25 February 2005	Friday	15 Muharram 1426

ISLAMABAD, Feb 24: The opposition blamed the policies of the past and present military rulers for the present unrest in Balochistan as the National Assembly began a three-day debate on injustices done to the province.

All speakers from both the opposition and treasury benches called for seeking a political solution to the problems of the country's largest but least populated province rather than resorting to any military operation that failed in the past.

Some government critics used the opposition-sought debate to attack President Pervez Musharraf, with Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal President Qazi Hussain Ahmed threatening street agitation against what he called 'the military presidential system'.

Twenty-three adjournment motions, filed mainly by members of the main opposition groupings of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy and the MMA, were clubbed together by Speaker Chaudhdry Amir Hussain for a discussion on the situation in Balochistan on the lines of a similar debate held in the Senate earlier this month.

Opening the debate, the MMA chief described the Balochistan situation as a volcano and accused 'an individual's military government' of seeking solution to every problem through a military action instead of using political means.

He called for a separation of the offices of the president and the army chief, both of which are now held by General Musharraf who, he said, had been army chief so long that there was no contemporary general left in service to give him a frank advice.

Qazi Hussain said his alliance of six Islamic parties was seeking to use the present parliament to 'finish the remnants of military dictatorship' and restore the supremacy of parliament and the Constitution.

"We will not accept the military presidential system," he said. "We will come on the streets if our voice of reason is not heard, and will liquidate the military government."

Aitzaz Ahsan of the People's Party Parliamentarians, who was the other main opposition speaker for the day, called Balochistan 'a province of deprivations' and urged the government to talk to political leadership there to remove their grievances on issues ranging from autonomy to share in employment, royalty on natural gas and the establishment of new cantonments.

"Every political problem requires taking political leadership into confidence," he said, and added: "You will have to talk to (former prime ministers) Benazir Bhutto ... and Nawaz Sharif and you will have to do the same in Balochistan."

He also asked the government to present before the house the report of a parliamentary committee on Balochistan and assured his party's support for the implementation of good proposals.

Mr Aitzaz said an army officer accused in the criminal assault of a lady doctor in Balochistan's Sui township should prove his innocence before a court rather be protected by the military from prosecution.

The government policies were also attacked by two more opposition members - PPP's Sher Mohammad Baloch and MMA's Bakhtiar Mani - who spoke before the house was adjourned till 10am on Friday.

Two speakers from the ruling coalition partner Muttahida Qaumi Movement - Nisar Panhwar and Abid Ali Umang - called for a dialogue with the Baloch leadership and avoiding any military operation in the province.