistan.

He was addressing a public meeting organized by the National Alliance here on Friday.

The meeting was also addressed by former president of Pakistan Sardar Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari, federal ministers Abdul Sattar Laleka, Zubaida Jalal, Ali Ahmed and Senator Mir Mohim Khan Baloch.

The chief minister declared that no one could separate Balochistan from Pakistan.

“Nationalist forces are living in a fool’s paradise,” he told the participants of the meeting who came from different areas of the Makran region.

“No Nawab and Sardar would obstruct the development process in Gwadar,” he announced and added that those who were opposing Gwadar’s development and construction of the new port city were not well-wishers of the Baloch population.

He said:” Sometimes it is said that the Balochi people are being converted into a minority and the trade of Balochistan is being controlled by people hailing from other provinces; this is wrong.”

He said it was wrong to say that the federal government would retain all the powers in the new port city of Gwadar.

“It is all wrong,” he said and added that the provincial government was enjoying all powers and would use its authority to safeguard the interest of the local people.

About the charges levelled against his cabinet colleagues that they were agents of the federal government he said, it was all rubbish.

The chief minister asked his political opponents why they did not oppose Nawaz Sharif when he announced that Gwadar would be sold out to a foreign company for $500. He said that if the people of Gwadar could not benefit from the port, he would be the first one to strongly oppose the project.

Without naming the newly formed National Party, Mr Yusuf criticized its leadership arguing that in the past they opposed the Nawabs and Sardars and now they were their allies.

Former president of Pakistan Sardar Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari while speaking at the public meeting said that he was a Baloch but did not believe in nationalism.

“We are all Pakistanis and it is the responsibility of the government to help develop all the provinces of Pakistan,” he said.

He said Balochistan needed special attention and in this connection Islamabad could play an important role.

He said that in the new National Finance Commission Award Balochistan should be provided with resources according to its requirements and not just on the basis of population.

Federal Minister for Education Zubaida Jalal said that the process of economic development in Balochistan could not be reversed at any stage.

She criticized the so-called nationalists for hoodwinking the poor masses.