September 24, 2006	Sunday	Sha'aban 30, 1427

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SAHIWAL, Sept 23: “Although I did not endorse the 1973 constitution, I claim provincial autonomy guaranteed by the most important document of the country.”

This was stated by Dr Abdul Hayee Baloch, the president of National Party Pakistan, at a seminar on ‘Balochistan: Past, present and future’ organised by the Punjab Lok Sujag at the Mission Hospital auditorium on Friday night.

Hayee claimed that there were politicians who always salvaged the country from intense crises. “For instance, the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto through the Simla Agreement managed the release of 90,000 troops and got 5,000 square miles. He made the country a nuclear state, yet army and some other people remained ungrateful to him,” he added.

The murder of Nawab Akbar Bugti, he said, had increased the sense of deprivation among the Baloch people.

Hayee said the international public opinion wanted to uphold superiority of the constitution, democracy and parliament in Pakistan. He said the present crisis in the country was worse than that of 1971. “Punjab leadership should play its role now to save the country from a huge loss. Former prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif is the most suitable leader in the present scenario.”

Hayee said the opposition should quit assemblies and reach people for launching a movement against the rulers as the situation demanded.

Punjab, he said, should prevail upon the army rulers to stop operation in Balochistan and return to barracks. “The army operation without the approval of parliament was a dictatorial action,”

He said people of Balochistan were as patriotic as the people of other provinces.

Hayee hailed the organisers of the seminar for providing an opportunity to narrow the bridge between Balochistan and Punjab. He urged political parties to continue playing their role for the restoration of democracy.

PPP leader MNA Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the public meeting at Quetta had proved that the Baloch people were patriots.

He said that the people of Punjab could not remain indifferent to the Balochistan situation.

Prof Dr Mehdi Hasan said army should fulfill its duty of safeguarding the country and go back to barracks. He advised the people to learn a lesson from the incidents of 1971 otherwise the country would suffer more losses.

Resolutions were adopted in the seminar unanimously which demanded supremacy of parliament, independence of judiciary, political solution to the Balochistan issue and release of all political workers.

CAR SNATCHED: Robbers snatched a car on GT Road near Chak 9/11-L on Friday evening.

Arshad was returning to Chak 7/11-L from Chichawatni in his car (ABE-903). Two robbers intercepted him and took him to a nearby jungle, tied him with a rope and drove away with his car worth Rs500,000.