QUETTA: The Balo­chis­tan Assembly on Saturday adopted two resolutions unanimously, demanding reopening of the Pak-Afghan border at Chaman and Torkham and a halt to massive arrest of Pakhtun people in Punjab and Sindh.

The assembly held a debate on two adjournment motions on the arrest of Pakhtuns in different cities of Punjab and Sindh, moved by Deputy Opposition Leader Zamarak Khan Piralizai and Syed Liaquat Ali Agha of the Pakh­tunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP).

Members from both the opposition and treasury benches spoke on the motions and strongly criticised the arrest of the Pakhtun. They said the Punjab and Sindh governments, instead of taking action against the activists of banned groups involved in terrorism, including suicide attacks and bomb blasts, were targeting the Pakhtuns who had been living and running their businesses in those provinces for decades.

Dr Hamid Achakzai said the Pakhtuns had played an important role in ousting colonial rulers and their role in the creation of the country could not be denied.

On the one hand, he said, the Punjab government was holding Pakistan Super League final in Lahore which featured Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators and, on the other, it was insulting the Pakhtuns in Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and cities and towns of the province.

Opposition leader Maulana Abdul Wasey, Sheikh Jaffar Khan Mandokhel, Prince Ahmed Ali Baloch, Abdul Rahim Ziaratwal, Nasrullah Zerey, Manzoor Kakar, Masooma Hayat, Sardar Aslam Bizenjo, Arifa Siddique, and Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran also spoke on the motions.

They termed the action of security forces against the Pakhtuns a “conspiracy to divide different nationalities in the name of the operation against terrorists”.

They demanded release of all innocent Pakhtun people who had been taken in custody during Operation Raddul Fasaad and called on the Punjab and Sindh governments to launch an operation against banned organisations and their activists who were involved in terrorism.

After the debate, the house clubbed the two adjournment motions into a resolution which was passed by the house unanimously.

The house also adopted another resolution moved by Mr Zerey regarding closure of the border with Afghanistan. The resolution demanded that the Pak-Afghan border at Torkham and Chaman should be reopened without any delay.

Mr Zerey, Ms Siddique, Dr Achakzai, Ms Hayat and others, while speaking on the resolution, expressed concern over the closure of the border for the last two weeks badly affecting the people on both sides, particularly traders.

They said that Pakistan’s relations with India were fraught with tension but the Wagah border had not been closed.

They said Pakistan and Afghanistan should resolve issues through negotiations and should not interfere in the affairs of each other.

The members of the assembly staged a walkout from the house to protest against the failure of the secretaries of government departments to attend sessions of the legislature.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2017