LAHORE – Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Syed Munawar Hasan welcomed on Tuesday Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s announcement of troops’ withdrawal from Sui and Gwadar and termed it a step in the right direction. He said General Kayani’s statement that the army would be withdrawn from Sui and Gwadar within two months and it would not take part in any operation in Balochistan in the future indicated the realization that issues could not be resolved by force and military operation, adding that “it is better late than never”.
.Hasan said it was the 5th military operation in Balochistan that had failed. He said those military operations had created hatred amongst the Baloch for the army. He said that the situation was serious and only separatists had gained from it. The JI, he said, had always opposed the use of force against Pakistani citizens as the use of force distanced the nation from the armed forces. He said now that the armed forces had realized this, the military operation in the Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (FATA) should be stopped as well and troops should be withdrawn from Swat and other tribal areas.
At the same time, he said, the federal government should take prompt measures to restore peace in Balochistan. He said in order to cool down Balochs, Nawab Akbar Bugti’s murder case should be registered against former president general Pervez Mushrraf and the former general must be brought in the dock. Besides, he added, the rights of the Balochs to the province’s natural resources should be accepted and duly granted.
