08 March 2005	Tuesday	26 Muharram 1426

QUETTA, March 7: The leader of opposition in Balochistan Assembly, Kachkol Baloch, has said that the federation should retain defence, currency and foreign affairs and transfer the remaining subjects to provinces in order to resolve the autonomy issue.

Speaking at a press conference in his assembly chamber, he said that implementation of the 1940 Lahore Resolution, adopted by the Pakistan Muslim League, would satisfy the oppressed nationalities who wanted the country's affairs to be run in consultation with the federating units.

Mr Kachkol asserted that denial of power to provinces to control their resources was the root-cause of differences between the pro-centre forces and smaller nationalities, adding that the federation controlled 99 per cent powers while provinces kept begging for funds.

He claimed that the current uncertainty in the country was a result of the establishment's insistence to keep the resources of Balochistan, the NWFP and Sindh at its command to benefit Punjab.

The opposition leader in the provincial assembly, who belongs to the National Party, said that the rulers must run the country according to the spirit of federal parliamentary system if they wanted to resolve Balochistan issue.

They must grant maximum autonomy to the provinces to control their resources, he emphasized. He said the founder of the nation, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, championed the cause of federation and one of the 14 points presented by him was that the future Constitution should be federal in nature so that federating units received maximum autonomy.

After the demise of the founder of the nation, the rulers ignored the PML resolution of 1940 and ran the country through an exploitative system, denying 'national rights' to oppressed nationalities which resulted in the dismemberment of country.

Mr Kachkol claimed that the government received Rs84 billion revenue from Sui gas but Balochistan was paid a meagre sum of Rs6 billion under the head of excise royalty and gas development surcharge. This, he said, was a great injustice with the people of the province. He urged the political leadership of NWFP and Sindh to launch struggle collectively with Balochistan to win autonomy for the oppressed nationalities.