QUETTA, July 15: All factions of the Balochistan National Party and Baloch Students Organisation observed Yaum-i-Shuda-i-Balochistan on Tuesday to commemorate the struggle of Baloch leaders in 1960 against the military dictatorship of Ayub Khan.

Speakers at different programmes paid tribute to Nawab Nauroz Khan Zarakzai and others who, they said, had sacrificed their lives for the rights of the Baloch people.

Presiding over a meeting in Mastung, National Party chief Dr Hayee Baloch said the new government in Islamabad continued to pursue the policy of the establishment.

Military operation in the province was still continuing and there was no trace of missing persons, he said, adding that if the government had real powers it must take measures to resolve issues through negotiations.

Opposing the setting up of a cantonment in Ormara, Dr Hayee said anti-democratic forces wanted to undermine the political struggle of the Baloch people.

He said the mega projects in the province, including the Gwadar seaport, was an attempt to usurp the resources of the province and capture the coastal belt in Makran areas.

Addressing a gathering in Quetta, Balochistan National Party (Mengal) president Sajid Tareen said peace could not return to Balochistan without the withdrawal of troops, release of detained political activists and rehabilitation of displaced people.

He rejected Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s remarks that military rulers Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan, Ziaul Haq and Pervez Musharraf were not Punjabis.

He said the army was dominated by Punjab and had always supported “oppressors” against political forces in Balochistan.