KARACHI: Sardar Ataullah Mengal, former Chief Minister of Baluchistan, yesterday [July 20] exhorted his countrymen to shed their feelings of complacency, indifference and inertia and organise an effective and sustained democratic struggle to save Pakistan from further disintegration.

Addressing a protest meeting sponsored by the United Democratic Front (UDF) in observance of Baluchistan Day … he observed that the issue was no longer that of restoring a majority party Government in Baluchistan, it was of restoring democracy and the rule of law in the whole of Pakistan. He declared that restrictions are imposed on the fundamental right to dissent, on civil liberties, and on the freedom of the Press because the people … meekly forgo their rights. If they let it be known plainly that such restrictions … would be resisted, the Government would think twice before curtailing their civic rights and civil liberties.

Mr. Mengal expressed regrets that Baluchistan Day in support of the democracy-loving people of Baluchistan was being observed in closed rooms. This, he said, was not a protest but a sort of ‘chehlum’ and, therefore, could hardly be effective for the cause of democracy.

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2023