DERA MURAD JAMALI: Even as he urged the Baloch youths who have mounted an armed campaign to lay down their arms, former president and Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Asif Ali Zardari on Friday advised the federal government to ensure that the people of Balochistan do not face any injustices in future.

In case the people of Balochistan faced injustices in future as well, the young Baloch activists would join the veteran leaders to launch a massive campaign against the government, he said. In this regard he pointed out that census should be carried out in the province in a fair and judicious manner.

Mr Zardari was speaking at a public meeting held in connection with the 50th death anniversary of Mir Jaffar Khan Jamali, a prominent leader of the Pakistan movement, in the Kashmirabad area of Jaffarabad district.

Mir Changez Khan Jamali, a former federal minister and grandson of the late Mir Jamali, Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani, Sindh’s former chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and Mir Ijaz Khan Jakhrani also spoke on the occasion.

Mr Zardari said the people of Balochistan had suffered a lot because of militancy and the politics of resistance. He even asked rhetorically: “What have the people who went to the mountains gained? Except for suffering losses they got nothing from militancy.”

The former president said he had become sad after learning about the condition of the Marri and Bugti tribesmen, who were once famous for their bravery and loyalty. “Now both tribes are suffering as a result of the present Baloch conflict,” he said.

The PPP chairman said that even though he was a Sindhi by ancestry he was a Baloch by birth and that was why he had sympathies for the oppressed and suppressed people of Sindh as well as of Balochistan.

Referring to political reforms, he said that soon after becoming the country’s president he had handed over his powers to parliament in order to strengthen it. “Now the parliament is powerful and the office of the president is weak.”

He claimed that foreign investors did not want to invest in Pakistan and were even scared of visiting the country. It was only China that had invested in a big way in the country.

He expressed the hope that the PPP would form the next government in Balochistan with the help of his political friends and allies.

After coming to power, his party would launch projects in the province which would benefit the poor, he added.

Former chief minister Mir Jan Muhammad Khan Jamali, former provincial minister Mir Faiq Ali Jamali, former chief of the Balochistan PPP Mir Sadiq Ali Umrani, and Balochistan PPP president Mir Madad Ali Jattak were present on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, April 8th, 2017