QUETTA, July 24: National Party (NP) leaders have asked the government to stop military operation in Dera Bugti and Kohlu and resolve the Balochistan issue politically rather than by use of force.

Speaking at a press conference here on Monday, Senator Dr Malik Baloch and MPA Mir Jan Mohammad Buledi, NP provincial president and Information Secretary respectively, alleged that the intelligence agencies and security forces had arrested thousands of political workers belonging to Marri and Bugti tribes during the last four years.

Demanding release of all political detainees, they called upon the judiciary to take note of the “illegal” raids on homes of political workers and their arrests. They said under the law, no citizen could be kept in solitary confinement without the court’s permission.

The NP leaders alleged that intelligence agencies had picked up Rehmatullah, Abdullah Din Mohammad, Mohammad Alam Lango and hundreds of others from Turbat and other areas of the province. They said if charges against the arrested political workers were proved in the court, they would accept it.

To a query, Mr Buledi said 230 political workers had been arrested by federal agencies, and Federal Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao had admitted that in all 4,000 Baloch had been taken in custody.

The two leaders said the military operation and arrest of political activists could not stop the Baloch from their struggle to achieve their rights. Instead “this victimisation” would create further hatred between the federation and the province, they added.

They demanded of the government to hand over power to the elected government and restore constitutional rule in the country in order to strengthen the federation and develop harmony among provinces.

Such was the gravity of the situation that even “pro-establishment elements like Lt Gen (retd) Moinuddin Haider and Lt Gen (retd) Hamid Gul” had started demanding of the army to go back to the barracks, they said.