Islamabad: The government plans to
announce a package for Pakistan`s restive south-western
Balochistan province, including indemnity for dissident Baloch
leaders, in bid to quell the unrest in the region.
President Asif Ali Zardari would soon visit Quetta and
announce indemnity for all dissident Baloch leaders, who would
be invited to a jirga, according to a private TV channel
quoting government sources.
Since Pakistan`s largest natural gas reserves were
discovered in the province four decades ago, Baloch
nationalists have repeatedly criticised federal government in
Islamabad for failing to give the province its share of gas
royalties.
Separatists have for decades waged a low-level revolt,
eyeing a bigger share in income from the province`s natural
resources. But the violence threatens to distract security
forces from tackling Taliban fighters along the Afghan border,
most of which abuts Balochistan.
The continuing unrest in the province has also
prompted China to suspend plans to build Pakistan`s largest
oil refinery in Gwadar, where Beijing has financed the
construction of a deep-water port.
According to sources, the government package will
include addressing local grievances related to economics and
politics, with the province set to get 12 percent shares in
the federal assets in the province such as the gas
infrastructure, mines and the Gawadar Port, the Dawn newspaper
said, quoting Online news yesterday.
However, secretary general of Baloch National Party
(BNP) Sadiq Raisani described the proposed package for
Balochistan a "tactic", saying its people have no hopes from
any package.
He alleged hundreds of people lost their lives while
nearly 8,000 Baloch leaders and workers are languishing in
jails and torture cells and cases have been filed against
hundreds of people. The entire system has been silent over
injustices with the Baloch people since 1940, he told a
private TV channel.
The BNP leader further said that the people of
Balochistan have their own package which is to end the
occupation over their land and that the people of Balochistan
will not accept any package for the province.
Mir Hasil Khan Bazinjo of National Party said
practical steps, including tracing missing people, release of
Baloch leaders and withdrawing of paramilitary FC from the
province were needed before announcing any package, according
to the report.
Experts fear that if Pakistan fails to stabilise
Balochistan, plans for stabilising Afghanistan could suffer.
The Baloch nationalists have carried out a number of
attacks on Pakistan`s military and paramilitary troops in the
years since the 2006 killing of Nawab Mohammad Akbar Khan
Bugti, the most prominent tribal leader of the province. The
government and the army has been accused of killing him in a
well coordinated military operation.
Bureau Report
