04 August 2004	Wednesday	17 Jamadi-us-Saani 1425

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ISLAMABAD, Aug 3: The government on Tuesday announced a 'crash programme' against subversive elements in Balochistan. Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat said at a press conference that the government would give a last chance to tribes which were behind violence in Balochistan.

"We will call them for dialogue for the last time and then the crash programme would be launched," he added. He said that the Frontier Corps, Rangers and other law-enforcement agencies would be deployed in the province to maintain peace.

The minister, however, denied reports that a military operation was under way in Balochistan. "That is absolutely wrong. An unfounded propaganda is being aired by some vested interests," he said.

He said some parliamentarians were presenting a distorted picture of Balochistan despite the fact that development activities in the province were in progress. The minister said that the development work in the province was being opposed by feudal and influential people who thought that development would harm their political interests.

These people, he said, placed their own interests above the interests of Balochistan and its people. The interior minister said that mega-projects like the Gwadar port and Saindak project could never be welcomed by tribal leaders in Balochistan.

"The so-called nationalists are enemies of the people of the province. They want to keep Balochistan in the backwaters. They want to misguide simple and innocent people.

We hope they will not be an obstacle in the way of Balochistan's development," he said. "There would be no compromise on the writ of the government, and anyone going against the law would be tackled sternly," the minister warned.