KARACHI, April 20: Chief of the National Party Dr Abdul Hayee Baloch has called for a peaceful solution to the Balochistan issue based on an immediate halt to the military operation there and release of all Baloch political leaders and activists. He also urged the government to create an atmosphere conducive to the safe return of all tribesmen displaced since the launching of the operation.

Talking to party workers here, he expressed his deep concern over the continued military operation in Balochistan, and warned that the situation might aggravate unless immediate measures were taken to resolve the problems faced by the Baloch people in their province and other parts of the country.

Dr Hayee advised the new government not to continue with the past rulers’ policy of using brutal force against Baloch nationalist and democratic forces. He wondered that the government had asked people of Balochistan to lay down their arms, arguing that it was the government that had started the military operation in the province “on the pretext of crushing the so-called rebellion”.

He reiterated his party’s stance that the Balochistan issue was basically a political one and should be tackled accordingly. “The Baloch people are struggling only for their fundamental rights,” he said, adding that the rulers should change their colonial approach and stop atrocities on the Baloch-speaking people.

He strongly criticised the previous government for subjecting hundreds of Baloch people to illegal detention and torture, and said no talks on the issue of Balochistan could prove fruitful until and unless the rulers recognised and granted the Baloch people their rights equal to other citizens.

Dr Hayee said his party stood for equality, fair play and believed in a federation that recognised full provincial autonomy as envisaged in the Pakistan Resolution.

He appealed to all political forces to sit together and find a peaceful solution to the Balochistan issue to stop further bloodshed in that province.