ISLAMABAD, Sept 1: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Friday said the countrywide successful strike on the call of opposition parties was an open referendum against the brutal policies of the military.

He emphasized the need for national reconciliation over the simmering Balochistan problem that is threatening the integrity of the country.

“No military dictator can run the affairs of a state in a democratic manner. The assemblies cannot last for even one month if Musharraf shed uniform,” Mr Khan observed in a statement issued here on Friday. He said the establishment was responsible for the current state of affairs in Balochistan.

Terming Bugti’s murder as “extra-judicial killing” of an important personality of national and provincial politics, he said Gen Musharraf’s statement in which he had congratulated the army for successful Kohlu operation had added fuel to fire and made the nation worried about the country’s future.

“Bugti’s cruel murder by the security forces has added to miseries of the suppressed Baloch people. Bugti’s crime was that he demanded the due share from the natural resources for his province but he was declared traitor and eventually killed which has hampered the national integrity,” he warned.

After the brutal murder of Nawab Akbar Bugti, Mr Khan said all opposition parties were seriously considering resigning from the National Assembly and were busy with an in-house debate.