Senator accuses US, India, Afghanistan of creating trouble in Balochistan

Talha says countries want disintegration of Pakistan to create ‘Greater Balochistan’QUETTA: Senate Standing Committee on Interior Chairman Senator Talha Mehmood has accused the United States, India and Afghanistan of conspiring to carve out a ‘Greater Balochistan’ by causing the disintegration of Pakistan.Mehmood was addressing a news conference on Monday in the Officers’ Club along with several other members of the Senate.He reacted angrily to a recent map published in an American newspaper, the New York Times, which showed Balochistan as a ‘free state’ and parts of the NWFP joining Afghanistan. He said it was a part of the conspiracy the three countries had hatched against Pakistan. The countries want to create trouble in Balochistan and extend support to the cause of a ‘Greater Balochistan’, he said, adding the Pakistani government and people, however, would never allow such plans to materialise. He said Pakistanis should demonstrate unity in their ranks and foil all attempts to break up the country.“We want the government to negotiate with the Baloch brothers who have gone in the mountains and waged a war against the state,” he said, adding the government was sincerely trying to reach a political settlement to the Balochistan issue. The government has issued the reinstatement orders of 177 personnel of the Levies force in order to build the trust of the Baloch people, he said. “We do not care what happened to the previous committees formed to settle the Balochistan issue. We believe in constant engagement of the federal government with Balochistan. We will continue to deal with the Baloch issue until it is resolved. The government should agree first to grant autonomy to the provinces so that their complaints are addressed,” he said.Disappearances: Mehmood said the Balochistan chief secretary (CS) had been instructed to update the Senate Standing Committee about the state of the missing persons in Balochistan.He said according to the information provided to him, the government had a list of 900 missing people from Balochistan. “We have recovered 52 people while 32 of them are still in various jails. Yet, we do not know anything about the whereabouts of the remaining missing persons,” he confessed, hoping the Balochistan CS would provide details about the remaining missing persons. He said the government had provided licences to 22 national and international companies to explore oil and gas in Balochistan, adding these companies, however, had not initiated work due to security reasons. Mehmood rejected reports about the presence of Taliban in Quetta and elsewhere in Balochistan, saying such reports were false and incorrect.