Balochistan Assembly session: MPAs see no peace dividend for governor’s rule

Contest agreements reached over Reko Diq and Gwadar deep sea port.

QUETTA:

Members of the Balochistan Assembly unanimously agreed on Friday that the imposition of governors’ rule had not served any purpose in the province. Statistics shared in the house showed that up to 125 people had been killed following the imposition of governors’ rule.

Criticising the government’s decision, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F) leader Maulana Abdul Wasay said that governor’s rule had not improved public security in the province. Yet that was the precise reason the previous administration led by Nawab Aslam Raisani was shown the door, he said.

“Up to 125 people have been killed and 75 others injured [since the imposition of governor’s rule]. Three dozen people have been kidnapped and 15 bomb blasts have taken place in the province since then,” he pointed out.

Former minister for agriculture Mir Asad Baloch claimed that the government had given the military a free hand to carry out operations in the province. “Governor’s rule has led to the operations in Mastung and Mangochar,” he said adding that corpses of Baloch youth were still being recovered from different parts of the province.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Q MPA Mir Asim Kurd representing his party’s stance suggested that if governor’s rule was not serving its purpose the elected provincial government should be restored in Balochistan.

Members of the assembly also stressed that the agreements on the Reko Diq project and Gwadar Deep Sea Port should be made keeping in mind the interests of the Baloch people.

The session chaired by Syed Matiullah Agha agreed that the governor had no authority to chalk out agreements with any country since only an elected provincial government was authorised to sign such deals.

Wasay claimed that the US was opposed to China’s involvement in the Gwadar port only because they feared China would gain control of the province. “We would support the decision to give control of the port to China only if the agreement was made under an elected provincial government,” he said,adding that any decision on the matter would be opposed if it is taken under the current governors’ rule.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 16^th, 2013.