QUETTA, Dec 26: Senator Asfandyar Wali Khan, chief of the Awami National Party, has called for an end to the military operation in Kohlu and warned that if moderate Baloch leadership was sidelined, extremists would emerge to make situation too complex to resolve politically.

Expressing solidarity with the Baloch people, he said Baloch tribesmen in Kohlu and Dera Bugti were pushed to the wall.

Speaking at a programme of the press club and Balochistan Bar Association on Monday, he criticized the use of jet aircraft and helicopters in the operation, lamenting that sophisticated weapons were being used against the fellow citizens.

He said no dispute or political issue in the world could be settled through violence, and gave an example of East Pakistan.

In reply to a question that the government accused the Baloch Liberation Army of rocket attacks, the ANP leader said that when negotiation was discouraged in politics, extremists took charge to resolve issues according to their perceptions.

He said suicide bombers had attacked the president, prime minister and corps commander in Rawalpindi, Attock and Karachi, respectively, but no military operation had been launched at these three places.

The rulers could not use the attack on the president in Kohlu as a pretext to launch the operation, he said.

He said the Baloch leadership, besides Pukhtuns and Sindhis, was struggling for political autonomy and control their respective provincial resources.

Tussle and disharmony between the federation and three smaller provinces would continue until their rights were recognized, he added.