QUETTA, Nov 12: Former patron-in-chief of Balochistan National Party (Awami) Moheem Baloch has urged the government to approach the Baloch political leadership and tribal elders to resolve the Balochistan issue peacefully instead of using the state apparatus to suppress the political movement.

Speaking at a press conference here on Sunday after resigning from the BNP (Awami), he claimed that the scheduled visit of President Musharraf to Gwadar on November 16 would further aggravate the anguish of people against the government.

Mr Moheem criticised the military operation in Balochistan and Waziristan and arrests of political workers in the province and said that all issues should be settled politically. He said that the parliamentary constitutional committee headed by Wasim Sajjad had lost its utility, adding that the opposition had also boycotted the proceedings of the committee.

He fully supported a proposal for merging all Baloch political parties into a single entity put forward by the late Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti and stated that the united struggle by the Baloch would ensure the achievement of their national rights.