LAHORE, Feb 21: Speakers at a conference here on Wednesday urged the people of Punjab to lead the struggle of provinces and nationalities for their rights.
The conference on `Provincial autonomy and rights of nationalities’ had been organised by Minority Rights Commission (MRC) at the Lahore Press Club.
Pakistan National Party leader Senator Dr.Maalik Baloch said in his presidential address that the country was not under a real dictatorship but a military democracy in which the common run of people and nationalities had been deprived of their constitutional rights.
He said the people of Balochistan had been divided into pro-Musharraf lobby and nationalists talking about the rights of the people. It was wrong to say that Balochs were opposed to development. They only wanted control of the resources of the province which was not acceptable to General Musharraf.
He said Musharraf considered Baloch nationalists against Pakistan but they had never talked about secession.
The Baloch nationalists wanted a federal democratic system in Pakistan whereas tribal chiefs supporting Musharraf were opposed to it. Thousands of political workers had been arrested and women baton-charged for demanding control over provincial resources.
He said the federal government was taking unilateral decisions about Balochistan against the wishes of the people. Gawdar had been handed over to a Singaporean company without the consent of the provincial assembly or any committee of the national assembly. Most of natural resources of the country were found in Balochistan but its 80 per cent people did not have access even to clean drinking water.
Jiye Sindh Mahaz chairman Abdul Khaliq Junejo said the democratic system had not strengthened in Pakistan during the past 60 years because the provinces and nationalities were not accepted.
He said discussion on provincial autonomy and rights of nationalities in Punjab would send a good message to people in other provinces.
He said provincial autonomy had become an old question in Pakistan. A new question had emerged in the form of the demand for the rights of nationalities. The nationalities and provinces wanted reconstitution of the state on the basis of the Pakistan Resolution of March 23, 1940.
PPP Punjab secretary-general Ghulam Abbas said his party supported the rights of small provinces and nationalities. The problems of nationalities and provinces could be solved only in a democratic system based on principles of economic justice.
Balochistan assembly member Shafiq Ahmed Khan said Punjab was exploiting smaller province. The smaller provinces and nationalities were not secessionists but wanted their point of view to be understood. The federal government was dubbing Baloch nationalists as separatists for demanding provincial autonomy. He demanded payment of Rs6 billion to Balochistan as gas royalty.
Pakistan Labour Party secretary-general Farooq Tariq said sense of deprivation was increasing among nationalities, minorities and small provinces because their rights had been usurped.
He said Rs10 billion development budget of Gujrat district in Punjab was equal to that of Balochistan.
Bacha Khan Centre, Peshawer, cordinator Dr Fazal Rahim Marwat said educational syllabus introduced during the Afghan War had been instrumental in making the Pashtoons extremists. Pakistan had degenerated into a country where the state needed the territory and not the people.
Pakistan Social Forum secretary-general Irfan Mufti said provincial autonomy and rights of nationalities were extremely important issues. India had recognised the identity of nationalities and given them their rights but even their existence was not accepted in Pakistan despite the fact that they had existed even before its creation and had supported its establishment.
Rashid Rehman said Pakistan was a multi-nationality state but its government was not ready to accept the reality. He said four MNAs from Balochistan had not signed the 1973 Constitution because they had reservations over it. The government had not implemented the concurrent list so far because the army had become too strong to be challenged by any political party.
Pakistan Seraiki Party vice-chairman Hassan Raza Bokhari said Seraiki people wanted creation of a separate province because they were not Punjabis. The state required to be separated from religion for protection of rights of the people.