QUETTA: The Baloch­is­tan National Party-Men­gal (BNP-M) has criticised self-exiled Baloch leader Mir Harbayar Marri for trying to embroil the party in his family dispute and said that selection of tribal nawabs, sardars and chiefs was part of the Baloch social system.

The BNP-M said in a statement issued here on Thursday that its popularity among the Baloch people had worried Mir Harbayar and prompted him to criticise parliamentary politics.

It said men of principles did not practise double standard. “If selection of nawabs, sardars or chieftains in the Baloch tribal system is a product of British rule then why Harbayar uses the tile of nawabzada in his political statements issued from London. Similarly, if parliamentary politics hampers the struggle for freedom how did Mir Har­­bayar remain minister for communications and works in the provincial government headed by Akhtar Mengal in the 1990s.”

Related: Marri’s son rejects system of tribal chiefs, nawabs

The BNP-M said it was ironic that Mir Harbayar had said nothing against the Baloch tribal system till the death of his father Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri.

The BNP-M said it had nothing to do with the internal matters of the Marri family and expressed the hope it would not be dragged into irrelevant issues.

Also read: Mehran appointed chief of Marri tribe

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2014