04 February 2005	Friday	24 Zilhaj 1425

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 3: Opposition senators on Thursday lashed out at the federal government's handling of the Balochistan crisis and demanded greater provincial autonomy and handing over of all provincial resources to the government of the province.

Taking part in the debate, senators from both opposition and treasury criticized 'successive army operations' in Balochistan. Sanaullah Baloch of the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (Ponam) traced Balochistan's history since 1947 when it was included in Pakistan on the assurance that its people would get justice and parity in development.

Balochistan, he said, provided strategic depth to the country with a vast coastal line. It was expected to give safe passage to trans-national gas pipelines and had huge natural resources, but when it came to giving Balochistan its share it was offered only 4 per cent on the basis of its population.

The Ponam leader warned that if the people of Balochistan were not given their rights the 'insurgency' would keep growing; there would be no talks and no compromise. He alleged that as a matter of policy Islamabad had kept Balochistan backward until the 90's.

He said four military operations had been carried out in the province since independence, all in the name of maintaining law and order and added that in recruitment for security forces people belonging to provinces other than Balochistan were preferred.

He claimed that in the operation carried out from 1974 to '77, about 5,000 people of Balochistan had lost their lives and 3,500 armymen had been killed. Referring to development work, he pointed out that while the British rulers had laid 1,200km of railway line in two most difficult terrains of the province, no more than 25km was added by successive Pakistani governments during the past 57 years.

He said 23 governors were appointed for Balochistan and 12 of them were from outside the province whose tenure in office was longer than that of any local governor. Mr Baloch dismissed as baseless a propaganda that only a few sardars were creating trouble in the province and said that out of 28 sardars, 24 were toeing the official line whereas the rest were of the stature of national politicians representing their people.

He demanded removal of 33,000 FC personnel from Balochistan and elimination of all imprints of the colonial era. Before any meaningful dialogue could start, he said, troops would have to be withdrawn from Sui and other areas of the province.

He said 584 checkpoints set up in Balochistan were undermining personal freedom of people. Besides, he alleged, these posts had become a hub of corruption for paramilitary personnel.

He said armed forces were not supposed to provide protection to the management of the Pakistan Petroleum Limited which was a commercial concern. Balochs, the senator emphasized, wanted a just system in which they were given their due rights.

Munim Khan Baloch, a treasury senator, said harmony between the centre and provinces had never existed as Islamabad had always been imposing its decisions on the federating units. Such policies, he recalled, had resulted in the dismemberment of East Pakistan.

He said that the parliamentary committee's efforts for reconciliation had been bruised by the deployment of troops in the province. Rehmatullah Kakar of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal said that claims made by the president, the prime minister or the military spokesperson that no military operation had been launched in Balochistan were false.

He said the fact was that a full-scale operation was being carried out in the province. He said no smaller federating unit would compromise on its provincial rights and autonomy.

Aslam Buledi said that the centre had usurped Balochistan's gas royalty from 1954 to 1990 in violation of constitution and the same was the case with gold and copper whose income was divided between the centre and China, except for 2pc given to the province.