Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) leader Aasma Jhangir called for immediate demilitarisation of Balochistan as saying the first confidence measure to start a political dialogue in the province and warns if corrective actions were not taken immediately with the concurrence of Balochistan's people, the country may dearly regret the consequences.
Addressing a press briefing along with HRCP leaders Iqbal Haider and Rehman here on Sunday, she said that in the view of the crisis, a large section of the people of Balochistan had been driven to the conclusion that they were being viewed as enemies of the state. They feel abandoned by the people as well as political forces in the rest of the country and there is a sense of isolation, rejection and dejection, she added.
She maintained that a history of neglect and betrayal over the decades coupled with systematic human rights abuses carried out with impunity had made a vast number of Baloch people desperate. No wonder, in this situation the Baloch youth has been driven into repudiating their allegiance to the state. In such circumstances the youth particularly is vulnerable to manipulation and it is imperative for all national leaders act with responsibility and to exercise a positive influence so that facts are not distorted, she added.
HRCP abhors violence both as a means and as an end, perpetrated by any party. It regrets that target killings have also been attributed to militants and nationalist forces. An important number of people have fallen victims to target killings simply because of their ethnic origin belief, she said.
She maintained that HRCP unreservedly condemned such abuse of right to life and expects all political forces to do the same publicly.
She mentioned that representatives of Pakhtoon community listed a long series of grievances relating to denial of rights, discrimination in the allocation of resources and non-acceptance of their demand to be an equal unit of the federation.