KHUZDAR: President of the Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal) Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal has said his party believes in struggling for the rights of the people and that’s why it did not join the federal and provincial governments.

Speaking at a public meeting held in Khuzdar in connection with the election campaign, he said that in the National Assembly he had talked about the pain of the families of missing persons.

Leaders of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl and Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, including former MNA and central naib emir of the JUI-F Maulana Qamaruddin, MPA Younis Aziz Zehri, Abdul Rauf Mengal, retired Justice Abdul Qadir Mengal and joint candidate of the BNP-M and MMA for PB-40 Khuzdar Akbar Mengal, were present at the meeting.

Sardar Mengal said: “We resisted all military dictators — Gens Ayub Khan, Ziaul Haq and Pervez Musharraf — and never compromised on the rights of the people.”

He said his party and its leadership were not afraid of military dictators and a group that had no ideology or agenda could not stop its struggle. He warned of a backlash if an attempt was made to snatch the mandate of the BNP-M and JUI-F.

He said he had been offered ministries at the federal and provincial levels but he opted to stay out of power in the larger interest of the people of the province. He said that his party’s alliance with the JUI-F was a natural one and would continue because serving the people and protecting their rights featured prominently in the agendas of both the parties.

Sardar Mengal said he and his party were not against development but felt that uplift work should involve the poor people deprived of even the basic amenities of life.

“We want jobs for our educated youths and basic facilities — including drinking water, healthcare and education facilities — for our people,” the BNP-M chief said.

He said his party was doing parliamentary politics under the parameters of the Constitution and would not accept any wrongdoing in the elections.

He warned that any attempt to push the party to the wall would be counterproductive.

Speaking on the occasion, Maulana Qamaruddin said his party was honoured to be in alliance with the BNP-M. He urged the workers of both the parties to work hard for the upcoming election.

“We have to show on Oct 14 the same spirit that we showed on July 25,” he said.

He expressed the hope that the two parties would not succumb to pressure even if threats were hurled at them.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2018