QUETTA - Balochistan government is sending parliamentary delegates to different international forums, including the United Nations, to sensitise the world on the real situation in the province.
This was revealed by Balochistan Chief Minister Sardar Sanaullah Zehri during a media interaction with a group of senior journalists and anchor persons from Lahore, at his Secretariat on Sunday.
“These international institutions talk of democracy all the time. The parliamentarians are the true representatives of the Balochistan people and when they talk at these forums their voce carry weight,” he said while talking about the negative propaganda of enemies of Pakistan at international level.
The chief minister said he is also planning to write an open letter to the United Nations Secretary General to apprise him and the world of the atrocities committed by the miscreants in Balochistan.
“When someone is killed in a security operation hue and cry is raised, but no one speaks about the plight of ordinary citizens of Pakistan who are being mercilessly butchered in terrorist attacks. There should be no double standards,” Zehri remarked.
The provincial government is acting of a zero tolerance policy against extremist tendencies and terrorist activities in all their forms, he said. It is a battle that we would ultimately win.
He insisted that there was no visible support for separatists; not even one per cent of the population was supporting their anti-state ideology.
People all across Balochistan took to streets against the recent provocative statement of Indian Prime Minister Narindra Modi about this province of Pakistan, the CM told the meeting, at which provincial government spokesperson Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar was also present.
“Why did even ten persons had not gathered anywhere in Balochistan to support Mr Modi’s assertions? The reason is simple. The so-called separatist elements do not enjoy any public support.”
Replying to a question by this correspondent, the chief minister said that CPEC project would certainly be a game changer and Balochistan would also get its share that would run into billions of rupees. He said all conspiracies against this mega Pak-China project were bound to fail.
Sardar Zehri did admit that it was a very big challenge to restore peace fully but termed the security situation satisfactory, adding that the government and law-enforcing agencies were determined to rid this soil of miscreants of all shades and pawns of Pakistan’s enemies.
“Apart from the recent tragic event where scores of innocent lawyers were martyred, Balochistan has been relatively peaceful for quite some time due to successful operations against the miscreants by the security forces. In some operations, I personally accompanied the security forces to lend moral support to the troops”.
Replying to a question from The Nation he said “we have approached the misguided youth to change their attitude and their responses were very encouraging. You have seen that have started surrendering to the authorities by laying down their arms”.
“Pakistan has given us a lot. We have declared open war with the handful of extremist and separatist elements conspiring against Pakistan. They are being funded by our enemies but they are on the run and will be defeated out rightly. There is no place in Balochistan for people who question the integrity of Pakistan,” he went on to say.
CM Zehri replied in the positive when asked if he had contacted some of the disgruntled Baloch leaders, including Brahmdagh Bugti and Herbiyar Marri.
He agreed that, of all kind of violence and extremism, religious bigotry and militancy presented a bigger and long-term challenge. “The war must not stop until all these elements are eliminated. This is a battle for the heart and soul of Pakistan and thus it needs to continue relentlessly till conclusion.”
Sardar Zehri said that political administration of the province and the security forces are on the same page and enjoy good working relationship. He said that Baloch youth has shown great enthusiasm in joining the armed forces in recent years and now the number of Baloch recruits exceeds 21,000.
He said the Chaman border incident was “an insult to our national pride and that is why we dealt it with an iron hand. We forced every movement to come to a halt unless the Afghan government was willing to accept its mistake”. “We will not compromise on our national honour,” he stressed.
Talking about the rich mineral resources, Sardar Zehri said Reko Diq case was in international litigation and once the decision is pronounced, the government would explore this wealth by bringing in new international companies.
Zehri said the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was determined to conduct census in March next year and the delay was only because the armed forces are engaged on both eastern and western borders.