The issue of missing
persons in Balochistan was being unnecessarily played up to malign
Pakistan, Interior Minister Rehman Malik informed the Senate on
Saturday.
“In total, 2,390 people were suspected to be abducted, out of which
addresses of 135 were incomplete, particulars of 241 were incorrect and
31 among them were working in the Middle East,” Malik said presenting
the data on missing persons. “We scrutinised each and every case and
found 32 people in jails. Today, there are only 36 cases of missing
persons in Balochistan.”
He added that much hue and cry was made about Balochistan to create
an impression that the government has failed, although the number of
missing persons in the province was lesser than others. “The federal and
provincial governments are working efficiently.”
“We all love Pakistan except for those enemies who are killing our
innocent citizens and security personnel,” Malik said in what has fast
become his best answer to explain the situation in Pakistan.
Presenting a clear picture of the estranged Baloch youth, Malik
called them patriots before reaching out to them, enticing them to
return home with promises of jobs.
Malik claimed that some Gilgit residents were trained to launch
subvertive activities in Balochistan and Karachi but “I warn them that
we are determined to foil their bids. We have the blueprints prepared to
create unrest in Chitral and fuel Shia-Sunni confrontation.”
The Balochistan-Lyari nexus
Commenting on the unrest in Karachi, Malik said that it was all part
of a planned conspiracy and pointed towards the connections between
criminal elements operating in Balochistan and those in Lyari.
Malik said the arrangement between the elements worked as the
elements in Balochistan facilitated the transport of hostages abducted
in Karachi to Afghanistan through Hub.
He also mentioned Indian involvement in operations of Abu Jundal in
Karachi and said that the Indian Interior Minister had admitted that
Jundal was trained in India.
The Taliban tax
Trade with Afghanistan could come under further stress after Malik
revealed on Saturday that the Taliban charge Rs5,000 toll for each truck
travelling into Afghanistan.
He added that warlords in Balochistan received a five per cent cut from the $6 billion drug peddling money train.
Brahamdagh’s Afghan passport
Malik presented documents to the Senate proving issuance of passports to Harbyar and Brahamdagh Bugti by the Afghan government.
“Brahamdagh was issued a passport on the presidential orders with the
name Firdous. He traveled to Geneva under the name of Ibrahim Rehan,
while another Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) activist Riaz Gul traveled to
other countries under the name of Ahmed Javed. Gul also traveled to
India and is also a killing machine having support of India and
Afghanistan,” Malik said.
He said that the Afghan government had also issued another letter
containing directives to provide 500 AKs to insurgents in Dera Bugti as
well as sniper rifles to militants in Balochistan for targeting
politicians, army personnel and ISI officers. “It was a big plan to
destabilise Balochistan,” Malik said of the discovery.
