QUETTA: National Party Senator Jan Mohammad Buledi has termed the federal government’s attitude towards Balochistan issues ‘negative’ and ‘non-serious’ and said the federation has made no serious approach to defuse the grave situation in the province.

Speaking at a seminar on Balochistan issue at Lahore Press Club, the NP senator said Balochistan has been facing such apathy and unjust attitude from the federation since the very beginning, increasing the sense of deprivation among the people of the province.

He said that despite national, economic and political rights of the people of Balochistan being guaranteed by the Constitution, the federation has adopted a colonial approach to deal with Balochistan’s people and their rights since the creation of Pakistan.

“Over the past 77 years, instead of addressing these issues, the rights of the people of Balochistan have been consistently ignored, and the colonial mindset continues to this day,” Senator Buledi said.

‘Colonial approach’ to deal with province’s people and their rights blamed for present situation

Mujeeb-ur-Rehman Shami, Imtiaz Alam and others also spoke on the Balochistan issues.

The NP leader said issues of Balochistan had become more complex over the years, but rulers were not ready to recognise the national and political rights of the people of Balochistan.

Balochistan, which occupies half of Pakistan’s geographic area, is rich in mineral resources. He said it is surprising that resources of Balochistan are valued by Pakistan’s rulers as conferences are held in Islamabad to sell the province’s minerals at throwaway prices in the global market, but the Baloch people and their leadership are neither consulted nor taken into confidence and their economic interests are ignored.

“Islamabad is interested only in Balochistan’s resources, but it has no concern or interest for the impoverished people of the province,” the NP leader said, adding that even the results of the digital census in Balochistan were rejected since the population of was falsely recorded as eight million.

He said the government was unwilling to accept the population of half of Pakistan, fearing it would increase Balochistan’s representation and share in different institutions.

“Pakistan’s major political parties and the powerful establishment have learned nothing from past mistakes. Major political parties of the country constantly make compromises on the rights of the people for the sake of getting power, sidelining national and public interests to accept temporary perks and privileges, he said.

Leaders of those parties were focused on their personal interests rather than national interests, he said.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2025