Disgruntled Baloch: PM says his approach different from his predecessors

GWADAR: Speaking to the Gwadar business community in his official visit on Monday, Prime Minister Imran Khan said if it wasn’t for his sincere intentions for Balochistan he would instead be spending summers in London and shopping from Harrods there since he did not win elections here.

Moving on with his Gwadar address, he said he was, in fact, thinking of resolving issues with Baloch insurgents by talking to them since there are possibilities of past injustices they were the victims of.

He said no rulers, federal or local, in the past have dealt with Baloch people fairly and thus deprivation of basic rights prompted despair and resistance amongst citizens there who may have been played into Indian and enemy hands.

Nawaz Sharif in his entire premiership tenure went on international trips 24 times and shopped from Harrods, but he hardly ever visited Balochistan simply because there was no interest politically, he said.

The PM said Asif Ali Zardari, similarly, embarked on over 50 such trips, raising a question: “did he [Zardari] visit Gwadar for people here?”

Times have now changed, he said, adding that we are now allaying the grievances of people there and giving them the highest by far PSDP share from the budget so people can benefit from the development.