QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch has termed his recent meeting with Khan of Kalat Mir Ahmed Suleman Daud Khan along with a delegation of tribal leaders in London ‘positive and encouraging’ but said more interactions and efforts are needed to persuade the Khan to return.

“The Khan gave respect to the delegation, heard their request for his return to the country and discussed different issues with it,” the CM claimed while talking to Dawn after his return from London.

He said the delegation was headed by Nawab Mohammad Khan Shah­wani.

The delegation told the Khan of Kalat that the people of Balochistan missed him and wanted him to return and play his role in resolving issues faced by the province.

The Khan went abroad after a grand Jirga was held in Kalat in September 2006 following the killing of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti in a military operation. The Jirga had held that the International Court of Justice should be approached to restore the status of Kalat as an independent state.

“The issue of return of the Khan of Kalat cannot be resolved in one or two meetings. It needs more meetings and efforts,” Dr Malik said.

As a beginning, he said, tribal elders belonging to Mastung and Kalat had gone to London to persuade Mir Ahmed Suleman Daud to return. Now he would request Chief of Sarawan Nawab Moham­mad Aslam Raisani, Chief of Jhalawan Nawab Sanaullah Zehri, Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi and some other tribal chiefs, who had attended the grand Jirga, to visit London for the same purpose.

Meanwhile, members of the delegation said that the Khan of Kalat gave given a positive response to their request his return.

They said in a statement that they told the Khan that a vacuum had been created in Balochistan by his absence, people were waiting for his return and were eager to see him playing a leading role in solving the problems of the province.

It said the Khan of Kalat told the delegation that he was staying in London in view of the decision made by the grand Jirga.

According to the Balochi tradition, he said, it was the privilege of the grand Jirga to seek his return.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2015

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