QUETTA: Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal, the chief of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M), has said that his party will intensify its struggle for achieving and safeguarding rights of the province if people elect it to power in the coming elections.

He was talking to media personnel at the office of the returning officer in Khuzdar on Tuesday after acceptance of his nomination papers for NA-269-Khuzdar and PB-40-Khuzdar.

Mr Mengal said that his party had been struggling for decades to secure legitimate rights of Balochistan and its people who had been deprived of their rights by all governments in Islamabad.

“The BNP-M has been raising its voice at all platforms since its inception and it has never compromised on its principles,” he said, adding that the party would continue its struggle in future. He urged people to stren­gthen the party by voting for it. The BNP-M chief urged all political forces to unite aga­inst those who were denying Balochistan its rights.

“Islamabad has always considered Balochistan its colony and has done nothing to bring this backward province at par with other developed provinces of the country,” the BNP-M chief said. “We can achieve and protect rights of the people of Baloch­is­tan only through uniting on one platform,” he added.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2018