KARACHI, June 7: Mir Hasil Bizenjo, a central leader of the Balochistan National Party (BNP Awami) and vice-president of Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy has denied that his party had joined the National Alliance.

A wire-service on June 5 had reported that Mir Mohim Khan Baloch of the BNP Awami, after meeting the National Alliance leader Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, had announced that his party had quit the ARD and had joined the NA.

Mr Bizenjo, in his denial, reiterated the strong commitment of the BNP to democratic politics and stated that the BNP was still part of the ARD and it would never join any government- sponsored political alliance.

He said that the BNP (Awami) had always stood by the people to safeguard their democratic rights and was the only political party to denounce the illegal removal of the democratically elected parliament on Oct 12, 1999.

He claimed the people who had joined the National Alliance had done so in their personal capacity and it did not reflect the will of the central committee of the BNP. He said that a meeting of the party’s central committee had been called to decide appropriate actions to be taken against the people who had violated party discipline.