‘Baloch target killings: bureaucracy not involved’

PESHAWAR: A central leader of the Awami National Party (ANP) Rahat Malak said on Saturday that the bureaucracy was not involved in target killings in Balochistan instead some forces dreaming about a ‘greater Balochistan’ were inciting unrest in the province.

Malak expressed these views at a condolence reference held for late Baloch leaders Habib Jalib and Mir Maula Bakhsh Dashti, at the Peshawar Press Club.

Supporters of  a “greater Balochistan” are fighting for their rights but the method they have adopted is downright wrong, he added.

Malak lamented that since 2003 target killings has claimed more than 25,000 lives but no concrete action has been taken by the government as the culprits have never been arrested.

He appreciated as “unprecedented” the government’s move to order a judicial inquiry into Jalib’s killing. But at the same time he demanded the inquiry commission’s mandate be extended to other incidents of target killings, so that justice be ensured.

Speaking on the occasion, another local leader, Mukhtar Bacha blamed the establishment for chaos in Balochistan.  He said mere condemnation was no solution because the issue of target killings was so complicated that it needed a comprehensive strategy. “Some unseen forces are hell bent on killing nationalist leaders,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2010.