Appearing from Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Muzaffarabad & Quetta

Tuesday, October 27, 2009, Zhul-Q'ada 07, 1430

Gunning down of a Minister

BALOCHISTAN has been witnessing shocking incidents at regular intervals including killing of high profile figures and acts of sabotage creating a sense of insecurity among the law-abiding citizens. The assassination of Provincial Education Minister Shafiq Ahmad Khan in Quetta on Sunday once again draws the attention of the authorities that there was urgent need for taking major policy decisions to bring the situation back to normalcy.

Shafiq Ahmad Khan was a die-hard PPP leader, had no personal enmity and refused to get security guards. The gory incident shook not only Quetta and other parts of Balochistan but the entire country and a protect rally was also taken out in the Provincial Capital against his killing at the hands of misguided elements of Balochistan Liberation United Front. Its spokesman while claiming the responsibility for the murder said it was revenge to the murder of three Baloch leaders. Earlier a Balochistan Provincial Minister was killed in Karachi while firing incident took place at the residence of another in Quetta. These happenings leave no doubt that the three Baloch leaders were assassinated under a deep-rooted conspiracy to stir violence in order to keep the Province in turmoil. In the meantime, it is of utmost importance that political leadership of the Province, including the elected representatives must play their role to guide the masses, particularly the youths not to become tools in the hands of enemies of the country as they are not friends of Baloch people but exploiting them for the attainment of their nefarious designs. There is no doubt that international powers, including our neighbour are directly and indirectly behind the instability in Balochistan and the need is to persuade the major political players in the Province to realize the gravity of the situation, forget injustices done to them in the past and contribute in restoring some sort of stability. At the same time we would impress upon the Prime Minister to take the initiative, meet prominent Baloch leaders and announce the Balochistan package without any loss of time to remove sense of deprivation among the people there.

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