QUETTA: Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal) chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal has said that the province cannot progress unless all ‘nationalities’ living there launch joint struggle to get rid of corrupt rulers involved in loot and plunder of resources.

“Our future generations would not forgive us if we do not fulfil our responsibility to get rid of corruption and corrupt rulers,” he said while speaking at a reception hosted by Pakistan Peoples’ Party MNA Syed Nasir Abbas Hazara in Musa College here on Sunday.

Former senator Naw­abzada Lashkari Raisani and Mr Hazara also spoke on the occasion while former senator Sanaullah Baloch, former federal minister Humayun Aziz, Major Nadir Ali, Ghulam Nabi Marri and other leaders also attended the reception.

Deplores that no development is visible in any part of Balochistan

Sardar Mengal said that successive governments had kept Balochistan backward for the last 70 years as they had done nothing to bring the province at par with other developed areas of the country.

He said that other nations in the world were busy in planning and executing plans for national development while Balo­chistan was kept backward in all respects. “No development is visible in any part of the province,’ he deplored.

The BNP-M president said that youths of Balochistan were afraid of coming out of their houses and they could not attend educational institutions because of rampant terrorism targeting innocent people.

“There is no guarantee that our youth will return home safe and sound in the present law and order situation,” “Sardar Mengal said.

Referring to the phenomenon of bodies found dumped at desolate places, he said that it was very difficult to identify the “mutilated bodies of our youth”.

He said a score of people had surrendered their rights to obtain education or do business in a secure environment and termed it a failure of the government.

He deplored that “Hazara community is still in siege and living in a climate of extreme harassment”.

The BNP-M leader said that cities, towns and villages had been destroyed by terrorists in many parts of Balochistan. He claimed that Pakistan had been isolated in the world merely because of its failed foreign and domestic policies. “Pakistan was sold in return of US dollars.”

He said that the people of Pakistan would continue to suffer in future unless their elected representatives were empowered to formulate foreign and domestic policies favouring public and not “vested interests”.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2018