QUETTA, Aug 10: The Balochistan Assembly witnessed a noisy session on Tuesday as the opposition protested against the military action in Makran and some other parts of the province.
Soon after recitation from the holy Quran, opposition members started thumping the desks and shouting at Deputy Speaker Mir Aslam Bhootani, accusing him of being biased and bulldozing several opposition motions in previous sessions of the assembly.
The continued their protest and encircled the deputy speaker's chair. This forced Mr Bhootani to adjourn the session half an hour after the start of the proceedings to restore order in the house.
Later, Speaker Jamal Shah Kakar presided over the session. This move, however, did not subdued the opposition members' protest who, on points of orders, bitterly criticized the military action in Makran and some other areas of the province.
They warned the government that childish policies of army generals to subjugate the Baloch people through military operations would be counter-productive as the people had been witnessing natural reactions from the people of Khuzdar and Turbat against excesses of law-enforcement agencies.
They said filing of false cases against Baloch leaders, arrests of political activists and military operations in Dera Bugti, Kohlu, Khuzdar and Turbat had exposed designs of the military establishment to suppress the political movement of nationalists who were opposing anti-people policies of the rulers.
Refuting Opposition charges Chief Minister Jam Yousuf and Home Minister Shoaib Nausherwani justified the action to punish miscreants. The chief minister said that the government had succeeded in tracing militants' training camps in which criminals used to be trained to attack armed forces and create law and order situation.
He asked Opposition parties to differentiate between a military operation and an action against criminals and outlaws and the two should not be mixed-up to create a confusion among the people.
He said security forces had conducted a operation clean-up in the Makran area after terrorists attacked an army truck, causing several casualties. The home minister said that law-enforcement agencies had arrested terrorists who had been involved in Gwadar blast and rocket attacks in Mund area.
He said the security forces had also recovered modern equipment during the operation. About filing of an FIR against Sardar Akhtar Mengal and others in the Khuzdar incident, the home minister said that victim's family members had lodged the report with the police station concerned and the government had not registered the FIR.
Earlier, Mr Sher Jan Baloch, a member from Gwadar, moved a condemnation resolution relating to attempt on the life of Federal Minister for Finance Shaukat Aziz in Fatehjang and killing of security forces' men in Khuzdar.
Later, the Opposition members walked out of the house to register their protest against the military action. The House in the absence of the opposition, passed the Balochistan Assembly Members (Salaries and Allowances) (Amendment) Bill, 2004, moved by Abdur Rehman Jamali, Minister for S&GAD.