Posted by: prwire on Apr 16, 2006 - 11:20 AM
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Sixty-seven members of the European Parliament, including one of its vice-presidents, have petitioned the forum’s President, Josep Borell, to urge the Government of Pakistan to stop the killing of innocent people in Baluchistan.

European Parliament opposes Baluchistan killings
Sixty-seven members of the European Parliament, including one of its vice-presidents, have petitioned the forum’s President, Josep Borell, to urge the Government of Pakistan to stop the killing of innocent people in Baluchistan.

Describing the military action in Baluchistan as completely unwarranted and shameful, the petition further goes on to say that the situation in Baluchistan “has been exacerbated by the attempts of the military government of General Pervez Musharraf to tarnish the image of Baloch leaders,” while at the same time following a policy of “manipulating tribe against tribe”.

Demanding that the economic and political rights of the Baloch people be respected, the EU Parliament members said that the Balochis have “long professed that while the rest of Pakistan has prospered through the expiaration of their province’s resources, Baluchistan itself remains the most backward province in Pakistan, devoid of development or adequate employment opportunities.”

So dismal is the situation in Pakistan’s largest province, that the media and various non-government organisations (NGOs) have not been able to have unfettered access to areas targeted by the Pakistan armed forces, said the EU members. This, they said, has prevented the international community to acquaint itself with the real picture.

In view of present scenario in Baluchistan, the EU parliament members have called for the appointment of a Special Rappoteur on Balochistan, the closing down of irregular detention camps, free access to the media and representatives of civil society, access to jails in Baluchistan and providing the Red Cross guaranteed freedom to operate in the province.

The EU Parliament’s appeal on Monday came even as Pakistan’s Information Minister Shaikh Rashid Ahmad announced that the time to negotiate with senior Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti, who has been spearheading the agitation against Islamabad, has passed.

Exhibiting the hard line approach of the Government, Rashid firmly said that Islamabad would bring the Baluchistan situation under control within two months.

Talking to newsmen at Parliament House here, Rashid said that some of the members of Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) had surrendered and confessed to their crimes. They have admitted that they were involved in targeting important national installations and bomb blasts for which they were being paid.

According to Rashid, the detainees had also admitted that they were working on a specific agenda under Bugtis directives.

“The Government would restore the writ of law in Balochistan and nobody would be allowed to disrupt law and order in the province,” Rashid warned.

On Sunday, the Government banned the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) after declaring it as a terrorist organisation for its alleged involvement in terrorist activities. It said that some tribal leaders of the province headed the BLA.

Interior Secretary Syed Kamal Shah told reporters that anyone associated with the BLA or supporting its terrorist activities would be tried under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

He said the investigation into several past terrorist acts found that majority of the incidents had been planned, engineered and executed by BLA operatives to create a situation of anarchy in Balochistan.

The offices of the BLA operating anywhere in the country, he said, would be sealed and bank accounts associated with it would be frozen immediately.

Balochistan has become restive as never before. Explosions on gas pipelines and rail tracks have become common. Around 100 civilians along with dozens of security forces have been killed in recent months.

There have been sporadic separatist movements in Balochistan since Pakistan was formed in 1947 with the departure of the British colonial rulers. The Baloch have long been accustomed to indirect rule, a policy that leaves local elites with a substantial measure of autonomy.

The 1970s saw a precipitous deterioration in relations between Balochistan and the central government, however. The violent confrontation between Baloch insurgents and the Pakistani military in the mid-1970s was particularly brutal. The conflict touched the lives of most Baloch and politicized those long accustomed to accepting the status quo.

Original demands for greater regional autonomy escalated into a full-scale movement aimed at restructuring the government along con-federal lines.

The three political figures of Balochistan under perpetual media attack are Nawab Akbar Bugti, Sardar Attaullah Mengal and Nawab Khair Bux Marri, all of whom are respected national leaders, commanding un-parallel degree of loyalty and respect. Balochistan’s problems have primarily been socio-cultural and politico-economic in content, a result of many decades< distrust and broken promises between federal and provincial authorities.
The situation has been simmering underneath for 58 years and now the Baluchis feel that there is a need to unite for their legitimate demands.