People's doctrine of peace: "I have come to Balochistan with a message of peace and brotherhood, said Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto while addressing an election rally in Dera Allahyar, just seven days before her martyrdom.
During her campaign visit to Quetta in December 2007, Shaheed Mohtarma also recognised that the situation in Balochistan had deteriorated because of use of force instead of efforts to resolve the issue through dialogue, thereby forcing the youth to take up arms. She said that the PPP would give equal rights to all the provinces and exploitation would be ended to enable the people of Balochistan to move forward with honour.
Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto's promise turned eventually into concrete policy recommendations for the Joint Sitting of the Parliament when Senator Mian Raza Rabbani presented a set of comprehensive proposals titled 'Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan' (AHB) on November 24, 2009.
The era of this new relationship has already set in. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has explained at various forums why his Government has used the word 'Aghaz-e-Haqooq' for Balochistan instead of a 'package'. Historically, Balochistan was treated by non-representative forces with a 'charity' and 'relief' perspective, by dolling out sporadic handouts to its people.
But the People's Government has shifted the paradigm. It has established through its policy approach as well as by its practical delivery that marginalization of provinces cannot be mitigated through ad-hoc relief packages and arbitrary charities. There has to be, first, a genuine political understanding and will to address their grievances; and second, a predictable institutional mechanism to address the vulnerabilities of marginalized provinces.
AHB is an exciting beginning to achieve the desired institutional sustainability for an equitable federation -- where right is not relief, but it is enforceable. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on the floor of the House, apart from trying to resolve the backlog of the last 62 years, the Government is determined to evolve an arrangement to avoid recurrence of such problems in future."
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