25 October 2004	Monday	10 Ramazan 1425

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QUETTA, Oct 24: Balochistan National Party (Mengal) president Sardar Akhtar Mengal has said that Baloch people are ready to sacrifice anything and will continue to fight for their rights.

He was speaking at a public meeting held in Panjgur on Saturday to pay tributes to the people who were killed when the FC opened fire on them in the main bazaar while chasing some suspects in October 2002.

Sardar Mengal said that like in the past Baloch people would not hesitate to render sacrifices to protect their motherland and their rights.

He criticized the government and rejected the mega projects like Gwadar port, Mirani dam and coastal highway and said that in the name of development the rulers in Islamabad wanted to convert the majority of Baloch people into a minority in their own homeland.

"The mega projects are a conspiracy against the Baloch people and the province," The BNP-M chief said and added that by building the Gwadar port, the rulers wanted to bring thousands of people from Punjab and other areas of the country.

He announced that the BNP would continue its struggle at all forums to foil the conspiracy.

He said that the Balochs were killed in Gwadar and Jewani when they were demanding water and at present Islamabad was spending billions of rupees to build Mirani dam. He said that they were not constructing the dam for the benefit of the Baloch people and Balochistan.

Sardar Mengal said that the Baloch people were leading a miserable life in Karachi and were deprived of their rights and jobs. He said that the same would be the fate of the locals in Gwadar because they would be turned into a minority as they were in Karachi.

He paid tributes to the martyrs of Panjgur and said that they were killed when they protested against the atrocities of the Frontier Corps.

He announced that BNP would not abandon its struggle despite massive arrests of its leaders and workers in false cases.

The BNP-M president held Punjabi rulers responsible for the dismemberment of Pakistan in the past and alleged that again they were busy hatching conspiracies.

He urged the people of Balochistan to get united and speed up their struggle for achieving their rights.

BNP-M secretary-general Habib Jalib claimed that Balochistan was being treated shabbily since 1948.

"We are facing atrocities for the last 56 years," he said and added that the Baloch people needed a revolutionary change.

BNP-M secretary information Senator Sanaullah Baloch said that rulers were deceiving the Baloch people in the name of development projects.

SMUGGLING ATTEMPT: Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) has foiled an attempt to smuggle a huge quantity of hashish to European countries through the Arabian Sea and seized the consignment brought from Afghanistan.

"We have impounded 600kg of hashish from a cave worth millions of dollars in the international market," a senior ANF officer said here on Sunday.

The consignment was seized in Buleda area of Turbat District. However, no arrest could be made as the smugglers had fled before ANF team reached there.