KARACHI, Jan 1: The All-parties Conference on Balochistan held here on Sunday condemned the ongoing military operation in that province and termed it “a conspiracy to harm the country’s integrity. It called upon the government to withdraw troops from the province immediately and send them to barracks. It stressed on finding a political solution instead of using brute force against Baloch people in Kohlu, Dera Bugti and Chagai.

A declaration adopted by the APC condemned the government’s ‘dictatorial’ policies, saying that the decisions taken unilaterally by bypassing the parliament, provincial assemblies and opposition would in no way serve the interests of the federation. It advised the government not to bulldoze the provincial autonomy.

The conference was of view that the government’s insistence on constructing Kalabagh dam and its brutal actions in Balochistan were not in the interest of the country.

It termed Gen Musharraf’s regime ‘a security risk’ and said there was no justification for it to remain in power because of its failure on all counts.

It called for holding general elections under an interim set-up.

Earlier, leaders of various opposition parties, including PPP, PML-N, JI, JUI, Pakistan Democratic Party, Balochistan National Party, Sunni Tehrik, National Party, Jamhoori Watan Party, National Workers Party and Pakistan Awami Tehrik.

PPP Sindh General Secretary Nafees Siddiqui condemned the military action in Balochistan and said that Pakistan was passing through a critical stage. He said we must now decide whether “Pakistan is a civil society where rule of constitution reins supreme, or a military cantonment.”

Balochistan problem is basically a political issue which could only be resolved through dialogue. He criticized the government’s summersault on Kalabagh dam issue, saying that it was now saying that the issue be resolved on majority’s point of view instead of a consensus.

He called for holding free and fair election under the supervision of a neutral election commission by allowing all parties and their leaders to participate in it.

Acting Amir of Jammaat-i-Islami, Karachi, Birjees Ahmed criticized the army action in Balochistan and held the present government responsible for creating a mess in the country and putting its integrity at risk.

He called upon political parties to pursue a one-point agenda, i.e. ousting the Musharraf government, and said that the present crisis created by the government itself could not be overcome unless the government was dislodged through a popular movement.

Yusuf Mustikhan of the National Workers Party recalled the unconstitutional steps taken by various regimes in Pakistan, and observed that it was due to their short-sightedness that the country was facing a multidimensional crisis.

Maintaining that Pakistan was facing a crisis of state, constitution and identity, he said the problem could not be resolved by merely adopting a one-point agenda as was evident from the past experiences.

He said that his party did not believe in a change of faces, but it wanted rights of federating units respected. He said powers of revenue collection should be delegated to provinces.

In a federation, both the federation and its federating units decide their mutual powers and distribution of resources. But in Pakistan, this is not practised and as a result, the country continues to face one crisis after the other.

He condemned the military operation in Balochistan and demanded immediate pullout of troops from that province.

National Party Secretary-General Hasil Khan Bizenjo also said that the Balochistan problem was a political issue, and called for initiating a dialogue with the political forces of that province. He also called for granting autonomy to all provinces with the restoration of their right of ownership of their respective natural resources.

PML-N leader Salim Zia held the rulers responsible for the ‘multi-dimensional’ crisis in the country, and deplored the government’s policies as detrimental to national interests.

The conference was also addressed by BNP’s Hameed Sajna, Sindh Saghar Party’s Hakim Ali Channa, JWP’s Rauf Sasuli, Pakistan Awami Tehrik’s Dr Ahsan Zamir and JUI’s Maulana Abdul Karim Abid.