May 11, 2005	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 2, 1426

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ISLAMABAD, May 10: Leader of the opposition in the Senate and PPP leader Mian Raza Rabbani on Tuesday warned “the leadership of the king’s party” that one-sided solution to the Balochistan problem and the provincial autonomy issue would not be accepted.

“No solution to the political problems of Balochistan and no exercise to give the provinces autonomy can have legitimacy or acceptability unless all parties are taken on board,” the PPP leader said in a statement on Tuesday.

Mian Rabbani issued the statement as a rejoinder to the reported assertion by the ruling party leadership that the PPP would not be consulted on the autonomy issue, particularly relating to Balochistan.

“This is most unfortunate and betrays a lack of comprehension of the consequences of keeping the largest party from the process of consultation on such a vital issue,” he said.

“The king’s party has already denied space to Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (Ponm) and Nawab Akbar Bugti’s Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP). Now, it is talking of denying space to PPP as well,” the opposition leader said.

He said excluding the PPP from the dialogue on vital political issues “will render the whole exercise on building provincial harmony meaningless and redundant”.

“It has become clear to the people that the rulers are not interested in promoting provincial harmony and all the talk about it is nothing but sound and fury signifying nothing,” he added.

Mian Rabbani asserted that the PPP was the country’s largest political party and it secured the largest number of votes in the October 2OO2 elections despite the heavy manipulation and staking the decks against it.

“It was also the author of the consensus behind the 1973 Constitution to make it acceptable to all federating units and all political parties,” he said. “How can such a party be ignored in making constitutional amendments aimed at giving the provinces greater autonomy?” he asked.