Opposition boycotts Balochistan panel meeting

The opposition on Saturday boycotted the first meeting of the revived parliamentary subcommittee on Balochistan, saying that it would now be a useless exercise, as the Federation was under serious threat.
The government, however, was confident that there was no danger to it, as no insurgency or separatist movement was going on in any part of the country. It vowed to take along the opposition in finalisation of the draft bill.
It is significant to note that all ruling coalition members of the panel shared complete unanimity during the meeting, which was held in the Parliament House, that the grant of provincial autonomy to provinces was imperative and that it would not weaken the Federation.
Opposition parties alleged that the only objective of the subcommittee's revival was to divert the masses' attention from real issues, posing threat to the country's existence. Minister for Inter-Provincial Co-ordination Salim Saifullah tried to persuade opposition members of the subcommittee but failed to convince them.
Briefing journalists after the meeting, its chairman Wasim Sajjad said that the meeting decided to continue efforts for opposition members' participation, and that the government would like PPPP and some other groups to support the initiative as they did on the women protection bill.
"We will like at least those PPPP legislators who had recently tabled a bill on provincial autonomy in the assembly to join us and give their input," he said.
The subcommittee, he said, would be studying how several countries including India, Australia and Canada treated their provinces and states and what was their quantum of autonomy. It was not necessary that their models would be followed in toto. However, the committee could benefit from their systems, he added.
He said, "I can say with conviction that there is no danger to the Federation. It is only a family problem, which can be resolved by taking parties into confidence."
Wasim Sajjad replied in the negative when asked whether or not any party had forwarded proposals on division of Punjab.
He said that no cut-off date about the recommendations could be given, but it would be the committee's effort to furnish them within weeks. Earlier, opposition senators and MNAs held a meeting in the Parliament House and, as expected, decided not to attend Senator Wasim Sajjad-led meeting.
They were of the view that instead of talking about provincial autonomy, the country itself was in danger, especially after the Bajaur and Dargai incidents.
The opposition leaders alleged that 90 percent recommendations of the Mushahid subcommittee on Balochistan had not yet been implemented, saying that by convening such meetings, the government only wanted to buy time. They regretted that the rulers were busy attending musical and dance parties while the country's integrity was in great danger.
ARD chairman and PPPP senior vice-president Amin Fahim said that the opposition had decided to boycott the meeting keeping in view the past experience. Leader of opposition in Senate, Raza Rabbani, recalled that the Mushahid subcommittee had recommended that cantonments should not be established in Balochistan and police system should not be expanded there. But these were set aside.
He said that opposition parties forwarded their recommendations some 18 months ago. Since then, no meeting was held on the subject. He pointed out when the ruling PML recommendations came out, it became evident that the government was not sincere in their implementation.
Senator Khurshid of MMA said that in case four ministries were given to the provinces, the provincial budget would get a raise of about Rs 100 billion. He accused the government of usurping sales tax, being a provincial subject. About the state of affairs, he said that the military operation in Balochistan had not been halted even for a single day, suggesting that the army should comply with its constitutional duties only.
Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party president Mehmood Achakzai said the problems being faced by the country were so serious that a single individual, an institution or a general unilaterally could not solve them. He gave a proposal that a national roundtable conference should be convened to deliberate on finding a solution to the problems. Awami National Party chief Asfandyar Wali was critical of the constitution of subcommittees on Balochistan, saying that whenever the government wanted to get rid of some problems, it set up similar fora.
He pointed that in Malakand, there are thousands of FC and Scouts centres, but the only army training camp was attacked which gives a specific message to the concerned quarters. PML-N leader Nadir Pervaiz lamented while referring to the recent attacks on Bajaur and Dargai that the war had been shifted from border to cantonments.
He alleged after the Dargai attack, soldiers and instructors hid themselves in the building while civilians came out for the help of the injured. He said everyone knows who attacked the seminary in Bajaur that killed over 80 people.