Balochistan security: Seeking help from Centre irks Raisani

Says kidnapping for ransom is not limited to Balochistan.

QUETTA: Irked over the criticism on the law and order situation in his province, Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani offered his seat to anyone who thought they could improve the prevailing situation.

"I challenge all those who say the law and order situation is deteriorated in Balochistan to come into this province and improve it. If incidents of kidnapping for ransom are taking place in Balochistan, these are also being reported across the country,” he said.

Lawmakers of the Balochistan Assembly also passed a unanimous resolution on the law and order situation in the restive province on Tuesday.

Provincial Ministers Tahir Mehmood Khan, Mir Shah Nawaz Marri, Ali Madad Jattak and others moved a joint resolution that read: "According to the instructions of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and under the Article 148 (3) of the Constitution, the federal government is bound to help the provincial government to improve law and order in the province. Therefore, this house recommends the federal government to make the federal institutions bound to assist the provincial government in improving peace and order.”

In his speech, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid MPA Sheikh Jaffar Mandokhel said that incidents of kidnapping for ransom and highway robberies were so rampant that no one could travel on the Quetta-Karachi highway without security.

MPA Shah Nawaz Marri said that the present law and order situation of Balochistan requires federal and provincial institutions to devise a strategy to restore peace in the province and added that the Centre should assist in restoring stability.

Mandokhel said that he had to send his sons abroad for studies due to the poor security situation in Balochistan. “I had to send them to their educational institutions [here] with security guards. No one can receive education under the shadow of a Kalashnikov,” he remarked.

The chief minister, however, expressed his displeasures over Mandokhel’s remarks, saying that incidents of violence were occurring throughout the country.

Provincial Irrigation Minister Sardar Aslam Bizenjo said that the security situation of Balochistan started aggravating during the regime of former president Pervez Musharraf.

“Relatives of missing persons and relatives of those whose mutilated bodies were recovered never held the Balochistan government responsible,” he said.