QUETTA: National Party president and former chief minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch has termed the Gwadar Port agreement against interests of Balochistan.

Speaking at a party gathering in Gwadar on Tuesday, he said the 18th Amendment in the Constitution protected rights of small provinces. He criticised attempts to roll back the 18th Amendment and said his party would resist all such attempts.

He criticised the performance of the provincial government, saying that it had failed in protecting rights of the province.

“The National Party has been promoting scientific politics in Balochistan in order to create awareness among the people of this province about their rights, he said, adding “fake promises and slogans can’t yield any outcome”.

Though Gwadar was considered a gateway to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the people of the port city feared for their economic future, he added.

Mazhar Laghari of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) said that his organisation conducted workshops for political workers in order to promote the policy making culture among political parties. “Pildat with support of the National Party has launched training workshops for all political parties in order to strengthen the political system in Pakistan,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2019