Mandate ‘snatched’: BNP-M to decide whether to sit in assembly, says Mengal

BNP-M chief says polls were massively rigged.

QUETTA:

The Balochistan National Party (BNP) has not yet decided if it would ‘sit in the assemblies’ or not, said party chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal on Monday, adding that the decision would be made on June 30 once all party members were consulted.

Addressing a press conference at his residence here, he said his party would issue a white paper about the electoral fraud.

The BNP currently holds two seats in the 51-member Balochistan Assembly, one of which belongs to Mengal’s home constituency. Party representatives have repeatedly claimed that polls in the province were massively rigged to hurt the party.

At Monday’s press conference, Mengal reiterated that polls in Balochistan were “hijacked in the darkest hour” and that some of his party members received death threats.



He said that people’s will was the most dignified entity in the democratic process but in the dark of the night the results of elections were altered in the camps of a force known as FC.

“Unfortunately, those who struggle against curbs on free speech, promote brotherhood and spread awareness about people’s self-respect are termed traitors in Pakistan,” Mengal said.

He went on to say that several steps were taken to ensure a fair and smooth transition process in Balochistan. “Military operation in Mand, Isplinji, Turbat and other Baloch districts were intensified during the government making process,” he said and added that this was aimed at seizing the control of coastal belt and the resources of Baloch.

Responding to a question about future course of his party, Mengal said that they were a democratic party and they were going back to the public as the public mandate was snatched from them and thereafter would make a decision.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2013.