KARACHI: NP leader links autonomy issue with democracy
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, May 13: National Party Chief Dr Abdul Hayee Baloch has stated that there was a possibility that nationalist parties in Balochistan may fight the forthcoming general elections on a single platform on the pattern of Balochistan National Alliance (BNA).
He said this was the strategy of his party that nationalist forces should form a broad-based alliance to counter the pro-military and establishment forces in the troubled province where people had been waging a war against autocratic forces.
Talking to Dawn here on Saturday, the NP leader also pointed out that his party would establish contacts with the leaders of the four-party Baloch Alliance and Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (Ponam) and Pakhtoon leaders of the province.
The NP leader said the situation was turning from bad to worse as the government was bent upon crushing the nationalist forces struggling for their rights of self-government and ownership of their economic rights, adding that “use of force would in no way solve the problems of the province.”
He was of the view that autonomy issue was linked with the question of restoration of democracy, saying that granting national autonomy to the federating units was as important as restoration of democracy. He maintained that the two issues were interlinked and they could be never isolated.
He recalled that the people of Balochistan, Sindh and NWFP and Siraiki-speaking of Punjab had made great sacrifices for establishing a democratic setup ensuring their autonomous rights and self-government within the federal structure of the country.
He said they would never accept any democratic agenda which would not ensure their fundamental rights including right of self-governance and economic rights. The Baloch leader categorically stated that self-autonomy of the provinces was the basic and burning issue of the country and it was the responsibility of every party to take it seriously and clear their party stand on this issue. He went on to say that it was not the merely the issue of Balochistan as it was also related to Sindh and NWFP also.
