Baloch nationalist parties want to contest polls: Fasih - The Nation

LAHORE – Nationalist parties of Balochistan feel they had made a mistake by boycotting the 2008 elections, but now they want to participate in the electoral process so that the elected representatives could take steps to solve people’s problems.

This was stated by intellectual, journalist and former president of APNS and CPNE Senator Fasih Iqbal in an interview to Nawai-i-Waqt here on Thursday.
The Senator who hails from Balochistan said although conspiracies were still being hatched, elections would be held on time. However, he called for effective security arrangements to ensure free and fair polls in a peaceful atmosphere.
According to him, the nationalist parties had reached the conclusion that their boycott of the previous polls had led to increase in establishment’s interference in the province.
Answering a question, Fasih Iqbal said Balochistan’s real problem was economic and the Gwadar port would play an important role in addressing it.
He said the government’s decision to give the port’s control to China, though belated, was right. In his opinion it was wrong to give the control to a Singapore company.  The people of Balochistan, he said, wanted the port’s head office set up in Gwadar and China was going to do the same. With China taking over the control of the project, a network of roads would be laid. Then a railway line from here would link China with the Central Asia, he said. The journalist-parliamentarian said job opportunities to be created by this project would bring about a revolution in the lives of people of Balochistan.
As for the package given by the previous government, he said, it seemed attractive only superficially.
About the “rights” Balochistan was getting at present, Senator Fasih Iqbal said, there were 20 officials of Grade 22 working at the centre, of which only two belonged to his province.  He sought more share for Balochistan even in the autonomous institutions.
He was appreciative of the role played by the army in Balochistan. He said hundreds of commissioned officers and some 15,000 troops had been taken from Balochistan over the past few years. A military college had been set up at Sui and a training institute was giving scholarships to students.
The situation in Balochistan would have been much different today if such steps had been taken about 20 years ago, the Senator said.
He praised the PML-N’s role in Balochistan, saying contacts with Ataullah Mengal and Mehmud Khan Achakzai had had a very positive impact.
He said Mian Shahbaz Sharif had played an important role in getting Balochistan its rights under the NFC Award.
According to him, the money Balochistan had received had not been used properly because the centre had not monitored the utilization. As a result, he said, 44 per cent roads of Balochistan were in a shambles. Many projects were still incomplete as at times funds were transferred to Larkana and Multan.  He called on The Nation Editor-in-Chief Majid Nizami.

Baloch nationalist parties want to contest polls: Fasih - The Nation