18 February 2005	Friday	08 Muharram 1426

KARACHI, Feb 17: Secretary General of the National Party Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo has warned that the situation in Balochistan is aggravating with every passing day as there exists nothing by the name of government. The affairs of the province are being run by agencies, he claimed.

Mr Bizenjo, accompanied by several other party leaders, including Mr Shakeel Baloch and Mir Mohammad Akram Baloch, was addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Thursday. He said that establishment of cantonments was not in the interest of Balochistan. The province, he claimed, had virtually been handed over to the armed forces.

Commenting on a meeting held by certain Baloch leaders with the US ambassador, the NP leader said it was nothing more than a briefing session where the situation prevailing in Balochistan had been discussed.

The ambassador had flown into the city from Islamabad and invited the Baloch leaders to a luncheon meeting. Those who attended the meeting were Sardar Attaullah Khan Mengal, Sardar Sherbaz Mazari, Mr Kachkol Ali, Sardar Akhtar Mengal, Mr Shahid Bugti and Mr Jafar Khan Mandokhel.

Mr Hasil Bizenjo said he did not see US involvement in the events that led to unrest in Balochistan. Regarding other matters, he said the federal government was raising irrelevant issues to divert people's attention from the situation in Balochistan in order to give the impression that the situation was not grave and the events were of no significance.

In reply to a question, Mr Bizenjo referred to the devastation and loss of many lives in the rain and flood-hit areas of the province, and observed that the flooding had exposed the quality of construction along the coastal highway where the embankments could not stand the currents.

The breach in Shadi Kor Dam and flooding in Dasht River had caused devastation in adjoining areas, submerging scores of villages and more than half a dozen farms. He pointed out that over 50 villages, from Mirani Dam to Jeewani, had sustained heavy damage due to the flooding in Dasht River. The strong currents, he said, also swept away 100 tubewells.

Mr Bizenjo castigated the authorities for failing to reach hundreds of families rendered homeless in Balochistan, and said they had been left alone to meet their fate under the open sky in the harsh cold weather. Most of the families in distress had received no relief goods so far, he regretted.

The ANP leader demanded that all the centuries-old embankments washed away in the floods be rebuilt, agricultural loans extended to the farmers of the flood-hit areas be written off, and interest-free loans be extended to them to help them rehabilitate themselves.

He suggested that a joint committee of the government and opposition representatives be formed to supervise the relief operation. Mr Bizenjo also demanded that the fishermen who lost their boats in the floods be given compensation and immediate measures be taken to repair of the Shadi Kor Dam, Phuleri Dam and Belar dam.