Senate Chairman Nayyar Hussain Bokhari has said that all stakeholders should be taken on board through dialogue to improve the Balochistan situation and ensure peace, progress and prosperity of the province.
He expressed these views while addressing a national workshop on ‘Balochistan Situation: Perception and Realities – The Way Forward,’ at the National Defence University on Wednesday. The chairman said, “Balochistan must be closely looked into through the prism of realism and not myths. We need to douse the discontent and bitterness boiling over decades through re-assuring compassion and self-restraint. Apathy must give way to sympathy and action speaks louder than words”.
He reiterated that there was only political solution to the Balochistan problem and no solution via use of force as was wrongly done by dictatorial regimes, which led to further aggravation of the situation in the province.
The chairman told the audience that the revival of democracy in Pakistan had set the wheels of change in motion and Balochistan had been accorded top priority by all pillars of the state, especially the parliament. “Our great leader Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, while addressing an election rally in Dera Allahyar just seven days before her tragic assassination, said: “I have come to Balochistan with the message of peace and brotherhood.” The current PPP government had taken her vision along, he said. “President Zardari extended a public apology to the people of Balochistan in February 2008 on behalf of the whole nation,” the Senate chairman said.
The chairman said that a number of landmark initiatives had been taken by the Parliament towards bringing Balochistan into the national mainstream and neutralising the sense of marginalisation among the Balochi people.
The chairman said that all these measures vindicate the PPP commitment to resolve the Balochistan issue on priority basis. However, the wrongs committed over half a century could not be undone overnight. “Balochistan is a national issue and we need to make concerted efforts by involving all stakeholders and pillars of the state. The executive must ensure prompt implementation of its pledges and parliamentary recommendations. The parliament must maintain an effective debate and oversight mechanism to hold executive accountable. The provincial government as well as the legislature in the aftermath of devolution of powers after the 18th Constitutional Amendment must work expeditiously towards addressing multifarious issues ranging from socio-economic development to maintaining law and order in Balochistan. The media must play the role of a principled, conscientious and responsible watchdog by reporting objectively,” he said.
The chairman said: “We must address the challenges of nation building with unity as a house divided against itself cannot stand. Balochistan has enormous potential to become a powerhouse of economic and industrial growth as it has big deposits of precious minerals and Gwadar seaport is a possible trade corridor to the Central Asian States,” he added.
The chairman urged all shades of opinion in Balochistan, especially the estranged elements, to come to the negotiating table and resolve differences through dialogue which was the spirit of a progressive democratic polity. “We must not allow foreign elements to take advantage of the situation,” he concluded.
