ISLAMABAD: Leader of the House in the Senate Raza Rabbani on Friday tendered an apology on behalf of the ruling coalition for military operations carried out in Balochistan in different tenures. “Such operations were launched in the name of federation, but they actually weakened it,” he said after Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-Mengal) Senator Sanaullah Baloch submitted his resignation to the Upper House Chairman Mohammadmian Soomro.Rabbani said the government would not allow demographic change in the provinces, and said the proposal denying the right to vote in Balochistan to those who settled in the province from elsewhere was being considered.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s (PML-Q) Mushahid Hussain said, “We as a nation should apologise to the Baloch.”
Hussain, who headed a subcommittee on Balochistan during the previous government, said his party had taken the initiative with a “positive mindset”, and that it made efforts to reconcile with the people of Balochistan. “But there was another line in the system that favoured confrontation. Hawks within the establishment sabotaged our efforts,” the PML-Q secretary general said, but without clarifying to which hawkish segment he referred.
Mushahid said the PML-Q would support the government for settling all Balochistan issues through talks. He said the use of military was not the solution to provinceÂ’s problems.