October 24, 2008	Friday	Shawwal 24, 1429

QUETTA, Oct 23: The Jamhoori Watan Party (Aali group) has said that Baloch political parties are not against parliament and they want their rights within the parameters of the Constitution.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, JWP secretary-general Mir Rauf Sasoli and provincial president Mir Dostan Domki said the party was not a separatist organisation and it was struggling to achieve the national and democratic rights of the Baloch people and to protect resources and coast of Balochistan.

They said that anti-Baloch policies of the former military dictator had forced JWP founder Nawab Akbar Bugti to move to the mountains to face the armed forces out to eliminate him.

They said the usurpers and exploiters of the Baloch rights were responsible for turmoil in the province and the party would never give up its struggle against those who had been looting the resources of Balochistan for the past six decades.

The JWP leaders said the Balochistan issue was political and it could be resolve only through political means.

They said the government must initiate dialogue with militants and political leaders of Balochistan and Fata and added that no one was against the state but denial of rights had caused hatred between the warring factions and the federation.

They said the Baloch people would never forget the oppression unleashed by Gen Musharraf and if the government did not register FIR in the case of Nawab Bugti and other innocent Baloch killed in the military operation than they would approach the court to get the FIR registered.

The JWP leaders warned that if the government did not address the grievances of the Baloch and recognise their rights to control resources in Balochistan then the situation would deteriorate which would not be in the interest of the country.