LORALAI/SIBI: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan said on Wednesday that after coming to power his party would end ‘military operation’ in Balochistan and all issues pertaining to the province would be resolved through meaningful talks.

Addressing public meetings at Loralai and Sibi, the PTI leader said that negotiations were the only way to resolve all disputes faced by the nation, especially in the province.

“Political issues cannot be resolved through military operations and the use of force. These need political wisdom and dialogue and my party will adopt the political way to resolve all issues,” Mr Khan pledged.

He said the pervious government was not serious in resolving the Balochistan’s problems and remained busy in loot and plunder of national resources.“No efforts were made by the government to resolve serious issues faced by the people of the province,” he said, vowing that his party would give serious attention to Balochistan if it came to power.

Mr Khan said that atrocities had been committed with the people of Balochistan over the past 64 years, which increased the sense of deprivation among the people.

He said his party was struggling to introduce a new system of government in which the people would be provided justice and their due rights.

“We will introduce a new political system in accordance with the ideology of Pakistan to make the country a true Islamic welfare state,” he said.

Mr Khan announced that after coming to power, the first step of his government would be to revive the local bodies’ system to empower the people at the grassroots level.

He said the next priority of his government would be education and health, adding that it would raise the education budget five-fold as only education could bring about a revolution in the country and the masses would be directly given powers to use development funds through local bodies’ system, instead MNAs and MPAs whose only job should be making laws in parliament.

The PTI chief also held Sardars and Nawabs of the province responsible for extreme poverty and illiteracy in the province.

He said if the people of the province wanted any change, they would have to struggle to liberate themselves from clutches of Sardars and Nawabs.

He said all feudal lords across the country wanted to retain the existing system to ensure continuation of the exploitation of the poor masses in Balochistan and other parts of the country.

Mr Khan said Balochistan was a very rich province, but unfortunately its people had been made pauper by those who had ruled it over the past several decades.

He appealed to the people to come out on May 11 and cast their votes to elect their representatives on the basis of ideology instead of personality or sectarianism.

Our Jacobabad correspondent adds: Addressing a big public meeting at the Exhibition Ground in Jacobabad, Mr Khan appealed to the people to cast their votes for PTI candidates to lay the foundation of a new Pakistan and new Sindh on May 11.

He said that feudal lords ruling Sindh over the past several decades had done nothing for the people.

He said that those people who used to cast their votes for the Bhuttos should now realise that there was no Bhutto party and it was now a Zardari party and instead of the Quaid-i-Azam’s Muslim League, there was the Nawaz League. They both always enjoyed luxuries of the rule after getting votes from the people, but did nothing except bringing more poverty and miseries for the people.

The PTI chief said that it should be remembered that Mr Zardari was not Bhutto and the people should ask him as to how much money he had plundered and deposited in foreign banks.

He said that over the past 25 years, the PPP ruled the country five times, but did not provide health, education and clean drinking water -- basic necessities of life – to the people of the province.