April 14, 2006	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 15, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, April 13: Speakers at a seminar on Thursday opposed the use of force in Balochistan and called for resolving the issue through negotiations.

Speaking at a seminar on ‘What is the solution to Balochistan problem?’, the political leaders belonging to the opposition parties termed the situation in the province as “alarming” and asked the regime to stop military operation in Balochistan forthwith.

The speakers said the people of Balochistan were not against development activities in their province. However, they said, the Baloch people would not allow anyone to usurp their rights in the name of development activities in the province.

Vice-President of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) and former minister Mir Baz Mohammad Khan Khetran alleged that military personnel were picking up innocent people in the province after entering their houses.

He said the rulers were repeating the past mistakes and they had not learnt any lesson from history. In the past, he said, the military rulers made Sheikh Mujibur Rehman of East Pakistan a hero and now they were making Sardar Ataullah Mengal, Akbar Bugti and Khair Bakhsh Marri heroes of the Baloch people.

Mr Khetran was of the view that the Balochistan issue could not be resolved by taking action merely against three Sardars. He alleged that earlier these Sardars had enjoyed complete support of the intelligence agencies. He said these Sardars had bought weapons from the money, which they had been receiving from the military rulers in the past.

Information Secretary of the Awami National Party (ANP) Zahid Khan said the military rulers never had any respect for the Constitution. He said in the past, one unit was created in the country in order to deprive the province of their rights. He regretted that the rulers were unable to find a solution to the Balochistan problem.

PPP MNA Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed criticized the government for using force in Balochistan. He said the Baloch people had a sense of deprivation because of the separation of nationalist leaders from the provincial government.

He said Sui gas was supplied to Quetta in 1986 and that too, because of the cantonment.

Others who spoke in the seminar included AJK PPP President Ishaq Zafar, Malik Hakmin Khan, Syed Abid Shah, Syed Kashif Rizvi and Ayatullah Durrani.