The PPP believes in consultation and dialogue to find solution to all contentious issues: Farhatullah Babar.—File photo

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Saturday indicated its willingness to participate in the all parties conference the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) plans to convene on the issue of Balochistan.

“The PPP believes in consultation and dialogue to find solution to all contentious issues. As such the party will consider deputing a high-level delegation to participate in the proposed APC, if and when it is held,” presidential spokesman Farhatullah Khan Babar said in a statement.

A source in the PML-N told Dawn that some Baloch leaders, particularly Talal Bugti, had suggested to Mr Sharif not to invite the PPP to the proposed APC. He even threatened to boycott the event if the PPP was invited.

The source said that Baloch leaders were angry over the continuation in the province of the policies of military ruler Pervez Musharraf despite the PPP-led democratic set-up in the country.

Speaking at a function in Quetta on Friday, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif said that an APC would be convened soon in Islamabad to discuss the situation in the province and to find ways of resolving the crisis.

When contacted, PML-N’s deputy secretary general Ahsan Iqbal said Mr Sharif’s proposal to hold an APC or a national conference on the issue of Balochistan got unanimous support from all political parties in the province.

He said representatives of civil society, lawyers and intelligentsia would also be invited to the conference.

Mr Iqbal said that all Baloch leaders reposed full confidence in the leadership of Nawaz Sharif and believed that “he is the only hope for them as he can play the role of a bridge between the federation and the province”.

He said people of Balochistan were disappointed with the performance of the PPP and most of them considered the ruling party a “part of the problem”.

In reply to a question, Mr Iqbal said a date for the APC would be announced after consultations within the PML-N so that arrangements could be made for the event.