CM Balochistan reaffirms dialogue option while vowing state action against militants

Chief Minister of Balochistan, Mir Sarfraz Bugti, has stated that the provincial government’s doors for dialogue remain open for those willing to lay down their arms. However, he warned that the state would respond with full force to those who continue to engage in violence against innocent citizens.

Speaking at the “Stability of Pakistan” conference in Quetta, Bugti asserted that a small number of armed militants cannot impose their ideology on a population of 250 million people.

He emphasized that peace is on the horizon for Balochistan, which he described as the “heart of Pakistan,” and critical to the country’s existence.

Bugti invoked the history of the province, recalling that its tribal elders, under the leadership of Pakistan’s founder Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, had convened a jirga to decide on Balochistan’s historic accession to Pakistan.

He accused anti-Pakistan foreign powers of funding a small number of terrorists who have tried to push the Baloch people into a “futile war” under the guise of nationalism.