Threat to Force Displacement in Name of Attack on Provincial Minister Condemned: Dr Ayesha Faiz
QUETTA: Dr Ayesha Faiz, a resident of Mastung, has condemned the government’s reported threat to cut down orchards and force people to leave their homes, allegedly citing the attack on the convoy of the provincial interior minister as justification.
Speaking at a press conference at the Quetta Press Club on Monday, Dr Faiz said such measures would further increase the difficulties faced by local residents and fuel resentment against the state.
She said Balochistan was currently facing a state of conflict and that it was the responsibility of the government and state to address the problems of the people. However, she termed the reported decision to cut down orchards and force residents to migrate from the area in response to the attack on the provincial interior minister’s convoy as adding insult to injury.
Dr Faiz also urged businesspeople, members of the Tiger community and transporters to follow warnings issued by resistance organizations regarding travel on certain routes and in specified areas, saying this would help protect their lives and property.
She recalled her family’s historical opposition to the accession of the State of Kalat, saying her family members had faced imprisonment and hardships for their stance. She said that in the 1920s, her father, Malik Faiz Muhammad Yousafzai, and Mir Abdul Aziz, along with other educated youths, founded the Anjuman Ittehad Balochan movement and began a struggle against the accession.
She added that prominent figures from Balochistan, including Mir Yousaf Aziz Gilgi and others, joined the movement and raised their voices against the accession, for which restrictions were imposed on them.
Dr Faiz said the unrest in Balochistan was not a recent phenomenon but had continued for many years. She warned that if the people of Thokochi were forcibly displaced and their orchards destroyed, both men and women of the area could be compelled to resist, making the government responsible for any resulting deterioration in the situation.
She made it clear that the residents would not agree to leave their area or allow their orchards to be cut down under any circumstances.
