QUETTA: Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto today [Oct 15] gave the nation the happy news of the end of “organised resistance to legal authority in Baluchistan”. In his keenly awaited statement on the Baluchistan situation … the Prime Minister said: there now remained … only the task of clearing away the remnants of resistance, which according to him, more precisely meant insurgency against the State and apprehending certain hostile ring leaders who are still at large.

He invited them to lay down their arms by December 15, telling them that if they do so their cases would also be sympathetically considered. … Referring to his call of August 2 to the hostiles to come down from the hills, the Prime Minister said it had evoked a positive response from the insurgent tribesmen. … He said that so far about 5,000 Marris and a number of persons from Jhalawan areas had presented themselves with their arms to the authorities. … The Prime Minister expressed his confidence that the valour and endurance of the Baluch character, which had manifested in their resistance to the State, would now animate their participation in the social, economic, political and cultural life of Baluchistan. — News agencies

Published in Dawn, October 16th, 2024