The sources in the opposition said the decision to boycott the committee had been taken in a meeting of the opposition leaders held in the Parliament House on Friday. It was decided that an announcement in this regard would be made at a press conference on Saturday morning.

According to the sources, the opposition decided to boycott the meeting on the ground that it would be of no use after refusal of the representatives of Balochistan’s nationalist parties, the main affected people, to participate in the process.

The opposition’s meeting was attended by chairman of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Raza Rabbani, Prof Khurshid Ahmed and Liaquat Ali Bangalzai of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) and chief of the Pukhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party Mehmood Khan Achakzai. The sources said Mr Rabbani remained in contact with Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) Senator Ishaq Dar and Asfandyar Wali Khan of the Awami National Party over telephone. Senator Dar is in the United Arab Emirates while the ANP leader could not attend the meeting due to illness.

An opposition leader said there was a consensus among all the parties that they should boycott the committee’s meeting. He said the opposition parties had been attending the meetings of the sub-committee formed to find a constitutional solution to the Balochistan problem in the past.

"We even submitted written recommendations to the committee, but we had to come out of the process after the government’s failure to bring the Baloch nationalists back to the committee," he said.

The sources said the opposition leaders were also critical of the government’s decision to convene the sub-committee meeting after a delay of over one year, during which several major incidents had worsened the situation in the province. They particularly mentioned the killing of Jamhoori Watan Party chief Nawab Akbar Bugti during a military operation in Kohlu in August.