QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani has denied the presence of US troops and the Taliban leadership in Quetta and termed foreign media reports to that effect false and baseless.

“There is no soldier of the American army in Quetta,” he said while talking to newsmen after attending the inaugural ceremony of the 5th batch of the Balochistan Institute of Technical Education here on Wednesday.

He also denied the presence of Taliban militants in the city and said: “There is no justification and need for drone attacks on Quetta.”

However, he said, there were students studying in religious institutions who had nothing to do with militancy.

The chief minister reiterated his offer of talks with ‘angry Baloch brothers’. “They should come for talks on all issues.”

Answering a question about the suicide attack on his convoy on Tuesday, the chief minister said those involved in the attack would not be spared.

Earlier addressing the ceremony, Nawab Raisani and Southern Command’s chief Lt-Gen Javed Zia said the government and the army would fight extremism jointly to restore peace in Balochistan.

The chief minister thanked the army and its chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani for providing educational and technical training facilities to a large number of youths in Balochistan.

He announced a Rs100 million grant for the BITE and said the army should also launch such projects in other districts of the province.

Lt-Gen Zia said a sense of deprivation existed among the Baloch people, but foreign elements would not be allowed to exploit it.

He said over 4,000 Baloch youths had joined the army and 10,000 more would be given an opportunity next year to join the army, Frontier Corps and Coast Guards.

Zia said the BITE programme would be expanded to Gwadar, Khuzdar, Sibi, Kohlu, Loralai and Zhob. The doors of the army’s workshops would remain open for the youths of Balochistan, he added.

He also said the institute had admitted 3,000 students this year and would offer 5,000 admissions next year.