Baloch insurgency funded from abroad: PM

Gilani says govt has credible evidence of hostile external elements fueling the insurgency in Balochistan.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani Monday said that the government had credible evidence of hostile external elements fueling the insurgency in Balochistan.

“Foreign forces are involved in deteriorating the situation in Balochistan and taking advantage of it,” Gilani told the National Assembly using rhetoric often employed by military and intelligence officials in the recent past.

In what was dubbed a policy statement, Gilani reiterated his government’s offer to hold talks with the political forces of the province to bring them into the mainstream of the national life.

A legislator from Balochistan, however, warned that time was running out and urged the administration to go beyond familiar rhetoric.

The kidnapping of two judges in Jaffarabad district of Balochistan on Sunday appeared to be the primary motivation for the prime minister’s strong words for the Baloch insurgents.

PML-N, PML-Q duel

Meeting for the first time since the PML-N last week expelled the PPP from the Punjab government, the National Assembly saw lawmakers from hostile Pakistan Muslim League factions bashing each other’s policies.

As the PPP members remained silent, legislators from the Nawaz and Quaid factions of the PML appeared to be blaming each other for playing ‘dirty’ power games in the past and now.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 1^st, 2011.