ISLAMABAD, Sept 17: Some fiery speeches were made on the issue of Balochistan in the upper house of parliament on Friday with opposition senators accusing the army and other security forces of 'dangerously mishandling' the problem.

Some of the speakers alleged that the federal security agencies had created an atmosphere of intimidation in a bid to grab the wealth of the province instead of sharing the fruit of development with local people.

Earlier, the combined opposition staged a walkout from the house when the chair did not allow opposition senators to speak on the issue of president's uniform. When the debate on Balochistan started, almost all the ministers and ministers of state left the house, followed by many treasury bench members.

Four senators, three belonging to Ponam, Balochistan, Amanullah Kanrani, Sardar Aslam Buledi and Sanaullah Baloch, and Farhatullah Babar of the PPP Parliamentarians spoke on the motion seeking a debate on the law and order situation in Balochistan.

They warned the federal government that the situation would worsen if the policy of using force continued. Sanaullah Baloch said that elements who wished to exploit and extract benefits from the huge resources of Balochistan in the name of development and mega projects by inducting the manpower from outside and deny the people of the province their right to own their resources would never be welcome.

He said that Punjab would be affected most by any upheaval and lawlessness in Balochistan. He also said that the 47 trillion cubic feet gas reserves had already been reduced by 15 trillion cubic feet and there were apprehensions that the remaining reserves would vanish in eight to 10 years.

Senator Farhatullah Baber demanded immediate constitution of parliamentary committee (announced by former prime minister Chaudhry Shujaat) to sort out differences and to work out a negotiated settlement.

He stressed the need for a debate in parliament on the president's order on control of the Gwadar development authority issued by General Musharraf. Initiating the debate, Senator Amanullah Kanrani said the huge mineral resources, including four gas fields, gold, copper and iron ore deposits and the geo-political location of Balochistan, made it an extremely important region.

He said that more than 200 Balochs had been arrested during the ongoing operation and they were yet to be produced in the court. He said that while the district nazims of Khuzdar, Gwadar, Turbat and Dera Bugti were satisfied with the law and order situation in their districts, still federal security agencies were deployed in these areas.

He said that instead of benefiting from their own resources the natives were getting bullets. He also said that land in Gwadar was being distributed among generals, industrialists and influential people from other provinces.

Sardar Aslam Buledi rejected allegations of being against development of Balochistan and said that "Balochs were not ready to give up their 5,000-year-old culture, their traditions and their identity for the sake of so-called development".

He said that demographic changes were taking place in Balochistan which would never be tolerated by the local people. "We will not agree to become red Indians in our own land", he said.

He said the people of the province wanted to live in peace and were ready for talks, but such talks should be initiated by the government. Earlier, Dr Safdar Abbasi of the PPP Parliamentarians started speaking on a point of order on the issue of the president-in- uniform.

Chairman Mohammadmian Soomro stopped him and said: "I will run the house according to the procedure and I am not ready to give floor on a point of order at this stage".

Dr Abbasi, however, continued his speech and said: "The country is facing a volatile situation when grave constitutional violations are being planned and instigated by the government itself".

When the chair refused to allow him to speak further the entire opposition walked out in protest. The opposition returned to the house after a couple of minutes to participate in remaining proceedings.