December 01, 2006	Friday	Ziqa'ad 9, 1427

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QUETTA, Nov 30: Former Senator Khalid Khan Kakar has demanded that Pakhtuns in Balochistan should be given equal share in political and fiscal powers, otherwise granting more autonomy to Balochistan will be considered a conspiracy against the Pakhtuns in the province.

Speaking at a press conference at the press club on Thursday, he read out a six-page statement titled `The case of Pakhtuns’ and supported the recommendations of the parliamentary committee of Senator Mushahid Hussain for granting equal rights to Baloch and Pakhtuns in the province.

He asserted that the Pakhtuns were a majority in British Balochistan that was established on November 1, 1887 but the formation of Balochistan province in 1970 that included the Baloch States Union turned the Pakhtun majority into a minority.

Mr Khalid Khan claimed that the Pakhtuns in British Balochistan supported the inclusion of their areas in Pakistan wherein the Baloch States Union opposed it.

He said that the British government had committed a serious mistake by calling the majority Pakhtun areas as British Balochistan instead of British Pakhtun land, and citing as an example he said that when the British occupied Somalia the country was then called British Somali land.

Mr Kakar said Balochistan was a bi-ethnic province in which Pakhtuns and Baloch had equal rights and also quoted the paragraph of the parliamentary committee of Mushahid Hussain that says: “To promote harmony, stability and co-existence among all the communities in the province of Balochistan, it is recommended that the Baloch and Pakhtun parity be maintained in all spheres of life.”