MULTAN, Oct 23: Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal deputy secretary-general MNA Liaquat Baloch has called for a ‘cautious’ response to the 12 proposals floated by the Indian leadership for improving relations with Pakistan.

Talking to newsmen here on Thursday, he said the government should consider the proposals but it should not be done at the cost of Kashmir issue. “In our view, the proposals are just another Indian gimmick to divert attention from the core issue of Kashmir,” he added.

Mr Baloch said the government had lost an opportunity to strike a deal with the MMA over the Legal Framework Order issue only due to the ‘stubbornness’ of Gen Musharraf. He warned that if the general did not take off his uniform the people would come on streets to force him to do so.

He claimed that people were mounting pressure on the opposition political parties to launch a movement against the present set up so that they could get rid of a regime that had done nothing except introducing anti-people policies.

Mr Baloch said the army officers were also a part of society and the ‘unrest’ among their ranks over the faulty internal and external policies of the regime was natural.

He said revolution in information technology has changed the thinking of even a common man and the institution of army was no exception. “Oppressive laws could not hold a revolution for a long time.”

PPP PROTEST: The district PPP organized a token hunger strike camp here on Thursday against price hike and unemployment.

The camp was set up under the Kutchery Chowk flyover. The protesters chanted slogans against military intervention in civilian institutions, pre-Ramazan price hike, lawlessness, rise in unemployment and import of spurious pesticides that played havoc with the cotton crop this year.

Prominent among the participants were Ahmad Hassan, Habibullah Shakir, Khurshid Khan, Khwaja Rizwan Alam and Tariq Raza Khan.