Balochistan crisis: In passionate speech, Shahbaz urges soul-searching instead of condemning US bill

Punjab Assembly speaker, on Shahbaz’s suggestion, forms panel to draft bill against army assaults in Balochistan.

LAHORE: In an impassioned speech on the Balochistan crisis, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has urged Pakistanis to do some soul-searching instead of passing resolutions in assemblies against the US congressional bill on Balochistan.

“Since Pakistan’s inception, there have been various army assaults in Balochistan whether it was during General Ayub Khan’s regime or when [Pakistan Peoples Party founder and former prime minister] Bhutto was in power,” Shahbaz told the Punjab Assembly, where he appeared on Thursday, for the first time in eight months.

Blaming former president Pervez Musharraf, during whose tenure veteran Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti was assassinated, Shahbaz said the incumbent government was no better and was busy issuing statements from the bunker of the Presidency.

Bugti, he said, was a patriotic leader and was ready to speak to Musharraf but was made to wait five hours at an airport in Balochistan and then disgracefully asked to depart.

The chief minister said that he had met senior Baloch leader Sardar Ataullah Mengal who said that the disgruntled Baloch had refused to comply with his directives and decided to fight Pakistani forces. Shahbaz quoted Mengal as saying that some people said that Balochistan wasn’t easy to separate like East Pakistan was but this is a misconception.

But as he outlined the gravity of the situation, Shahbaz also had a word of hope. “If Germany, which was razed to the ground, could be reunited then why can Pakistan not address the grievances of the Baloch,” he said, adding that Punjab had given an extra share of Rs11 billion to Balochistan in the seventh National Finance Commission award.

Although he said that there was little that an all-parties conference could achieve on the issue, demanded Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal to constitute a committee of members from all parties to prepare a draft resolution condemning army excesses in Balochistan and expressing support and empathy for the Baloch.

The speaker then formed a panel which will be led by Law Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan and comprises parliamentary leaders of all political parties.

Mohsin Leghari, of the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, said that Baloch students should be admitted to academic institutions in Punjab so that they could live in an integrated environment and experience Punjabis’ sympathy for them.

He said that during British rule, they had had just one approach: respect the Baloch if you want to rule them. “Pakistani rulers have not respected the Baloch and have only increased development work in the province, which is not a cure.”

Shahbaz said that a large number of Baloch students were studying in Punjab, including in the provincial government’s Danish Schools scheme. “Baloch students who topped their classes have been sent on international trips as well,” he said. He also condemned what he called was a tragic sectarian incident in Kohistan, in which 16 Shias were executed.

Proceedings

When members of the opposition learnt that Shahbaz was present in the assembly premises, they demanded the speaker to summon him to the house. But he preferred to stay in his chamber, prompting the opposition to boycott the session, which had begun an hour-and-a-half later than scheduled time.

Ehsanul Haq Naulatia, of the Pakistan Peoples Party, spoke on a call attention notice and said that according to rule 62 of the Punjab Assembly’s Rules of Procedures 1997, only the chief minister or the minister of the department could respond to call attention notices. He referred to the notice about the home department and said that since Shahbaz was also the home minister, he should come to the house and reply.

Sanaullah responded that a notification had been issued giving him additional charge of the home ministry, so the chief minister need not appear before the house.

Zulfiqar Gondal, PPP’s parliamentary leader, said that neither the speaker nor the treasury benches were following the rules, provoking them to boycott proceedings. “Unfortunately, the chief minister has come after eight months and still decided to sit in his chamber where he is busy pleasing 47 turncoats ahead of the Senate vote.”

The PPP and PML-Q both boycotted the proceedings, while PPP’s Sagheera Islam pointed out quorum, which was defeated by treasury benches. Earlier, Irrigation minister Ahmad Ali Aolakh also replied to questions about his department.

After 10 minutes, Sharif came into the house and began his speech.

At 3pm, the session was adjourned till 9am on Friday after a few speeches in the pre-budget debate.