Sunday, December 13, 2009
By Mumtaz Alvi
ISLAMABAD: Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri is neither interested in Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s negotiations offer nor in the recently announced package for Balochistan, a close aide of Nawab Marri said on Saturday.
The octogenarian Baloch nationalist leader, who no more believes in talks with Islamabad, lives in Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority.
“He has made no comments at all on the developments, regarding Balochistan, particularly on the Balochistan package and the premier’s dialogue offer, which he made while winding up the debate on the package in a joint sitting of the Parliament,” said the close aide, who did not want to be identified.
Marri is hardly seen on the media, but he is widely believed to be the source of inspiration for those who are waging a low-intensity movement in Balochistan. Marri tribesmen have dominance in the separation movement in the province.
When this reporter pressed the aide for seeking views of the nationalist leader directly, he said Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri would not talk on telephone, even if he agreed to interact that could be while sitting across the table.
Asked whether the Baloch nationalist leader was in contact with the separatist forces or not, he said Khair Bakhsh Marri supported them and considered their campaign legitimate.
The chieftain of Mengal tribe, Attaullah Mengal, was also not available for his views on the package and the prime minister’s talks offer. He is currently in Karachi for medical treatment.
But Akhtar Mengal, chief of the Balochistan Nationalist Party (BNP) and son of Attaullah Mengal, has outrightly rejected the package and the talks offer. Akhtar, who has served as the Balochistan chief minister, is also abroad and could not be contacted on his mobile phone.
“Mengal Sahib is in Germany for the last week and is likely to stay there for another fortnight or so. He is being treated there for ailment,” said BNP Vice President Sajid Tareen, when approached on phone.
Asked why the BNP has rejected the package, which the majority apparently in Balochistan welcomed as a prelude to the grant of provincial autonomy, he said what the people of Balochistan needed was their right on resources, which could not be guaranteed under any package.
He alleged the present government was also not sincere to Balochistan because if it had been sincere, it would not have waited for almost two years to announce some half-hearted measures for the province.
When he was told that after Prime Minister Gilani’s announcement, several missing persons of Balochistan have returned to their homes, he did not agree and said scores of people had staged a rally in Quetta the other day for the recovery of their dear ones.
About the talks offer and the prime minister’s resolve to even visit homes of the leading nationalist leaders of Balochistan, he said his mind might short-circuit if he tried to recall how many rounds of talks had been held between the nationalist leaders and the centre, but they remained inconclusive and produced no tangible results.
“As per Baloch traditions, we welcome anybody who visits us from Islamabad, but we no more are confident that such an exercise will lead to any constructive outcome,” remarked the BNP vice-president when asked how they would react if Prime Minister Gilani visited Attaullah Mengal or Khair Bakhsh Marri.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=213114
By Mumtaz Alvi
ISLAMABAD: Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri is neither interested in Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani’s negotiations offer nor in the recently announced package for Balochistan, a close aide of Nawab Marri said on Saturday.
The octogenarian Baloch nationalist leader, who no more believes in talks with Islamabad, lives in Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority.
“He has made no comments at all on the developments, regarding Balochistan, particularly on the Balochistan package and the premier’s dialogue offer, which he made while winding up the debate on the package in a joint sitting of the Parliament,” said the close aide, who did not want to be identified.
Marri is hardly seen on the media, but he is widely believed to be the source of inspiration for those who are waging a low-intensity movement in Balochistan. Marri tribesmen have dominance in the separation movement in the province.
When this reporter pressed the aide for seeking views of the nationalist leader directly, he said Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri would not talk on telephone, even if he agreed to interact that could be while sitting across the table.
Asked whether the Baloch nationalist leader was in contact with the separatist forces or not, he said Khair Bakhsh Marri supported them and considered their campaign legitimate.
The chieftain of Mengal tribe, Attaullah Mengal, was also not available for his views on the package and the prime minister’s talks offer. He is currently in Karachi for medical treatment.
But Akhtar Mengal, chief of the Balochistan Nationalist Party (BNP) and son of Attaullah Mengal, has outrightly rejected the package and the talks offer. Akhtar, who has served as the Balochistan chief minister, is also abroad and could not be contacted on his mobile phone.
“Mengal Sahib is in Germany for the last week and is likely to stay there for another fortnight or so. He is being treated there for ailment,” said BNP Vice President Sajid Tareen, when approached on phone.
Asked why the BNP has rejected the package, which the majority apparently in Balochistan welcomed as a prelude to the grant of provincial autonomy, he said what the people of Balochistan needed was their right on resources, which could not be guaranteed under any package.
He alleged the present government was also not sincere to Balochistan because if it had been sincere, it would not have waited for almost two years to announce some half-hearted measures for the province.
When he was told that after Prime Minister Gilani’s announcement, several missing persons of Balochistan have returned to their homes, he did not agree and said scores of people had staged a rally in Quetta the other day for the recovery of their dear ones.
About the talks offer and the prime minister’s resolve to even visit homes of the leading nationalist leaders of Balochistan, he said his mind might short-circuit if he tried to recall how many rounds of talks had been held between the nationalist leaders and the centre, but they remained inconclusive and produced no tangible results.
“As per Baloch traditions, we welcome anybody who visits us from Islamabad, but we no more are confident that such an exercise will lead to any constructive outcome,” remarked the BNP vice-president when asked how they would react if Prime Minister Gilani visited Attaullah Mengal or Khair Bakhsh Marri.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=213114
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