Balochistan in flames: BNP’s goal is to restore peace in the province
Akhtar Mengal says his party candidates are receiving death threats.
Sardar Akhtar Mengal. PHOTO: RASHID AJMERI/ EXPRESS
QUETTA:
Sardar Akhtar Mengal said on Monday that his faction of Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal) is trying its best to defuse the “highly flammable situation” in Balochistan and bring peace to the province.
Against this background he said he had chosen to return from exile and lead the province out of turmoil and unrest.
Speaking a day after his comeback rally, the BNP president claimed that the rulers are not interested in resolving the political conflict with the Baloch people.
Without naming them, he said, certain elements are mistaken if they think they can coerce us into abandoning our struggle for national rights. He claimed that thousands of people lost their lives during the last ten years in Balochistan.
He accused former president Pervez Musharraf of igniting the province for his ulterior motives. “We are making frantic efforts to control the volcano like situation from spreading further,” he added.
The BNP president told reporters that his party candidates and workers were receiving threats from unruly people and death squads. He said he had written a letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) proving that people belonging to the death squads are roaming around in luxury and smuggled vehicles with tinted glasses with no registration number plates, he claimed
In conditions like these, how can the ECP hold free, fair and transparent elections, he queried.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 9th, 2013.
Sardar Akhtar Mengal said on Monday that his faction of Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal) is trying its best to defuse the “highly flammable situation” in Balochistan and bring peace to the province.
Against this background he said he had chosen to return from exile and lead the province out of turmoil and unrest.
Speaking a day after his comeback rally, the BNP president claimed that the rulers are not interested in resolving the political conflict with the Baloch people.
Without naming them, he said, certain elements are mistaken if they think they can coerce us into abandoning our struggle for national rights. He claimed that thousands of people lost their lives during the last ten years in Balochistan.
He accused former president Pervez Musharraf of igniting the province for his ulterior motives. “We are making frantic efforts to control the volcano like situation from spreading further,” he added.
The BNP president told reporters that his party candidates and workers were receiving threats from unruly people and death squads. He said he had written a letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) proving that people belonging to the death squads are roaming around in luxury and smuggled vehicles with tinted glasses with no registration number plates, he claimed
In conditions like these, how can the ECP hold free, fair and transparent elections, he queried.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 9th, 2013.