The Balochistan National Party (Mengal group) will disown the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on Balochistan, BNP parliamentary party leader in the Senate Senator Sanaullah Baloch said. Talking to Business Recorder here on Tuesday, he said that according to the terms of reference of the committee, the recommendations were to be finalised by January 7, but due to unknown reasons these were not furnished.
BNP (Mengal) had quit the committee, accusing the Centre of interference last month. Senator Sanaullah Baloch and MNA Rauf Mengal were also members of the committee.
"If we go by the law and rules of the game, we don't know what the committee will be announcing after January 7 deadline," he said, adding that the committee was given 90 days (from October 7 to January 7) by the Senate to furnish its recommendations on how to address the grievances of Balochistan.
Another party, Jamhoori Watan Party, which has representation in the National Assembly as well as in the Senate, also on Monday expressed its no-confidence in the parliamentary committee. The prime minister formed the committee on the persistent demand of the opposition parties.
Sanaullah alleged that the objective of the formation of the committee was sublime, but it was not allowed to freely function and accomplish its task.
To a question, he said that if articles bound the provinces, the Centre also had certain limitations under the Constitution vis-à-vis its policies towards the federating units.
The senator accused the federal government of grossly misusing its authority while dealing with the recent developments, which were a matter of grave concern for the people of Balochistan.
"Persistent violation of the Constitution is creating sense of deprivation and alienation among the smaller provinces. In a democratic dispensation, issues are settled through dialogue and not at gunpoint," he said.
The BNP senator cautioned that any military action against own people would be counter-productive and could spell disaster for the Federation.
He lamented that Balochistan was languishing for basic needs of life at a time when the government was talking of spreading information technology network across the country. Despite gas discovery in 1950s only three or four cities of the province were supplied gas, while the rest of the province was still without this important energy source, he said.