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Marri ready to negotiate on behalf of BLA only

* Says Punjabis must vacate Balochistan as primary condition

By Malik Siraj Akbar

QUETTA: Nawab Khair Baksh Marri has said he would be willing to represent only the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), and not other Baloch forces, in talks with the government.

Daily Times recently asked Nawab Marri if he would agree to talk to the government if nominated by all Baloch forces, including the BLA, as their chief negotiator. Marri answered by pointing his thumbs down.

But he added that if the BLA asked him to talk to Islamabad, as an elder of the Baloch nation, he would present his terms and conditions: the Punjabis must vacate Balochistan.

“The other issues are all domestic and could be discussed later on ... I can co-exist with a pig but not with a Punjabi,” he said at his Karachi residence.

When Marri was asked how he would respond to the impression that he was the real force behind Balochistan’s armed movement, he retorted with loud laughter: “Why are you asking me to confess my guilt at this old age? If I were younger, I would not be giving you an interview. I have always said that the real fighters are the ones who are doing it with weapons. I wish I were younger so that I could go straight to the hills and fight for the Baloch cause.”

He said he was “pleased” with the BLA and did not regard Mengal’s Balochistan National Party (BNP) as a nationalist force as it did not factor in the Baloch of Iran and Afghanistan.

“The BNP does not have a majority on the mountains. God knows, it is not the BNP giving arms, shoes, support and money to those fighting in the mountains,” Marri said.

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