QUETTA: President of his own faction of the Balochistan National Party Akhtar Mengal has said the rulers should first get powers from certain quarters before holding talks with Baloch nationalists.

Talking to journalists in the industrial town of Hub on Sunday, he said the government had declared Baloch nationalists terrorists or angry Baloch leaders and wanted to bring them to the dialogue table, but they did not have powers to hold dialogue with them.

He said the BNP-M would not become part of a project or development process which could damage the identity of Baloch people.

He said the multi-party conference (MPC) convened by his party in Islamabad recently had endorsed the BNP-M’s stance on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project.

“Certain elements, who want to impose their own agenda, which is against the BNP-M stance, are trying to make the project controversial,” he said.

Mr Mengal said the purpose of the MPC was to inform the government about reservations of Baloch people on the CPEC and other Chinese projects in Balochistan.

He said Balochistan had been in a state of war for 12 years. “The unrest and chaos were reported in Balochistan after a military operation was launched in the province,” he said.

“Baloch nationalists had to face tough time when they raised their voice for control of coast and resources of their province.”

He called for adopting legislation by parliament to give Balochistan control over its coast and resources.

He said his party was not against development, but it would support it if the process was to benefit the people of Balochistan.

He said failure of mega projects launched earlier in the province was because local people were not taken on board.

The BNP-M chief said the success of CPEC was linked to the support of Baloch people.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2016