QUETTA: Leaders of opposition parties in the Balochistan Assembly have accused the government of damaging the peaceful environment of the house.

They announced that they would lodge an FIR against Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan Alyani and would boycott the budget session and continue their protest against the coalition government’s attitude towards the opposition.

Speaking at a joint press conference, MNA Maulana Abdul Wasey of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F), Opposition Leader in the Balochistan Assembly Malik Sikandar Khan, parliamentary leader of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal Malik Naseer Ahmed Shahwani and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party’s Nasarullah Zerey alleged that the government itself was making the situation bad despite the peaceful protest by the opposition against the government.

They said police on Friday tried to remove protesting MPAs of the opposition parties from the assembly building. They said the police tried to break the building’s back gate by hitting it with an armoured vehicle.

They said four MPAs and 10 workers of the opposition parties were injured in the police’s baton charge and tear gas shelling. The government used power instead of accepting demands of the opposition parties, they added.

The opposition leaders said as elected members of the assembly spending government funds in their constituencies was their right.

They said the opposition would lodge an FIR against the chief minister for using state power against elected members and political workers. They warned that if the police would refuse to register an FIR against the chief minister, the opposition would approach the court.

The opposition, they said, had decided to boycott the budget session and would not enter the assembly.

They rejected a minister’s allegations that opposition PMAs were involved in corruption and said that no opposition member looted official funds.

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2021