Balochistan situation worse than Kashmir

Sardar Akhtar Mengal has said Balochistan situation is worse than that in Kashmir and Palestine. During a Supreme Court hearing Sardar Mengal alleged that the agencies were responsible for the situation in Balochistan. He further said that he had appeared in the court only to discuss the missing persons issue adding that without the resolution of the missing persons issue the 65-year-old political issue cannot be resolved. The nationalist leader said that the province had undergone five military operations and no one was answerable so as to what was the fault of the innocent victims. He also claimed that during the military rule every attempt was made to suppress the political voice of the Baloch people. Mengal said that attempts are being made to eliminate the genuine leadership of the Baloch people replacing them with artificial leadership who were manufactured in factories and that federal and provincial lawmakers never visited the rural areas of the province and remained confined to the ministerial secretariat. The former chief minister further said that the nationalist leadership was being specifically targeted adding that the heirs of the late Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti were not even allowed to attend his funeral. Sardar Akhtar Mengal told the Supreme Court that if an order was issued to rehabilitate the Baloch, displaced since 10 years, then that would be a step forward. Giving his remarks Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry said that the ‘Death squads’ of ISI and MI agencies should be abolished. The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) has sought the response from the civil and military leaderships in the Balochistan law and order and missing persons case. The Supreme Court on Thursday resumed the hearing on the law and order situation in Balochistan, which was attended by Baloch nationalist leader Sardar Akhtar Mengal,who is a former chief minister of the province. A three-member bench of the SC comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Jawad S Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain resumed the hearing of petition regarding worst law and order situation in the province filed by Balochistan High Court Bar Association. Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry said that the court had issued 60 orders during the 68 hearings on the case but no practical steps were taken. The court also told the chief secretary of the Balochistan to deliver Sardar Akhtar Mengal’s message to federal and provincial leadership and sought from him a written reply on the issue on the next hearing. The chief justice further told the chief secretary to discuss the issue with the president, Director General (DG) of the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) and DG Military Intelligence (MI) and to inform the court in writing as to what steps are being taken to resolve the issue. Furthermore, the chief justice said in his remarks that the missing persons would be recovered and that the court would go to any extent, if needed, to achieve the purpose. All overt and covert operations must be put to an end and the displaced Baloch should be rehabilitated, added the chief justice in his remarks. Chaudhry also said that FIRs would be lodged against those held responsible and the cases would heard in the high courts rather than the lower courts. The former chief minister told the court that the issue of missing persons is very critical in the province and the roots to the problem can be found in the 65-year political history of the province adding that every government deceived the people of Balochistan and the issue has gone beyond the control of agencies reaching foreign elements.