Balochistan imbroglio: Imran endorses Mengal’s viewpoint

Issue of missing persons and death squads is alarming, says Khan.

LAHORE:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan has endorsed the six points raised by Sardar Akhtar Mengal in the Supreme Court.

The law and order situation in Balochistan has gone from bad to worse after the 2008 elections, when a non-representative government came into power due to a boycott by the real political forces of the province, Imran said in a statement on Friday.

The PTI chief also took a swipe at legislators in the province. “The provincial assembly is full of corrupt politicians who are only interested in pocketing millions of rupees every year,” he said.

Military operation

The PTI has always been against military operations and considers it a destructive process according to the PTI statement. Balochistan has a history of five operations. The damage done historically is huge but if efforts are made they can still be repaired, the statement said.

The PTI chairman added that the issue of missing persons and death squads is alarming for a population that already has the lowest socio-economic indicators as compared to other provinces.

Those responsible for forced disappearances should be brought to book along with the murderers of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.

Waziristan peace march

Imran criticised federal authorities for denying visas to foreign journalists and peace activists who want to cover and participate in his party’s peace march and anti-drone rally to South Waziristan.

Two well-known international journalists, Carol Grayson and Abdulhalim Helali, had been refused a visa by Pakistan High Commission in the UK.

According to him, flimsy grounds have been cited for the refusal of visa including Waziristan’s status as a no-go area and his party’s alleged inability to guarantee the security of people it wanted to take along. Another excuse was that the visa process would take two months.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan High Commission in London refuted that visas to two British journalists, who had been invited by PTI to cover the march, were denied to them.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2012.