January 19, 2006	Thursday	Zilhaj 18, 1426

KARACHI, Jan 18: Baloch nationalist leaders have rejected President Musharraf’s allegation that a few sardars of Balochistan were creating restive conditions in the country.

They said that “such a propaganda is a ploy to distract people’s attention from real issues,” adding that in fact, denial of political and economic rights to smaller provinces by the Islamabad rulers was the main cause of the unrest.

Commenting on the president’s address to the nation on Tuesday, Secretary-General of the Jamhoori Watan Party Agha Shahid Hasan said the Balochistan problem could not benefit any sardar, adding that the problem was a political issue that related to the sovereign rights of the Baloch people.

He maintained that Baloch leaders had always preferred national interests over personal ones. Evidently, he referred to the formation of parliamentary committees set up to sort out the issues pertaining to that province.

He said: “we have submitted our demands and suggestions to these committees to sort out the issue through dialogue but it was the government which would always resort to obstructing the process and turning the situation worse as was evident from the development which followed. In this context, he pointed out that the parliamentary committees stopped their work abruptly and the government did not accept the recommendations made by one of these committees.

The JWP leader was of the view that the government was not sincere in resolving the Balochistan issue through political means, rather it wanted to settle it through the barrels of gun. The situation in Dera Bugti and Kohlu areas, where firing and strafing have become a routine affair, reflected the same approach, he added.

Regarding the possibility of resumption of the dialogue, Agha Shahid said: “the ball is in the government’s court now as we have already submitted our demands and suggestions.”

He, however, made it clear that such negotiations could not be held at gunpoint. “If the government is sincere in resolving the issue, it would have to stop the military operation immediately, create a congenial atmosphere and take confidence-building measures.

At the same time, the JWP leader said the government should stop thinking that it could subjugate the Baloch people through guns and heavy bombardment and by taking control of their resources.

Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, Secretary-General of the National Party (NP) said that the president’s allegation was baseless, adding that autonomy had always been the real issue in that province.

He accused the Centre of denying the people of Balochistan their right to manage their province’s economy by themselves and make decisions independently through their elected representatives.

The NP leader maintained that the anarchic situation prevailing in the province, for that matter in the country, could not the blamed on a few sardars. He also condemned the rulers for adopting oppressive methods against Baloch people, thereby complicating the issue.

He said his party always opposed an authoritarian rule and dictatorship as decisions taken by such rulers would only harm the country’s integrity.

Mir Bizenjo criticized the president’s act of taking a decision on the NFC award, maintaining that an individual had no right to take a decision on the vital issue while ignoring the elected representatives from the federation and the federating units who were very much there.

The Baloch National Movement (BNM) has also rejected the president’s contention with regard to the situation in Balochistan, and accused him of having tried to hoodwink the nation by claiming that no military operation was under way in that province.

In a statement issued here on Wednesday, BNM leader Ghulam Mohammad Baloch said this showed that the rulers in Islamabad were not interested in resolving the Balochistan problem. Rather, he added, they wanted to continue with the operation.

The Karachi-based Baloch Alliance and the All Parties Baloch Prisoners Release, in a statement, have expressed their concern over the deteriorating health condition of the BSO leader, Allah Nazar Baloch, who is in the custody of security agencies.

They claimed that the leader was being subjected to torture and inhuman treatment.