QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch has said his government will not compromise on the Reko Diq copper-cum-gold mine project because future of the province depends on it.

“Every inch of Balochistan will be protected,” the chief minister said at a public meeting in Kadhkocha area of Mastung district on Monday.

National Party president Senator Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo, provincial ministers Nawab Mohammad Khan Shahwani, Mir Khalid Khan Langov, Mir Rehmat Saleh Baloch, Sardar Aslam Bizenjo and others also spoke.

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The chief minister said: “Mastung’s land is very fertile as far as Baloch nationalist struggle is concerned. Our elders in Kalat State were baton-charged for the sake of the national struggle and were even deported from Kalat”.

Stressing the need for consolidating his Nationalist Party, the chief minister said: “We need to expedite our struggle because some frustrated elements are not digesting the better performance of the NP and they are once again regrouping against the NP.”

Dr Baloch said that Gwadar district had been allotted to the land mafia by corrupt representatives in the past but “we have pledged to protect our coast and land and therefore illegal allotment of thousands of acres of land in Pasni has been cancelled”.

“The people of Pasni will soon be given land rights in their area,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2014