KARACHI, April 6: The day-long siege of Sardar Akhtar Mengal’s residence in DHA on Wednesday by the law enforcement agencies has been widely deplored by representatives of political parties and civil society organizations who described it as “a serious attack on fundamental human rights by the military-led regime.”
Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s coordination committee on Thursday strongly condemned the siege of the residence of Sardar Mengal, who is chief of the Balochistan National Party and a former chief minister of Balochistan.
In a statement issued from the MQM headquarters in Karachi, the coordination committee observed that due to the prevailing ‘civil war’ in Balochistan, the country was passing through very dangerous and critical phase and it was therefore imperative to resolve the situation through negotiations.
It maintained that instead of resolving issues through dialogue, laying a siege of the residence of Baloch leaders could seriously aggravate the situation. It was of the view that the siege was reflective of the mindset of those elements who were opposed to any negotiated settlement of the Balochistan issue. These elements, it maintained were trying to push their agenda trough the barrel of the gun which was not only a wrong approach, but dangerous too.
It demanded that President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz should take serious notice of the action and resolve the issue through the spirit of accommodation.
The Baloch Students Organization (BSO) has announced a week-long protest drive starting Thursday (April 6) against the Wednesday siege. It said that the present struggle in Balochistan was aimed at getting the historic Baloch state restored, and the same would continue till that goal was achieved.
HRCP: Secretary General of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Iqbal Haider has strongly condemned the “attack on Sardar Akhtar Mengal’s house, illegal detention of his guards and the threats and harassment to his family on the part of the government agencies,” PPI adds.
“It shows us that the government has gone berserk in its rage to victimize Baloch people, and is violating the fundamental human rights of innocent Pakistanis throughout the country, especially Balochistan,” he said in a statement issued here on Thursday.
The Government must immediately release the Sardar’s employees and avoid implicating them in false cases, he demanded, adding that the government should also give an explanation of this harassment. “Such types of incidents are an unjustifiable excessive use of state force,” he said.
RAZA RABBANI: Leader of the opposition in Senate and Deputy Secretary General of Pakistan People’s Party Mian Raza Rabbani has strongly condemned the government for putting Sardar Akhtar Mengal under house arrest and laying of a siege to his residence by a heavy contingent of law-enforcement agencies.
“It appears from this act of the government that the law of jungle prevails. It also is a manifestation of how the government abuses the state power for terrorizing its political opponents,” he said in a statement on Thursday.
Mr Rabbani said that Balochistan problem was a political issue that could not be resolved through the use of state force, but only through a dialogue.
Deploring the non-implementation of the recommendations put forward by the committee headed by Senator Mushahid Hussain of the ruling PML, he said it proved that the government was not serious in resolving the issue politically.
Such an indifferent attitude adopted by the rulers towards Balochistan issue was causing harm to the integrity of the country, he said, and stressed on an immediate halt to the military operation in that province, release of all those arrested in this regard, implementation of the Mushahid committee recommendations and start of a dialogue to find a political solution to the problem.
