QUETTA, Aug 28: Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch has said that Balochistan is confronted with several political and economic issues and emphasised that collective efforts by the federal and provincial governments, tribal elders and elected representatives were required for tackling the problems. Winding up the general debate on an adjournment motion regarding law and order in the province, he supported the British strategy that resolved the Irish question through negotiations and was averse to applying the Sri Lankan method which suppressed Tamil insurgency by force.

Speaker Mir Jan Muhammad Jamali chaired the assembly session here on Wednesday.

He asserted that four insurgencies in the past in Balochistan were settled through dialogue, adding that the fifth and ongoing one, too, should be resolved on the negotiating table.

The chief minister said that law and order situation was a complex issue and the matter should be examined from different angles to overcome the problem. He maintained that insurgency should not be seen as something which had been created by some angry people. He said it was a ‘thinking’ which was present across the world.

Dubbing sectarianism as the second major problem being faced by the province, Dr Baloch said it too was not confined to Balochistan.

He said that ending militancy required trust-building measures and stated that without stopping the dumping of mutilated bodies and recovery of missing persons, headway could not be achieved vis-à-vis the law and order situation.

He did not agree with the opposition members that hundreds of mutilated bodies had been dumped across the province since the formation of his government. He said that since January 22 bodies had been dumped. The figure did not include those killed in operations by law enforcement agencies.

He said the return of displaced people to their hometowns was a big success of the government and stated that government would take all steps to rehabilitate them.

Sardar Akhtar Mengal, Sardar Mustafa Tareen, Dr Hamid Khan Achakzai, Sardar Abdur Rehman Khetran, Nawab Ayaz Khan Jogezai, Obaidullah Babat, Mir Hammal Kalmati, Agha Syed Reza, Nasrullah Zeray and Maulana Mufti Gulab also spoke on the motion.

MENGAL TAKES OATH: Earlier, the speaker administered oath to Sardar Akhtar Mengal and Mir Hammal Kalmati of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal.

Speaking on the occasion, Sardar Mengal said he had come to the house after 15 years and stated that the oath of loyalty to Pakistan should also include loyalty oath for Balochistan. He said if “we are not loyal to this land then how can we be loyal to Pakistan”.

Lauding the sacrifices of “martyrs of Balochistan”, the BNP-M chief said “we cannot forget the services rendered by Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti, Habib Jalib Baloch and Nawab Nauroz Khan for the rights of Baloch people”.

He said that Balochistan had been turned into a graveyard and stated that in the past people of other areas used to come to the province for shelter but now the sons of soil were not safe in their own homeland and have migrated to other areas to take refuge.

He thanked the chief minister and other legislators for welcoming him to the house.

Chief Minister Dr Baloch congratulated Sardar Mengal and Mr Kalmati for joining the house and maintained that his National Party and BNP had the same goals. He said the presence of Sardar Mengal in the house would be helpful in restoring peace in the province.

Zamarak Khan Achakzai, Haji Gul Muhammad Domarh, Mir Karim Nausherwani, Dr Hamid Khan Achakzai, Syed Agha Reza, Ruqaiya Hashmi and Yasmeen Lehri welcomed Sardar Mengal and said he and his father Sardar Ataullah Mengal had a big contribution in the struggle to achieve rights for the people.

The house approved a joint resolution tabled by Nawab Muhammad Khan Shahwani and Rehmatullah Baloch demanding of the federal government to review the decision for closing the programme of National Commission for Human Development as it would affect the educational activities in Balochistan besides the continuation of programme would remove unrest amongst the teachers and employees of the NCHD.

Provincial minister Nawab Shahwani tabled Procurement Regulatory Authority Bill 2013 in the house.

The session was adjourned till Thursday.