QUETTA: Balochistan National Party-Mengal chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal has said that every segment of society is angry, every person who raises his voice for his rights has been abused and is angry.

He said that even the most complex issue could be resolved through dialogue but “some forces do not want that”.

“The problems of Balochistan should be solved but some people, most of them belonging to the government, do not want that,” he said while talking to a private TV channel on Sunday.

“Some people are being ‘raised in pots’ to become leaders of Balochistan and they will never want the problems of Balochistan to be solved,” Mr Mengal said.

Claims idea of dialogue with Baloch leaders has come due to changing regional situation

“Real forces” do not want a solution to the problem of Balochistan,” the BNP-M leader said. “I am serious about the talks but on the other side there are people who are against negotiations.”

He said the government used the term of “angry Baloch” and added: “Give us any title but resolve the issues in a political way.”

He said that the anger of the Baloch had intensified so much that they no longer expressed it.

“I do not know which Baloch the government calls angry: those who are abroad or those who are sitting on the mountains,” he said.

The BNP-M chief said that all people of Balochistan were angry with the state except the ministers.

He said that even bigger issues had been resolved through negotiations and the issue of Balochistan could also be resolved through dialogue.

In response to a question, he said: “I don’t think the government is serious in negotiations. However, due to the changing situation in the region, the idea of dialogue has been floated.”

He said that those Pakhtun and Sindhi people who had been abused were also angry. “Journalists and media persons associated with TV channels are also angry. But for the Baloch, this issue is being raised because of the possible impact of the changing situation in the region.

Sardar Mengal said that the possibility of the Taliban’s advance on Pakistan after the withdrawal of US and Nato forces from Afghanistan was being feared in the country, particularly in Balochistan.

Sardar Mengal said that in the past they, a reference to the Baloch leadership of the National Awami Party, were also included in the list of traitors and enemies of the country.

What results had been yielded by several rounds of negotiations with angry Baloch leaders in the past, he asked and recalled that talks with Baloch leaders had been held in every era.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2021