Islamabad: Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday indicated that he was considering “talking to rebels” in Balochistan and blamed the rebellion in the provinces of turbulent in the previous government which failed to carry out development work in the region.
Balochistan province has hosted for a long-time separatist rebellion.
Activists at Balochistan said thousands of campaigners had disappeared in recent years and accused Pakistani military from brutally suppressing the aspirations of the region for autonomy.
Overcoming the meeting of local elders, students and businessmen in Gwadar during his long visit to the port city, Khan said that he was considering “talking to rebels” at Balochistan, Dawn reported.
He said the riots at Balochistan were associated with poverty and retardation and the government would never need to worry about rebellion if attention was paid to its development.
“We have provided the biggest package to Balochistan because we believe that justice has not been done with Balochistan people and people have been left behind,” he said.
Targeting the government before, Khan said that in the past money that was supposed to be spent on provincial development was spent by politicians in themselves.
“The sense of deprivation that began to spread in Balochistan, it will never spread if politicians at Balochistan spend money in the right way,” he said.
“It is possible that they (rebels) have complaints …,” Premier said.
Khan said that the government had imposed a complete ban on the entry of foreign fishing trawles in Pakistani waters, including from China, to protect local fishermen.
He said that the Chinese government “would not think badly, because we had a very good relationship with China”.
Pakistani PM Imran Khan shows he is considering ‘talking to rebels’ at Balochistan
