QUETTA: Expressing their views in the provincial assembly here on Tuesday on the issue of holding talks with the angry Baloch elements, PML-N ministers dubbed them terrorists, while the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) favoured negotiations to tackle the problem.

The session was presided over by Mir Jan Muhammad Jamali.

Participating in the debate on the law and order situation in the province that continued for the fourth day, members of the treasury benches claimed that there was an improvement in the situation due to positive steps of the government.

Dr Shama Ishaq, Nawab Muhammad Khan Shahwani, Sardar Aslam Bizenjo, Syed Liaquat Agha, Mir Khalid Lango and Rehmat Baloch said the crime rate had declined and there had been a sharp fall in incidents of targeted killing and kidnapping for ransom. The highways had also become safe, they said.

They said that “we cannot ignore the interest of international powers in the region which also affects the situation in the province. Despite all these difficulties, the coalition government has been successful in normalising the conditions.”

However, provincial Ministers Nawab Sanaullah Zehri and Mir Sarfaraz Bugti of the PML-N strongly reacted o the views expressed by Liaquat Agha of the PkMAP when he stressed the need to hold talks with those who were struggling for their rights.

Both Mr Zehri and Mr Bugti said the militants were ‘terrorists’ because they were involved in bomb explosions in various areas of the province in which innocent people were being killed.

The ‘saboteurs’ were receiving funds so how could it be said that they were fighting for their rights, they said.

The session will continue on Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2014