LAHORE – The mainstream political forces should give the middle class leadership a leading role in their Balochistan chapters instead of Sardars in a bid to resolve the issue of deteriorating peace in the the province through a genuine political dialogue, observed veteran Baloch leader, Rauf Sasoli.
In an exclusive chat with TheNation on Friday, Rauf Sasoli, a founding member of the Jamhoori Watan Party and its former secretary general remarked that mainstream political parties provided umbrella to the Sardars to deprive the common Balochs of their rights, resultantly the main political parties had no say at the grass-root level.
Sasoli who also played his role in other nationalist parties of Balochistan on different occasions remarked that major political parties and establishment’s dependence on the Sardars had only damaged the interests of an ordinary Baloch, while everyone else also got his share in the play.
“Isn’t it surprising that all the major political parties in Balochistan chapters’ were represented by Sardars, while more politically mature middle-class leadership always found playing the secondary role.
Sasoli asserted that Sardars had no roots among people and only the political activists belonging to the middle class understand the real issues of the common Baloch people. The veteran Baloch leader remarked that two mainstream parties of the country, PPP and PML-N were being represented in Balochistan by two major tribal hierarchies, Sarawan and Jalawan.  Commenting on other partners or interested groups in Balochistan, he maintained Sardar, Mullah and bureaucracy should be called the interested groups in Balochistan, adding that three under the umbrella of major political forces never let the disturbed province to enter into an age of real progress.
Talking about the lawlessness in Balochistan, he observed that it was beyond doubt that the unstable province was a victim of international powers’ conspiracies to achieve their strategic targets in the geographically vital province, while the angry youth, which has long been denied of its rights was becoming part of a foreign campaign in some isolated cases.
However, he added that the angry Baloch youth could be integrated into national progress if they were provided with their due rights of quality education and jobs in their own province.
He remarked that no government existed in Balochistan, as most of the provincial ministers and civil servants were either living in Karachi or Islamabad leaving the common Balochs at the mercy of their middle men who were taking bribes for getting their minor jobs done.
Sasoli when asked about the results of Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan, he maintained that targets of the package could not be achieved, however the ruling elite in the province pocketed huge sums of funds.
Sasoli while praising the Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani for establishing military school at Sui, said the efforts of army for the uplift of Balochistan would definitely bring fruits but it would take some time. 
He proposed that immediate steps on part of the government were needed for the provision of sizable education, employment and health facilities in Balochistan to calm down the rising temperatures of the Baloch people.