QUETTA: BNP President Akhtar Mengal has said that the China-Pakistan Econo­mic Corridor will not benefit Balochistan, rather it is meant to develop Punjab, providing opportunities to Chinese investors.

Addressing a public meeting in Mastung town on Sunday, he said the people of Gwadar were denied even drinking water and electricity as the government failed to make any investment in its infrastructure for more than a decade since the first phase of Gwadar Port was completed.

He reiterated his stand that the resources and natural riches of Balochistan should be under the control of the provincial government.

“The Baloch people got the first right to benefit from the resources of Balochis­tan,” the BNP president said.

Talking about rampant corruption in the previous provincial government, he said that the parties came to power with the support of the establishment.

“They were not nationalists. They plundered Balo­chistan and its resources with both hands as exploiters and enemies of the people,” Mr Mengal told a highly responsive crowd in central Balochistan, once the centre of nationalists’ struggle for decades.

Referring to the ongoing action in Balochistan, he claimed that the rulers were involved in indiscriminate killing of the innocent people, filling graveyards with the martyred. He vowed that all those responsible for the massacre would be made accountable.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2016