PML-N terms Bugti’s appointment a ‘political bribe’

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Mohammad Zubair said on Thursday that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s decision to appoint Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) chief Nawabzada Shahzain Bugti as his special assistant (SAPM) for reconciliation in Balochistan was nothing but “a political bribe”.

The former Sindh governor, who is also the spokesperson for former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz, said that the JWP chief would not be able to change much as he would not have any powers to negotiate or make political inroads.

“The new appointment can do little to improve the situation. He will have no powers except to enjoy his perks & privileges,” Zubair told The Express Tribune. “I am sure he will have no powers to negotiate or make political inroads. Even the PM does not have any decision making [authority]. For us, it is only a political bribe to its coalition partner,” he added.

Also, the PML-N leader said, Balochistan was a sensitive area and had remained the most backward and poor for all these decades. Zubair said that there had been efforts in the past to bring the province close enough to other provinces in terms of economic prosperity, but nothing much had worked out, so it would be difficult to see much improvement this time.

“The reasons are political,” Zubair said, “unless federal parties are allowed to reach out to the people and the establishment takes a back seat, nothing can be expected.”

Former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), however, was supportive of “any positive steps taken for addressing the grievances of the people of Balochistan. “We would support all the positive steps taken to address their grievances,” the PPP stalwart said.

“Bugti understands the area and its dynamics”, he said. “Keeping India’s interference and the rapidly changing situation in Afghanistan in view, someone had to take initiative,” he opined. “Establishment also wants to see peace in Balochistan,” Ashraf replied, when asked about the role of establishment.

“National harmony is the need of the hour; we need to have national thinking right now,” Ashraf said, adding things could change drastically therefore, swift efforts were required as “peace is Pakistan is in grave danger because of the changing situation in Afghanistan”.

Referring to the decades-long crisis in Balochistan, the former prime minister mentioned that the PPP had taken several initiatives in the past, including Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan – a reforms package and increasing job quota for the province, among other things.

Ashraf said that PPP has always taken steps to bring peace in the province and the nationalist parties into the national mainstream. He added that former president Asif Ali Zardari, as the head of state, had also apologised to the Baloch people in an attempt to redress their grievances.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Imran made Bugti, a grandson of former Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Akbar Bugti, his special assistant on reconciliation and harmony in Balochistan.

The move, seen as laying the groundwork for initiating a dialogue with the ‘angry’ Baloch elements, comes after back-to-back initiatives at the highest level to try to bring the disgruntled Baloch elements into the national mainstream and restore law and order in the province.

On Monday, the prime minister himself indicated that he was considering holding talks with the “angry Baloch”. On Tuesday, Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa said that Balochistan was in sharp focus of the national leadership and that the army was fully engaged in enabling the national and provincial response in synergy with other institutions of the state.

Later in the day, after a federal cabinet meeting, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that the talks would be held with those “angry Baloch”, who were not directly linked to India, while criteria for those linked to New Delhi or involved in terrorism would be different.

Though nothing had been stated officially, it is widely expected that Bugti would spearhead the government’s outreach to the disgruntled segments of Balochistan’s society.