Khuzdar braces for high-stakes by-poll

QUETTA:

The rugged hills of Khuzdar are bracing for a high-stakes political showdown. Sardar Akhtar Mengal, the towering figure of Baloch nationalism and chief of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), stunned supporters last year when he resigned from the National Assembly seat NA-256, declaring that "participation in this broken system only legitimizes injustice."

For seventeen long months the seat lay vacant while Mengal's letter gathered dust in Islamabad. Then, in a quiet move earlier this month, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq finally accepted the resignation and forwarded it to the Election Commission of Pakistan. The ECP wasted no time: polling for the by-election has been fixed for Sunday, 5 April.