Electioneering: Mengal laughs off charge of Russia connection

Asks his rivals to explain instead how they acquired fabulous wealth.

QUETTA:

Balochistan National Party-Mengal chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal has said those who blame him for taking help from Russia should tell the people from where they had accumulated their fabulous wealth.

He said he did not boycott elections in the past because he intended to seek benefits for the Baloch people.

He expressed these views while addressing his party’s candidates, unit secretaries and other political leaders in the Wadh area of Khuzdar district. Thousands of party workers attended the meeting from areas of Nal, Guru Karkh Zaidi, Bhagbana, Ferozabad, Nach and other nearby areas of Wadh.

He said that candidates seeking votes from the public in the name of religion should consider the Baloch people Muslims too, adding that those who raise hue and cry over killings in Palestine and Kashmir, are always silent over the cruelty and barbarism inflicted on the Baloch people.

He said his boycott of the 2008 elections was a democratic struggle for protecting the rights of Baloch people.

“Fear in Balochistan, especially in Khuzdar, has been sown so that political ideologies are blocked through conspiracy,” Mengal said, adding that his party would not give up its struggle, come what may.

He added that it would be the responsibility of political workers of the party to restore confidence among the public and end fear and terror. He also pledged to protect Balochistan’s resources.

Mir Abdul Rauf Mengal contesting for a seat in NA, former MPA Mir Mohammad Akbar Mengal, Mohammad Aslam Gurgnadi, Arbab Nawaz Mengal and others also addressed on the occasion.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2013.