QUETTA, July 2: National Party chief Dr Hayee Baloch has said that national rights should have been addressed in the ‘charter of democracy’ so that the oppressed nationalities and the democratic forces could wage a joint struggle against dictatorship.

In a statement issued here, Dr Hayee who is the vice-president of the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement said the charter was an important document.

He alleged that the establishment had, directly or indirectly, ruled the country for the past 59 years and it was responsible for the economic, political and democratic crisis. In such a situation, the charter with a one-point programme would be incomplete without the participation of the nationalist, patriotic and progressive forces, he said.

He said the oppressed nationalities had been challenging the establishment and, therefore, the two major political parties of the country, which believed in democracy and equal rights for all the federating units, should include the national question in the charter.

He said that to end the national inequality and to make the constitution acceptable to the oppressed nationalities, the term maximum autonomy used in the charter should be clarified and it should be stated that all subjects except defence, foreign affairs and currency would be given to the provinces.

He asserted that real democracy could not flourish without a real federation.

He said that to achieve the objectives of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy, inclusion of nationalist and democratic forces in the movement was necessary, so that all political groups could launch a joint struggle to rid the nation of the anti-democratic rule and restore the constitutional rule.