ISLAMABAD: The Baluchistan Government has decided to take all necessary measures to enforce law and order in the Province, says a Press note issued by the Ministry of Interior here tonight [May 22]. It said the Federal Government had directed the Civil Armed Forces and units of the Army to take necessary action in aid of civil power to restore order, and to ensure that in future supplies continue to move to all parts of the Province without let or hindrance. A unit of the Army arrived in Maiwand, the Marri headquarters, this morning and is sweeping the village for arms. The local wadera and the population are fully cooperating… . — News agencies

[Meanwhile, as reported by our staff correspondent from Peshawar,] Khan Abdul Wali Khan, President of the NAP … accused the Government of trying to push the provinces of the Frontier and Baluchistan out of Pakistan and to achieve that end it was bullying, harassing, coercing, humiliating, starving and killing the people, so that the point of no return is reached. In a statement issued on the Baluchistan situation, Wali Khan warned that “if they will repeat the mistakes their predecessors committed in Bangladesh they will produce the same results surely. …”

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2023