ISLAMABAD: Former Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ms Sherry Rehman has expressed concern at the reports of the killing of unarmed civilians at the hands of personnel of law enforcement agencies in the province of Balochistan early this week.
According to press reports, a crowd protesting the killing of a Baloch Nationalist Front activist in Government High School Tump was reportedly fired at by the security forces. One man lost his life and several others, including a woman, were injured in the confrontation between the FC personnel and political activists.
‘The democratic government has travelled a long distance to pursue its agenda of reconciliation in Balochistan. The president and the PM have repeatedly expressed their deep commitment to resolving the outstanding issues of the province, and they have the support of all political forces for their effort. In this backdrop, incidents such as the latest confrontation between the security forces and the civilians, and the reports of target killings of political activists in Balochistan are extremely disturbing and merit immediate attention,’ said Ms Sherry Rehman replying to a media query on the subject.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) parliamentarian said that the grievances of Balochistan’s population are deep-rooted and would take time to be addressed. ‘However, the political government has repeatedly demonstrated its resolve to pursue Balochistan as a priority item on the national agenda, and a multi-pronged strategy based on the premises of development, law enforcement, and reconciliation is being followed. There is a consensus among all political forces that Balochistan’s issues should be resolved through political means only and any attempt to derail the government’s efforts needs to be seriously looked into. We have all seen the negative repercussions of deploying military means to resolve this important challenge, and no political government would support any tussle with its own people.’
Ms Rehman expressed the hope that the recent incident of the unjustified shootout would be investigated. ‘It should be our earnest desire that all parties take the route of dialogue to resolve their differences as this is the only way to ensuring peace and a lasting solution to our issues. We will have to go back to the dialogue table at some point, so there is no excuse for unnecessary clashes as it only flares up sentiments and causes resentment.’
The PPP parliamentarian condoled the deaths of political activists in Balochistan. ‘The whole nation mourns the deaths of our fellow citizens and our Baloch brothers should be assured that most Pakistanis seek national reconciliation, and without mainstreaming Baloch interests this is not possible,’ said Ms Rehman.—Agencies
0 comments:
Post a Comment