QUETTA: Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) president Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal has appealed to leaders of all political parties of the province to unite on one platform and launch a joint struggle for taking back rights of the province from the federation.

Talking to journalists at the wedding ceremony of the son of the party’s vice president Wali Kakar in Kuchalak on Sunday, Mr Mengal said his party was trying its best to protect rights of all people of Balochistan.

He claimed that his party had rendered great sacrifices for the rights of the people and for protecting resources of the province.

In the prevailing situation, the BNP-M leader said, it was the need of the hour that people of all communities and nationalities living in the province unite and stand up for waging a struggle for the rights of the people which have been denied to them by the federation for a long time.

Referring to criticism by his party’s opponents, Mr Mengal said that his party had been highlighting main issues the province and its people were facing for a long time and one of the major issues of the province was missing persons.

“We could have compromised on missing persons’ issue by taking some ministries but we preferred to raise the issue of these oppressed and neglected people instead of taking some ministries or some other government perks.”

In reply to a question about the agreement signed by the BNP-M with the PTI government, Mr Mengal said that if the federal government backed out of its promises made with his party and didn’t accept what the party had demanded, “we will be free in taking independent decisions”.

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2019