15 January 2005	Saturday	04 Zilhaj 1425

PESHAWAR, Jan 14: The Awami National Party (ANP) has warned the federal government against carrying out military operation in Balochistan, saying the use of force would result in the country's devastation.

It advised the government to scrap its current policy on Balochistan and seek a solution to the crisis through a meaningful dialogue with the people of Balochistan and by taking them into confidence.

In a joint press release issued here on Friday, ANP chief Asfandyar Wali Khan and head of the party's NWFP chapter Begum Nasim Wali Khan assured ANP's support to the nationalist forces and people of Balochistan in "their attempts to seek their constitutional rights".

They said the use of power against the people of Balochistan would pose risk to the unity and integrity of Pakistan. Therefore, the government should desist from using this option.

They said the country lost its eastern wing in 1971 because of the then government's decision to find a solution to a political crisis by the use of force. "We should learn from our past and must not repeat the mistakes which cost us heavily," said the ANP leaders.

They said the people of Balochistan should be taken into confidence through a meaningful dialogue. They added that solution to ethnic groups' grievances should be found through mutual understanding and through means of negotiations to address the growing sense of deprivation among the people of smaller provinces.

The situation in Balochistan, they added, had developed because of the state's refusal to believe in democratic principles. "Actually," they maintained, "the people of Balochistan want the authority to control the natural resources of their area and protect national and cultural identity. That is their fundamental right."

They said the people of smaller provinces had been raising voice about their grievances viz-a-viz denial of rights to smaller province and the government's existing policy on the Balochistan imbroglio had added more to it.

They took exception to President General Pervez Musharraf's remarks about using force in Balochistan to bring things under control. The ANP leaders reminded him that even the lone super power of the world - the US - could not achieve its goals 100 per cent by using power.

Use of force in Iraq and Palestine, they added, did not help end the crisis, rather it exacerbated it. "The rulers should not risk the sovereignty of the country by overestimating their firepower. If the government resorted to use of force in Balochistan the ANP would not remain a silent spectator," they warned.