ISLAMABAD: Leaders of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) on Monday called on Prime Minister Imran Khan, asking him to fix their meeting with Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa on the issue of missing persons.

“We have asked the prime minister to fix our meeting with the army chief so that we could present our concerns to him on missing persons,” Nawab Akhtar Mengal told Dawn when contacted after the meeting.

He said Prime Minister Khan had assured him in a previous meeting that he [PM] would arrange a meeting of the BNP leaders with the army chief. “Today, we asked the prime minister to fulfil his commitment,” he added.

The Baloch leader said that in the meeting Mr Khan reassured that he would talk to the army chief soon and would communicate the date and time of the meeting to Mr Mengal.

On Nov 29, Mr Mengal in a press conference had sought a political solution to the issue of missing persons and said that the problems of the province would not be resolved by building dams or the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

He had criticised the government for not addressing the issue of missing persons, regretting that nothing was being done for their recovery.

Responding to a question, Mr Mengal said that the issue of development of Balochistan also came under discussion during the meeting with the prime minister. The premier ordered the ministries concerned to update him about the efforts being made to mitigate problems of the people and development of the province.

The BNP delegation comprised MNAs Muhammad Akhtar Mengal, Agha Hassan Baloch, Muhammad Hashim, Prof Shahnaz Baloch and MPAs Mir Hamal and Sanaullah Baloch.

Meanwhile, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi also met Prime Minister Khan at PM Office.

Besides, the prime minister also met National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser and discussed matters related to the parliamentary business. The meeting took place after the main opposition — Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz — announced that it would stage a protest in and outside the parliament over the conviction of Nawaz Sharif in Al Azizia Steel Mill reference on Monday.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2018