KHUZDAR: Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M) president Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal has expressed doubts about the holding of a free, fair and transparent election in the country on July 25.

Talking to journalists at Mengal House in his native town of Wadh on Sunday, he claimed that some powers were trying to push his party out of the election process.

He declared that the BNP-M would never withdraw from its struggle for achieving the rights of the people of Balochistan whether or not its members were allowed to enter national and provincial assemblies.

He said that some other political parties had also expressed their reservations over the holding of a free and fair election. Except the 1970 poll, all elections held in the country were manipulated, he added.

Mr Mengal criticised mainstream political parties of the country, saying that they only used the name of Balochistan for their politics and they were not interested in resolving the province’s issues.

The BNP-M president said the people of Balochistan had lost confidence in the country’s mainstream political parties, adding that perhaps that was the reason that parties such as the Balochistan Awami Party had been formed in the province.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2018