A majority of Baloch leaders rejected the announcement made by Interior Minister Rehman Malik of giving amnesty to Baloch rebels, calling him unreliable and his announcement “impossible to implement”. They said that there was no use of withdrawing cases against Barahamdgah Bugti and Harbiyar Marri who neither accepted the state nor the government.
They said had the minister announced to recover all missing persons, bring the responsible of the kill-and-dump policy to justice and the stoppage of ongoing military operation, it would have been much more productive and helpful.
Balochistan National Party President Sardar Akhtar Mengal said like other Baloch nationalists, his party would also not to participate in the all-parties conference convened by the government that was responsible for abduction of Baloch youth and their killing. He said Islamabad cheated the Baloch nation in the name of Holy Quran when Nawab Naurooz Khan was brought from mountains under the oath of the holy book and later thrown into prison and his sons and companions were sent to the gallows. He said that in such circumstances, “why should Baloch people rely on the interior minister who even did not know how to recite Surah Akhlaas?”
He said the government did not demonstrate its seriousness towards Balochistan during the last four years and had the rulers did so, a workable solution would have been devised.
Mengal said those who were now making announcement for withdrawal of cases against the Baloch leaders should tell the Baloch population what action they would take against those responsible for killing the Baloch youth and throwing their bodies for the animals to eat.
Federal Minister Senator Mir Israrullah Zehri, President of PPP’s allied party BNP-A, also called the announcement by Malik a pack of lies, adding that the interior minister was unable to remove a single checkpost of Frontier Corps Balochistan.
He said despite being an ally of the PPP-led coalition, his party would not participate in the APC on Balochistan unless the culprits involved in the targeted killing of the wife and daughter of MPA Nawabzada Bakhtiar Domki were not exposed. He said Malik was in a habit of making such false claims and should not waste the nation’s time. National Party Senior Vice President Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo said he failed to understand the announcement, as cases against those Baloch leaders were being withdrawn who did not accept the state or the PPP government in the first place.
He said it would have been better that confidence-building measures were taken for talks between Baloch leaders and the government.
Bizenjo said these measures should include the recovery of all missing persons and determination of identity of those responsible for killing hundreds of Baloch missing persons.
Balochistan National Party acting president Dr Jahanzaib Jamadini said the rulers had started talking about Baloch issues after being stunned by the introduction of a resolution in the US congress.
He said the government was trying to resolve things when they had come to a point of no return.