HYDERABAD, Dec 21: Expressing disappointment over performance of PPP government, Jamhoori Watan Party general secretary Rauf Sasoli has said that the government has failed to honour the promises made by Benazir Bhutto with the people of Balochistan.

He said the government had taken some half-hearted steps to rectify the situation in Balochistan but they were not enough and the sense of deprivation among the Baloch people had intensified.

Addressing a news conference at the press club here on Sunday, he called upon the government to take the Balochistan issue seriously and initiate dialogue with genuine Baloch leaders. He said that democratic forces of Balochistan believed in dialogues but there should be sincerity of purpose.

He said that during the regime of Pervez Musharraf, an operation was launched in Balochistan to take over its resources and coastal land and JWP chief Nawab Akbar Bugti was killed. Mr Sasoli reminded the PPP that its chairperson Ms Benazir Bhutto was also assassinated during Musharraf regime.

It was expected that when PPP came into power, it would put Pervez Musharraf, Shoukat Aziz and others in the dock for atrocities their government had committed but they had been allowed to go scot-free, he said. He called upon the democratic government to take action against Pervez Musharraf, Shoukat Aziz, Choudhry Shujaat Hussain and Mushahid Hussain who, he alleged, were the authors of excesses against the Baloch people.

Answering a question about a meeting between Nawabzada Talal Bugti and President Asif Ali Zardari, he said that it was a happy augury.

The Baloch people have been branded traitors and pushed against the wall although they were as patriotic as other Pakistani people, Mr Sasoli said.