House proposal to ensure peace in restive Balochistan

Islamabad: A parliamentary committee has prepared a set of proposals aimed at resolving the issues behind the unrest in Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan.

The multi-party committee, headed by Senator Raza Rabbani of the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, has drafted the package for the mineral-rich province.

Balochistan has been long plagued by a low-level insurgency involving militant groups from the ethnic Baloch community, who have alleged that they are being denied political and economic rights in Balochistan.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani confirmed yesterday that the package had been drafted by the parliamentary committee.

During a speech delivered to a public gathering at Pattoki in Punjab, Gilani said he would discuss the package in the coming days with former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, leader of the main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N party.

He said consultations on the package would be held with all political forces.

The province, which borders on both Afghanistan and Iran, has witnessed unrelenting and sporadic acts of violence claimed by Baloch militant groups such as the banned Balochistan Liberation Army.

This year, the militants have regularly indulged in the targeted killing of people from other regions resident in Balochistan. In the latest such attack, a Balochistan university professor was gunned down a few days back.