HYDERABAD, Aug 24: The general secretary of Jamhoori Watan Party, Mr Rauf Sasoli, said on Sunday that no one could ‘conquer Balochistan by force’ and talks were the only way to win over the Baloch people and settle the province’s burning issues.

Mr Sasoli said at a news conference at the press club that the Baloch people had not seen any change in the political situation in their province in the wake of and as a result of general elections.

He laid stress on solving the simmering issues of Balochistan and the NWFP through negotiations and complained that the leadership of Punjab and Sindh had so far taken no practical steps to improve the situation in the troubled province. “Balochistan cannot be conquered with the barrel of a gun but can be won over through negotiations,” he stressed.

He accused the outgoing government of committing atrocities against Baloch people, killing JWP chief Nawab Akbar Bugti and displacing 100,000 people belonging to Bugti and Mari tribes. Efforts should be made to rehabilitate the displaced people, he said. “It’s an irony that the bank accounts of Akbar Bugti’s family members remain frozen up till this day and leaders and political workers of Balochistan remain gagged,” Sasoli said.

Crimes against individuals could be forgiven but crimes against an entire nation and humanity and violation of the Constitution could not be forgiven, he said, adding, that the government should not give Musharraf a safe passage but prosecute him for the crimes committed against people.

He said that a democracy remained meaningless unless the oppressed nations were given their rights. “We will not allow anyone to loot our resources and our coastal wealth,” the JWP leader said.

He dismissed the impression that the Baloch people were opposed to development and said they were only opposed to loot and plunder of their natural resources. Gwadar port would be acceptable if its ownership was given to Baloch people, he said.

He demanded cancellation of allotment of thousands of acres of coastal land to what he called ‘outsiders’ during the PML-Q regime and warned “we will not accept settlement of outsiders on our coastal land.”

The Baloch people would respond positively if the federal government showed sincerity in solving issues through political means, he said, expressing hope the democratic and nationalist forces of Sindh would continue to support Balochistan as the province had always been an staunch ally.

He expected the same level of help from the progressive and patriotic forces of the Punjab.

The Baloch people believed that Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Choudhry was deposed, first because he belonged to Balochistan and second he dared say “no” to a dictator, he said.

He said that after Musharraf’s removal, the coalition partners must reinstate Justice Choudhry and other deposed judges. He warned that the government’s credibility would suffer a credibility crisis if it did not restore judges. If Benazir’s killers were not arrested now, they would never be arrested, he said.