QUETTA, Aug 28: Baloch nationalist leader Sardar Ataullah Khan Mengal on Monday said that until the government handed over the body of Nawab Akbar Bugti to his family, agitation in Balochistan would continue.

He said that Nawab Bugti had shown the Baloch people the right way to achieve their usurped rights.

Addressing a press conference at Mengal House after arriving from Karachi on Monday night, the patron-in-chief of the Balochistan National Party praised Nawab Bugti for laying down his life fighting for the cause of the Baloch people.

“Nawab Bugti’s death was graceful. Despite his old age, he died a martyr’s death. His sacrifice will give a new impetus to the Baloch people’s political movement against the usurpers.”

Paying rich tribute to the contributions of the late Nawab, Sardar Mengal said that the Baloch people had no complaints against the government as it was single-mindedly wiping out the Baloch people, adding people would continue to sacrifice their lives to protect “the Baloch motherland”.

Referring to the strong reaction in Balochistan against Nawab Bugti’s killing, he said that it only showed that the people had now lost the spirit of tolerance, adding that at one stage, people react on a level that was based on truth without any care for repercussions.

The BNP leader said that no one could predict what would happen in the aftermath of Nawab Bugti’s elimination but one thing was clear; the Baloch people would no longer tolerate state’s excesses and oppression.