Pakistan may face another partition: Opposition

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan may face another partition if democracy is not restored in Balochistan, a senior Opposition leader has said. He urged the country's "rulers not to take the country to another tragedy like in 1971."

"We appeal to our rulers not to take the country to another tragedy like in 1971, and let democratic forces play their role in the healing process in Balochistan," said Ahsan Iqbal, the head of the information wing of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz.

He said if democracy is not restored, the country may face another East Pakistan-like tragedy in Balochistan.

The situation in Pakistan had reached a point where continuation of the military government would harm the country as well as the armed forces; Iqbal was quoted as saying by the Dawn daily in a report from Washington.

Iqbal recalled that in a recent interview President Pervez Musharraf had acknowledged that his seven-year rule had weakened the federation.

"I wonder how does then he justify staying in power," he asked. "Nothing is more important than the integrity of the federation."

He urged US policy-makers to realise that the Musharraf government had lost all legitimacy and stop supporting the regime.

"Continued support for the Musharraf government," he told a gathering in Washington yesterday, "would also hurt the US-led war on terror."

Even if Musharraf manages to get re-elected by the current assemblies it will be an international embarrassment, not to mention the reaction inside the country, Iqbal said.