Says people of Balochistan ‘are not slaves’, questions why a Balochistan peace conference has not been convened
INP
ISLAMABAD
Balochistan National Party-Mengal President (BNP-M) Sardar Akhtar Mengal on Wednesday announced his party’s withdrawal from its alliance with the ruling PTI government.
Speaking during a session of the National Assembly, he said: “I am officially announcing that our party is separating itself from the government. We will stay in the parliament and will keep talking about issues.”
In January, BNP-M leaders including MNA Khalid Magsi, Ahsan Ullah Reki, Israr Tareen, Senator Manzoor Kakar, Naseeb Ullah Badini, Rubina Irfan and Sana Jamali participated in talks with the government as it started efforts to appease its ‘annoyed’ allies. However, the BNP-M chief did not participate in the talks.
The government side had assured the Baloch leaders that it would address all grievances of the party and would include them in “development-oriented” decision making.
The BNP-M and PTI had signed a six-point memorandum of understanding (MoU) in August 2018 for an alliance at the Centre. The six points included recovery of missing persons, implementation of the National Action Plan, implementation of six per cent quota for Balochistan in the federal government, immediate repatriation of Afghan refugees and the construction of dams in the province to resolve the acute water crisis.
The alliance with the PTI was only at the Centre, while the BNP-M’s alliance with the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl in Balochis¬tan continued at the provincial level.
