Demand to withdraw FC is point scoring: Kaira
06 October, 2012
ISLAMABAD: Information and Broadcasting Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira on Friday said demand to withdraw Frontier Constabulary is just point scoring and not a lasting solution to the Balochistan issue. Speaking on a point of order in the National Assembly in response to an assertion by PML-N MNA Tehmina Daultana, the minister said, a politician of the stature of Nawaz Sharif, who heads a party and had been twice Prime Minister, should not issue statement irrelevant to a situation. Tehmina Daultana had raised the matter of the minister's comments on Nawaz Sharif's statement regarding withdrawal of FC. Kaira said, he had commented on statement of Nawaz Sharif, as the PML-N leader had just demanded to withdraw FC but did not give any alternate solution to maintain law and order in the province. "Withdrawing Frontier Constabulary (FC) from Balochistan will be no solution to situation since an alternate system to maintain law and order is put in place. Nawaz Sharif should have considered the ground realities prior to issuing the statement," the minister said. Meanwhile, Cabinet Division Parliamentary Secretary Khurram Jahangir Wattoo informed the National Assembly that the government was committed to bringing the Baloch to mainstream and believed in resolving issues through dialogue. Cabinet Division Parliamentary Secretary Khurram Jahangir Wattoo made the statement while responding to a question regarding actions taken by the government for the uplift of Balochistan. To supervise implementation, the prime minister formed a committee. The Establishment Division, being Secretariat for the said committee, coordinates implementation while actual implementation is done by respective ministries/organisations. Since November 2009, more than 20 review meetings/sessions have been held to supervise progress on Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan Package (of which five meetings were chaired by the premier), including eight meetings held this year. The prime minister chaired latest progress review session on the subject on July 2. On the part of the federal government, 42 of 61 policy actions have been implemented while other proposed actions are in various stages of implementation, he added. He said that the federal government was committed to bringing the people of Balochistan into the mainstream of national uplift and believed in resolving the issue through dialogue by approaching all stakeholders. In this regard, the cabinet, in its meeting on July 25, formed a special cabinet committee to report to the federal cabinet, in a special meeting on Balochistan within one week. The tasks of the committee broadly defined, (i) To assess the reasons for breakdown in the law and order in Balochistan; (ii) The options available to the Authorities on the desired course of action; and (iii) To suggest a way forward – make recommendations. Accordingly, the body chaired by Defence Minister Naveed Qamar held its meeting on August 1. The committee also visited Quetta and held meetings with stakeholders. End.
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