Claiming major success in putting down the violent campaign by Baloch nationalists, President Pervez Musharraf offered amnesty to the remaining rebels.
ISLAMABAD: Claiming major success in putting down the violent campaign by Baloch nationalists who are demanding more autonomy, President Pervez Musharraf on Thursday offered amnesty to the remaining rebels.
"You too are our brothers... lay down your arms, we will not say anything ... return to your homes peacefully, live with your families and we will help you," he told a public meeting in the gas rich Sui town which the Baloch nationalist leader Akbar Bugti, who was killed in army action last year, once controlled.
He, however, warned that for those who do not surrender and give up terrorism, the law will take its own course.
"We will not let them operate, only three or four farari (nationalists) camps remain and these too will be wiped out Inshallah," state run APP quoted him as saying.
He said said earlier there were around 65 farari camps operating in Balochistan and the place from where he was addressing once witnessed an attack of 650 rockets in a period of four days.
"There was no peace, and uncertainty prevailed, the people had fled from this area for the sake of their lives," Musharraf said. As a result, over 90,000 people that had to settle elsewhere in the country to escape persecution.
He said things have changed considerably and instructions have been given to induct more Balochis into police and armed forces.
People here must understand that "Sui is because of Pakistan and Pakistan is because of you... gone are the days when the governments neglected Balochistan, leaving it deprived, but now I pledge to undo the faults of the past and raise your living standards to bring it at par with the rest of Pakistan," Musharraf said.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}