PRIME Minister Gilani has said that the missing persons issue was of vital importance to the province, and said that it came up during his meeting with Baloch leader Ataullah Mengal. He told a press conference at CM Secretariat during his visit to Quetta after a meeting with the provinces Governor and Chief Minister that the PPP government was fully aware of the grievances of the Baloch, and had introduced the Aghaz-e-Huqooq-e-Balochistan programme to solve them. Also in Quetta, COAS Gen Kiyani told an audience of scholarship winners and their parents that the army was committed to the youth of the province, which he said was shown by the army providing scholarships for Baloch youth to obtain higher education. When he said that the provision of higher education was necessary to national integration, he was not wrong, but as Mr Gilanis remarks showed, the problems of Balochistan did not include just education, but missing persons and murder. Though neither mentioned it, the case of Nawab Akbar Bugti has finally been registered as one of murder, and its solution symbolises the resolve of the federal government to solve the problems of Balochistan, whoever might be affected, individually or institutionally. The importance of the missing persons is not just relevant to Balochistan, but affects Pakistanis from all over the country. However, those disappearing from Balochistan were not those handed over to the USA in the war on terror, but those who were wanted for political activism and detained by their own people because of that. While missing persons from the rest of the country are a cause of concern to the Supreme Court, which is seized of the matter, and their relatives, those who have disappeared from Balochistan have become the cause of the entire province. The PPP has found itself in the false position of being in office, but being unable to arrange for their recovery. Though Mr Gilani said that the government would address the issue after it had received reports from the judicial and parliamentary committees appointed on the issue, noting that the judicial committee would be formed after consulting the Chief Justice, the issue is a burning one, and the effects of other policy measures would occur only after its solution. Though it is good that the Army has given scholarships to the youth of the province, effects will not be seen so long as so many people remain missing. The government owes much to the province, and if it thinks that its package, or the changes effected through the NFC Award or the 18th Amendment, are enough, it is mistaken.