QUETTA: Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal) and National Party held separate protest rallies in Quetta and other parts of the province on Sunday against the bill passed by the parliament on Reko Diq agreement.

In Quetta, a huge BNP-M rally began from the Metropolitan Corporation where party leaders and workers had gathered.

The participants of the rally marched through the main roads and streets of the provincial capital carrying placards and banners inscribed with their demands.

They chanted slogans against Reko Diq deal and demanded recognition of sovereignty and rights of the Baloch people over the coastline of Balochistan.

The BNP-M rally later turned into a public meeting at Mezeen Chowk which was addressed by BNP-M’s central deputy secretary general and parliamentary leader Malik Naseer Ahmad Shahwani, former senator Dr Jahanzeb Jamaldini, member of the central executive committee and district president Ghulam Nabi Marri and district general secretary of BSO Atif Rodini Baloch.

The participants of the public meeting also approved a resolution which said that Reko Diq project bill passed by the parliament had ignored the will of the masses of the province which would not be accepted at any cost.

The resolution said that under the bill all powers of the Balochistan government had been given to the federal government bypassing the local people and this process was a clear violation of the country’s laws, Constitution and the 18th amendment.

Speaking on the occasion, BNP-M leaders said that for the past several years, the people of Balochistan had been facing serious problems and difficulties and the main reason for this was that dictators and so-called rulers had usurped mineral resources of Balochistan.

They said that defending every inch of Balochistan was part of “our national responsibility and duty because this land is our motherland and we will not allow our identity to be erased under any circumstances”.

They threatened that if the legislation passed in the dark of the night regarding Reko Diq was not withdrawn and Balochistan people were not considered as the heir of mineral and other resources of Balochistan then the BNP-M would take a tough decision in this regard.

The BNP-M rallies were also taken out in Khuzdar, Turbat and other towns of the province.

National Party rally

The National Party also held its rallies in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan separately but on the same issue opposing the agreement reached between federal and provincial governments with Canadian company Barrick Gold Corporation.

In Quetta, the National Party took out a big procession from its main office and after passing through various roads, the participants of the procession gathered at the Quetta Press Club.

National Party leaders Mir Aslam Baloch, Haji Ata Muhammad Bangulzai, Kulsoom Niaz and Agha Gul led the protest rally.

The NP leaders said they would not allow anyone to sell resources of Balochistan without the approval of the people who they said were the real owners of natural resources of Balochistan.

A big rally was also taken out in Turbat by National Party. NP secretary general Jan Muhammad Buledi said Pakistan was a federation which had its four units which were governed under the Constitution.

He said that this Constitution had been repeatedly amended by rulers for their own vested interests and that had created a serious crisis of governance in the country.

He criticised the federal and provincial governments for approving the bill on Reko-Diq which he said was against interests of the people of Balochistan.

“Amending the Constitution is not a game of children,” Mr Buledi declared.

Haji Fida Hussain Dashti, former Senator Manzoor Ahmed Gichki, Waja Abul Hassan Mashkoor and Jan Muhammad Dashti also spoke in the occasion.

The BNP-M and NP rallies were also held in Noshki, Nasirabad, Mast-ung, Sohbatpur, Mach, Kalat,Dalbandin, , Jaffar­abad and other towns.

Behram Baloch, Ali Jan Mangi and Abdul Wahid Shahwani also contributed to the report

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2022