QUETTA: President of the National Party Dr Abdul Malik Baloch has said that the strategy of resolving the issue of Balochistan by force will never succeed.

Speaking to political activists on Sunday, he said: “The issue is political and it should be resolved politically (and) through dialogue.”

Dr Baloch, who is also a former chief minister of Balochistan, said the fire which engulfed the province had been started by military dictator Gen Pervez Musharraf and his followers. Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and hundreds of Baloch youths had been martyred in the military operation, he added.

“This strategy of dealing with the people of Balochistan has to be changed, otherwise the situation will get worse,” he said, adding that the solution to political problems of Balochistan lay only in dialogue and it should be held as soon as possible.

He said conspiracies to divide Balochistan and Sindh would fail and the talk of southern Balochistan was a product of “hypocritical thinking”.

Dr Baloch said the only source of livelihood of the people of Balochistan was border trade but the government had almost closed the trade with Iran and Afghanistan.

“Due to the closure of the border, people are starving in Makran. Everywhere check posts of the Frontier Corps and unwarranted structures put up at the border are causing severe hardships for the local people,” he said.

The former chief minister asked the government to change its attitude about border trade.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2020