QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani has said that the name of the province has been used just for point-scoring by various political parties and governments which did nothing for its development and resolving the issues it has been facing since long.

In a statement issued here on Friday, he asked why those parties which remained in power (at the centre) from 2008 to 2018 failed to take measures for improvement in the steel mills, Sui gas, PIA, railways and other sectors. “Why Balochistan and Quetta were not reme­mbered when motorways were constructed and other development projects launched by these governments?”

In an apparent reference to the PML-N and the PPP, Mr Alyani said that they used Balochistan only for point-scoring and staging political campaigns. “Balochistan is remembered only when rallies and roadblocks are to be staged,” he said and asked whether the leaders of these parties had ever come to sympathise with or help Balochistan during coronavirus pandemic and floods.

The chief minister posted a picture of the opposition’s Sept 20 multiparty conference in a tweet and asked whether the two major parties could speak of a mega project they had launched in Balochistan during a decade of their rule.

The opposition’s newly-formed alliance, the Pakistan Democratic Movement, plans to launch an anti-government campaign with its first public meeting scheduled to be held in Quetta on Oct 11.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2020