'No foreign hand behind Balochistan's homegrown political movement'

Karachi, Feb 29 (ANI): Highlighting the Pakistan Government's ignorance towards the country's largest province, Balochistan Express editor Siddiq Baloch has said that the political rights movement in Balochistan is homegrown, and added that there is no evidence of foreign involvement.

Baloch was speaking at a seminar organised by the Karachi Press Club and the Irtiqa Institute of Social Sciences on the "Balochistan situation and the role of media."

"The Baloch are currently not capable of taking over a single cantonment," he said, and then, added by way of proof: "If they were backed by foreign countries, they would have the best arms and ammunition," Siddiq said.

He accused Pakistan Muslim League-N chief Nawaz Sharif of being involved in corruption of millions of rupees while ignoring the Baloch, The Express Tribune reports.

Investigative monthly magazine Herald's correspondent Moosa Kaleem, who has reported on the burning issues of the province, warned that Balochistan's frustration at Pakistan's creation had turned into hatred, and said that the mishandling of the intelligence agencies has worsened the situation.

Kaleem cited unconfirmed reports that women are being picked up and are missing while those who have been missing for the last two years have come back as tortured corpses.

He criticised the media for not doing enough, as the print and electronic media are being extremely cautious about what they report.

Baloch leader Yusuf Masti Khan said that the anti-state sentiments can be traced to pre-partition.

"The Baloch did not want to be a part of the new country, including the Baloch from Lyari. Pakistan was created without a strategy on how it would be run. And Balochistan has suffered the most," he said. (ANI)