GWADAR: The secretary general of Balochistan National Party, Senator Dr Jehanzeb Jamaldini, has said the BNP-M as a component of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) will fully support the opposition’s activities.

Speaking at a press conference in Turbat on Saturday, he said the PTI government had failed to implement the six-point accord signed with it by the BNP-M two years ago and that compelled the party leadership to part its ways with the federal government and join the PDM.

“No progress was made on our six points the government agreed on two years ago,” he said.

Narrating reasons for leaving the alliance with the PTI government, the BNP-M leader said that his party had demanded from the government to announce a package of Rs200 billion for Balochistan to end backwardness of different districts of the province.

“Instead of announcing Rs200 billion for Balochistan, the federal government approved Rs13 billion and Rs15 billion for Sindh and Punjab, respectively, and announced no package for Balochistan” he said.

He said the BNP-M was not against giving packages to other provinces, but ignoring Balochistan on the issue triggered the BNP-M leadership to reconsider its alliance with the PTI government.

He said the federal government was not ready to give Balochistan its due share of funds which was six per cent in accordance with the Constitution.

The BNP-M leader also asked as to why Balochistan had no right on its islands and Gwadar Port.

“The islands are part of Pakistan, but they should remain under the control of the Balochistan government,” he said, adding that an attempt had been made to take over all islands of Balochistan through an ordinance.

He said the BNP-M would take up the matter in parliament besides challenging it in the court of law.

He said that at present there were thousands of federal government jobs in Balochistan on the quota of people from other provinces than Balochistan which was a grave injustice and violation of the rights of the youth of Balochistan.

“No secretary, director general, additional secretary on any key post in Islamabad and diplomats abroad belong to Balochistan province despite the fact that the province has been guaranteed a six per cent quota in the federal services by the Constitution of the country,” Dr Jamaldini said. He regretted that Balochistan, as a federating unit, had no say in policy-making and other decisions relating to the province.

He said that not a single motorway had been built in Balochistan while 50 motorways had been constructed in Punjab.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2020