The government is making sincere efforts to resolve the Balochistan issue and a special team is negotiating with all stakeholders to bring normalcy in the restive province, the National Assembly was informed on Friday.
"The government is (trying) to bring the Baloch people into national mainstream and keen to resolve all issues through dialogue by taking all aggrieved parties onboard," said parliamentary secretary for cabinet and establishment division Khurram Jahangir Wattoo with referring to a special cabinet committee meeting in Quetta.
Wattoo said that the committee, headed by Defence Minister Syed Naveed Qamar, held a meeting on August 1 in Quetta, besides holding separate talks with all Baloch leaders. He said that the committee members also met with former Balochistan chief minister Sardar Akhtar Mengal during his recent visit to the capital. Tehmina Daultana of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) took Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani to task, terming his attitude towards resolving problems of his province non-serious.
"Just tell me how can he control the FC when he resides most of the time in Islamabad, and goes to Balochistan as a visitor...you tell me how many days did he stay in the province to tackle issues confronting the masses," she flayed. The CM Balochistan is often seen riding heavy bikes on federal capital roads and is believed to be spending less time in his province.
Nobody from the ruling coalition could give a satisfactory answer to questions posed by the PML-N legislator, saying it was the job of the provincial administration to ensure their chief minister's presence. Tehmina also censured the government over Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira's recent statement that the government was ready to pull out the Frontier Constabulary (FC), but the PML-N chief, who made the demand, should guarantee peace there.
Syed Nasir Ali Shah, a PPP lawmaker from Balochistan, questioned the seriousness of his own government, saying: Stressing the need for a serious debate on the Balochistan issue, he said: "Balochistan's Problems cannot be resolved through mere discussions during the question hour...is the government sleeping?" Responding to the reservations, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira recalled an apology tendered by President Asif Zardari to the people of the province for the excesses of the past. He said that all political parties would have to play their due role for bringing peace in the province, adding: "Pulling FC out was no solution."
He said that the demand to withdraw FC was just political point-scoring and not a lasting solution to the Balochistan situation. The minister shocked the house when he said that only 5 percent of the province was policed while 95 percent of Balochistan was looked after either by FC or tribal forces.
He said that a politician of Nawaz Sharif's stature, who had served as prime minister twice was aware of everything, and should not issue statement which had no relevance with ground realities. Earlier, Wattoo highlighted reforms - constitutional, administrative, political and economic - introduced by the government. Since November 2009, he said, more than 20 review meetings had been held to supervise progress on the Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e Balochistan package. Five of the meetings, he said, had been chaired by the Prime Minister, while eight meetings took place this year.
He said that government had deleted the concurrent list, implemented Article 153 of the Constitution (formation of the Council of Common Interest), Article 160 (NFC Award ) through which Balochistan was given Rs 114 billion in 2010. Referring to the 27 resolutions passed by the Balochistan Assembly, he said that the federal government had implemented 17 and the rest of them were related to the provincial assembly. The house was later adjourned to meet again on Monday at 5pm.
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