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BALOCHISTAN: Centre’s policies created trust deficit: Shahzain Bugti
August 08, 2009
By Mumtaz Alvi
ISLAMABAD: Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP)’s central leader Shahzain Bugti on Friday warned that the movement of separation from Pakistan could
intensify, in case the rulers failed to read what was going through the minds and hearts of the people of Balochistan.
He noted that they believed in Pakistan, where all subjects enjoyed equal rights and the federating units were treated equally.
Talking to The News on telephone from Lahore, Shahzain Bugti, who is also the party’s Balochistan chapter president, called on the government to
desist from ‘lip-service’ to the people of Balochistan, advocating concrete confidence-building measures to win back their trust in the Centre.
Shahzain contended that it would be in Pakistan’s own interests to reach out to the people of Balochistan and mitigate their long-continuing sufferings.
“You visit Balochistan and will find out how deep-rooted the hatred against the Centre is,” he claimed. He made it was clear the inhabitants of Pakistan’
s largest but the poorest province were not at all satisfied with the federal government’s policies.
“What exactly a Baloch youth wants is freedom because he and his elders have been cheated so much in the past,” he said, when asked about the
feelings of Baloch youth about Pakistan.
Shahzain alleged that not the people of his province, but the Centre’s policies were responsible for the rampant trust deficit and discontentment
among them.
Shahzain has a Masters degree in Political Science from the University of Houston. He is the grandson of late Nawab Akbar Bugti and the son of Talal
Bugti, who heads the JWP after the killing of his father in August 2006.
Asked about the pardon sought by the PPP leadership from the people of Balochistan last year and the formation of a committee, he remarked,
“Pardons are no solution to our deep-rooted problems and committees have neither worked in the past nor they will now.”
He pointed out lakhs of Bugti tribesmen were still languishing away from their homes since the military operation of 2006, complaining no ruler ever
bothered to take care of them or to visit them. There are 0.45 million Bugtis living in poor conditions in various parts of Balochistan, Karachi,
Hyderabad, Sukkur, Karachi, Rajanpur and other areas. Hardly 30,000-35,000 are left in the Agency, he said.
Shahzain said resentment touched a dangerous level during the Musharraf’s rule, particularly after he launched a military operation. “It was because of
Musharraf, many youth took up arms and went to the mountains and rebelled against the state,” he maintained.
Shahzain said his father Talal Bugti was elected the JWP President by the party’s central Shoora after the death of Akbar Bugti and he was in jail at that
time. He was elected through a democratic process to head the party at the Balochistan level afterwards. He strongly dispelled the impression that
tribal leaders were responsible for the backwardness of the province and his people.
He said this widespread hatred and discontentment among the people of Balochistan could gradually fizzle out by resolving Balochistan’s problems,
giving financial and administrative autonomy to the province and control on its own resources.
Shahzain did not agree with this reporter that JWP was divided after the death of Akbar Bugti and asserted the party was united, alleging Mir Aali Bugti
was brought forward by certain invisible forces to hurt the Bugtis, who were not prepared to compromise on the province’s rights.
The JWP plans to take a delegation of members of the human right bodies and media persons to Dera Bugti shortly so that they themselves could see
the situation there, he said.
IntelliBriefs
August 08, 2009
By Mumtaz Alvi
ISLAMABAD: Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP)’s central leader Shahzain Bugti on Friday warned that the movement of separation from Pakistan could
intensify, in case the rulers failed to read what was going through the minds and hearts of the people of Balochistan.
He noted that they believed in Pakistan, where all subjects enjoyed equal rights and the federating units were treated equally.
Talking to The News on telephone from Lahore, Shahzain Bugti, who is also the party’s Balochistan chapter president, called on the government to
desist from ‘lip-service’ to the people of Balochistan, advocating concrete confidence-building measures to win back their trust in the Centre.
Shahzain contended that it would be in Pakistan’s own interests to reach out to the people of Balochistan and mitigate their long-continuing sufferings.
“You visit Balochistan and will find out how deep-rooted the hatred against the Centre is,” he claimed. He made it was clear the inhabitants of Pakistan’
s largest but the poorest province were not at all satisfied with the federal government’s policies.
“What exactly a Baloch youth wants is freedom because he and his elders have been cheated so much in the past,” he said, when asked about the
feelings of Baloch youth about Pakistan.
Shahzain alleged that not the people of his province, but the Centre’s policies were responsible for the rampant trust deficit and discontentment
among them.
Shahzain has a Masters degree in Political Science from the University of Houston. He is the grandson of late Nawab Akbar Bugti and the son of Talal
Bugti, who heads the JWP after the killing of his father in August 2006.
Asked about the pardon sought by the PPP leadership from the people of Balochistan last year and the formation of a committee, he remarked,
“Pardons are no solution to our deep-rooted problems and committees have neither worked in the past nor they will now.”
He pointed out lakhs of Bugti tribesmen were still languishing away from their homes since the military operation of 2006, complaining no ruler ever
bothered to take care of them or to visit them. There are 0.45 million Bugtis living in poor conditions in various parts of Balochistan, Karachi,
Hyderabad, Sukkur, Karachi, Rajanpur and other areas. Hardly 30,000-35,000 are left in the Agency, he said.
Shahzain said resentment touched a dangerous level during the Musharraf’s rule, particularly after he launched a military operation. “It was because of
Musharraf, many youth took up arms and went to the mountains and rebelled against the state,” he maintained.
Shahzain said his father Talal Bugti was elected the JWP President by the party’s central Shoora after the death of Akbar Bugti and he was in jail at that
time. He was elected through a democratic process to head the party at the Balochistan level afterwards. He strongly dispelled the impression that
tribal leaders were responsible for the backwardness of the province and his people.
He said this widespread hatred and discontentment among the people of Balochistan could gradually fizzle out by resolving Balochistan’s problems,
giving financial and administrative autonomy to the province and control on its own resources.
Shahzain did not agree with this reporter that JWP was divided after the death of Akbar Bugti and asserted the party was united, alleging Mir Aali Bugti
was brought forward by certain invisible forces to hurt the Bugtis, who were not prepared to compromise on the province’s rights.
The JWP plans to take a delegation of members of the human right bodies and media persons to Dera Bugti shortly so that they themselves could see
the situation there, he said.
IntelliBriefs