June 04, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 29, 1429

ISLAMABAD, June 3: Senior People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) leader in Balochistan Mir Baz Mohammad Khan Khetran has asked the government of his own party to take notice of the alleged illegal activities of the officials of an intelligence agency and Frontier Constabulary (FC) in the province.

Talking to Dawn at the Parliament House, Mr Khetran alleged that the FC men were patrolling in the area and harassing the local people in Barkhan district and trying to create a rift within the tribesmen.

Mr Khetran said these were the same officials who changed the results of three provincial assembly seats on gunpoint in the February 18 elections.

He alleged that these officials of the security agencies were by-passing the provincial government and now they had even started recruiting people from outside the district.

The PPP leader said when he contacted the high-ups of these two agencies, they said that these recruitments were being made to provide security to some foreign companies which were expected to come to the area for seismic survey and oil exploration.

On the other hand, the PPP leader said the provincial home secretary and chief secretary had told him that no foreign company had sought any permission from the government to undertake seismic survey in the area.

He feared that these recruitments were being made in an effort to pitch the tribesmen against each other to create a law and order situation.

Mr Khetran said he had already brought the issue to the notice of the prime minister’s adviser Rehman Malik. He also asked PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari to take notice of the situation as these activities were sabotaging the reconciliation process initiated by Mr Zardari in the province.