By Latif Baloch
KARACHI, April 27: Warning the rulers to halt the ‘vindictive’ activities in Balochistan before a third country might take advantage of the situation, Baloch Rabita Ittefaq Tehrik chief Prince Mohyuddin Baloch said here on Sunday that there was no possibility of reconciliation on the Balochistan issue in the near future because of the growing “sense of alienation” among the Baloch people.
The prince claimed that due to ill-advised policies of the military regime, the Balochistan issue had become an international issue and there were chances of more conflicts than reconciliation in the province. Talking to newsmen at his residence, the former federal communication minister said if the armed conflict continued, outside forces would get a chance to interfere in the matter as part of, what he called, ‘Great Game’.
The prince did not specify the country which he said was likely to interfere in the troubled province, saying that it could be any neighbouring country.
He accused the Islamabad rulers of neglecting the Baloch people for the last 60 years. Instead of solving their problems peacefully, brute force was used against the Baloch people to subjugate them. The Brit chief, a scion of the former ruling family of the sate of Kalat, said the state was previously called Balochistan and it enjoyed an independent status like Nepal and Afghanistan till April 1948.
According to him, an agreement was signed by the Kalat state union and the government of Pakistan, deciding that Balochistan would enjoy autonomous status whereas the federal government would retain three subjects -- defence, foreign policy and currency. But he alleged that soon after the creation of Pakistan an army action was initiated in the province. Following a revolt, his father Ahmed Yar Khan was arrested on charges of a conspiracy against Pakistan. He was released in 1962 and all his privileges were restored. Thereafter, he maintained, the crisis in Balochistan persisted and no serious attempt was made to resolve it.
He said if the rulers had been sincere, they could resolve the issue by recognising the “autonomous status” of Balochistan.
The prince demanded that a United Nations investigating team should be tasked to inquire into the killing of Nawab Akbar Bugti and Balaach Marri.
He said the parliamentary forces representing the Balochistan assembly could not resolve the issue. He suggested that there were forces outside parliament, which were more influential and could help solve the province’s problems.
The Baloch leader also criticised Muttahida Qaumi Movement policies about Karachi, saying that no development had been carried out in any Baloch area while the MQM was in power.
http://www.dawn.com/2008/04/28/local1.htm |
