ISLAMABAD, March 21: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Sheikh Rashid Ahmed on Monday faced a tough time in the National Assembly for his remarks that Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) chief Nawab Akbar Bugti was a ?warlord and not a politician?. The combined opposition staged a token walkout to protest against the remarks and termed them an effort to sabotage the ongoing efforts to find out a political solution to the Balochistan problem. Even a treasury MNA from Bahawalpur, Riaz Pirzada, also criticized the minister and asked him to clarify the position of the government. He said that on the one hand the government talked about a political solution while on the other the minister was declaring Mr Bugti a warlord.
It all started when the information minister was replying to the speeches of various opposition members who lashed out at him for his failure to fulfil the commitment of sending a delegation of parliamentarians and mediapersons to Dera Bugti on Saturday.
?There is a difference between a politician and a warlord,? the information minister said, adding: ?Bugti is talking on gunpoint, and he is a warlord and not a politician.? He said the government knew how to talk with politicians and warlords.
?We will talk politics with politicians and silence the guns of warlords,? the minister said. Giving reasons for the cancellation of visit of the parliamentarians and journalists to Balochistan, he said the Dera Bugti administration at the last moment had told him to send the delegation at his (minister?s) own risk. ?I could not put so many lives in danger,? the minister said. The minister said he had received reports from Dera Bugti that to exploit the issue, tribesmen had stopped funerals of the people killed in the gunfight.
The information minister said he had made the offer to opposition members with all sincerity and after approval from the government. He said the government knew those who wanted to sabotage the development of Gwadar. The combined opposition staged a walkout when the minister went outside the assembly, after his speech, without listening to them (the opposition members).
Later, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) and Abdul Rauf Mengal of the Balochistan National Party (BNP) refused to go to Dera Bugti with the parliamentarians? delegation, in protest against the information minister?s remarks against Akbar Bugti.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was also present in the house when the MMA and the BNP MNAs announced the decision. Hafiz Hussain Ahmed said that on the one hand Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was talking to Mr Bugti on telephone and on the other the minister was using harsh language against him (Mr Bugti). He said those who wanted to sabotage the political process in Balochistan were present in the National Assembly and there were no outside forces.
It all started when the information minister was replying to the speeches of various opposition members who lashed out at him for his failure to fulfil the commitment of sending a delegation of parliamentarians and mediapersons to Dera Bugti on Saturday.
?There is a difference between a politician and a warlord,? the information minister said, adding: ?Bugti is talking on gunpoint, and he is a warlord and not a politician.? He said the government knew how to talk with politicians and warlords.
?We will talk politics with politicians and silence the guns of warlords,? the minister said. Giving reasons for the cancellation of visit of the parliamentarians and journalists to Balochistan, he said the Dera Bugti administration at the last moment had told him to send the delegation at his (minister?s) own risk. ?I could not put so many lives in danger,? the minister said. The minister said he had received reports from Dera Bugti that to exploit the issue, tribesmen had stopped funerals of the people killed in the gunfight.
The information minister said he had made the offer to opposition members with all sincerity and after approval from the government. He said the government knew those who wanted to sabotage the development of Gwadar. The combined opposition staged a walkout when the minister went outside the assembly, after his speech, without listening to them (the opposition members).
Later, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) and Abdul Rauf Mengal of the Balochistan National Party (BNP) refused to go to Dera Bugti with the parliamentarians? delegation, in protest against the information minister?s remarks against Akbar Bugti.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was also present in the house when the MMA and the BNP MNAs announced the decision. Hafiz Hussain Ahmed said that on the one hand Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was talking to Mr Bugti on telephone and on the other the minister was using harsh language against him (Mr Bugti). He said those who wanted to sabotage the political process in Balochistan were present in the National Assembly and there were no outside forces.