Balochistan CM offers olive branch to insurgents

Quetta, March 12 Chief Minister Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo of Pakistan's Balochistan province has once again urged angry Baloch insurgents to come down from the mountains and resolve all issues with the government through dialogue, local media reported.

He said if those who were up on the mountains considered themselves well-wishers of the people of Balochistan, they should be willing to initiate negotiations to solve problems the province had been facing for decades, Dawn reported.

"Dialogue is the only way to find solutions to all issues. Come to the negotiation table as it is the right way for finding a suitable way," he said while talking to reporters during his visit to the port city of Gwadar.

"Instead of picking up guns and climbing on mountains, help us to resolve the problems and work for the betterment of the people of Balochistan," Mir Bizenjo said, adding that everybody would suffer from fighting and conflict, Dawn reported.

He also said implementing merit in Balochistan was now the government's top priority and that it has been decided to appoint even low-level employees through the Public Service Commission in the province.

He said the government introduced an e-tendering system to ensure transparency in government works. The establishment of such a system would end recommending culture and all tenders would be awarded on merit, he said.