Baloch separatist movement will meet fate of PKK, says CM Bugti

Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti said on Thursday that Baloch separatists movement would meet the same fate as that of PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party), reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) had announced last Monday its dissolution and the end of more than four decades of armed struggle against the Turkish state. The PKK's announcement to dissolve itself heeds a call by its founder Abdullah Ocalan, jailed in an island off Istanbul since 1999, who urged his fighters in February to disarm and disband.

In a letter, Ocalan urged the PKK to hold a congress to formalise the decision. Days later, the PKK's leadership accepted Ocalan's call, declaring a ceasefire.

Addressing Balochistan Bar in Quetta, Chief Minister Bugti said the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and other militant outfits would get nothing out of their subversive activities. “Our youth must be acquainted with history. The people of the province have got nothing through the use of force,” he added.

Bugti alleged that Baloch militants, living in Afghanistan, were enjoying the state's patronage. “The truth of the matter is that nobody reads history. Afghanistan has been hostile towards Pakistan from the word go. The country opposed Pakistan in the United Nations. It formed Pashtun militant outfits,” he added.

He further said that now there was no more distinction between the good and the bad extremists.  

The CM said if the people of the province felt deprived, it did not mean that they pick up arms against the state. “Today, Balochistan is developing. Roads are being built in the province, which have reduced distances,” the CM added.

He also complained that whenever militants were arrested and produced in courts, lawyers represented them.

Bugti said that lawyers of the province had given sacrifices in the war on terror. 

He went on to say that while Ghaus Bux Bizenjo launched a peaceful movement for the rights of the people of Balochistan, Nawab Khair Bux Marri founded the BLA, which believed in bloodshed.  

He made it clear that if someone was under the illusion that any group could divide Pakistan through the use of force, he was living in a fool’s paradise.  

The chief minister said that one day, the people of Balochistan would question why they were dragged into a separatist movement. 

He said that holding a protest demonstration was every political party’s right. “But it is the provincial government, which will decide the venue for the protest.”