October 27, 2008	Monday	Shawwal 27, 1429

ISLAMABAD, Oct 26: The government on Sunday announced a roadmap for the resolution of Balochistan issue. The plan envisages convening of a jirga of Baloch intellectuals, newspaper owners and elders in Islamabad on Oct 30 or 31, seeking redistribution of natural resources through constitutional amendments and rebuilding all destroyed national institutions or infrastructure.

Announcing the roadmap at a press conference here, Senator Babar Awan, Secretary of the Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Reconciliatory Committee on Balochistan, said President Asif Ali Zardari had approved the strategy.

The committee was set up by President Asif Ali Zardari before his election to the presidency. Headed by Mr Zardari himself, other members of the committee included Senator Raza Rabbani, Senator Babar Awan, Balochistan PPP president Lashkar and Raeesani Ijaz Jakhrani.“We want to assure the people of Balochistan that PPP-led government sincerely aims at resolution of all their issues immediately without any delay. For this, we are ready to go to any extent,” he said.

Mr Awan said that President Asif Ali Zardari would attend the jirga. Educationists, journalists, poets and writers from Balochsitan would be invited.

“Later, a multi-party political jirga would be convened, attended by all political forces of the province, to seek their suggestions to ensure the unity of the federation and resolution of the issues,” he added.

Mr Awan said in the light of suggestions of the jirga some legal as well as constitutional amendments would be made to ensure an equitable distribution of resources among the people of the province.

He said the vision of President Asif Ali Zardari was to resolve all issues through political consultations and not by confrontation.

“The era of one-man rule is over and now the government believes in making all decisions through consultations in parliament.” Mr Awan said that during talks with leaders of different nationalist parties of the province, he saw no sign of hostility to the state.

“The Balochistan issue is of political nature, and not of terrorism or separatism,” the PPP leader said.

The secretary of the committee said reconciliation would be made with all political forces of Balochistan and the people displaced over the past nine years would be rehabilitated in order to remove the impression that the federal government was aloof to problems of the Baloch.

Mr Awan said that over 7,000 military and paramilitary personnel deployed in towns of the province had been replaced with civilian personnel. Over one thousand politically-motivated cases against Baloch leaders had been withdrawn.

The report submitted to the president, he said, also mentioned the release of 830 political activists, who had been languishing in jails, including some family members of Mengal, Marri and Bugti tribes.