QUETTA: President of the Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal) Sardar Akhtar Jan Mengal has announced that his party’s next sit-in will be staged in Islamabad on October 30 over the Wadh situation.

Speaking at a public meeting at the Ayub Stadium’s football ground in Quetta, at the end of BNP-M’s long march from Khuzdar to Quetta, Mr Mengal said their struggle would continue until all missing persons are recovered and what he called the “elimination of death squads in the province, including in Wadh”.

“We will not compromise on our struggle and our fight for the rights of the people of Balochistan,” he said, adding that the Islamabad sit-in will continue till “acceptance of our demands”.

Earlier, the BNP-M’s protest march, led by Mr Mengal, reached Quetta, covering a distance of around 350km late on Sunday night.

Demands action against ‘death squads’ in Balochistan

Heavy police and law enforcement contingents were deployed in and around the public meeting venue.

Those who reached the stadium to participate in the meeting were not allowed to enter the ground until the marchers arrived in Quetta.

Media persons were not allowed to cover the event, and TV channels’ DSNGs were sent back by police.

Mr Mengal said, “Today’s long march was a clear expression of our hatred for the death squads, and we will continue to fight against them as long as a single BNP worker is alive.”

He alleged that terrorists were being nurtured in the nurseries of government institutions. “We were told not to conduct long marches, but we will persist in our movement for the orphans and widows of Wadh and Balochistan until it reaches its culmination,” Mr Mengal stated.

He warned that if any party workers are targeted, it will be the responsibility of the federal and provincial governments, which are protecting terrorists. “Our hands will be on their collars,” he said.

“We have confronted all the dictators from [retired] general Musharraf to anyone else who came here, and [we] will continue to do so,” he said.

He asked the caretaker information minister of Balochistan what violations were committed in the context of Section 144.

He said that if there were any violations, he is ready to offer himself for arrest voluntarily so that the government’s resources are not wasted.

Mr Mengal said, “It’s not a caretaker government at the federal and provincial levels; it’s an undertaker government. This caretaker government is facilitating terrorists. There won’t be fair and transparent elections here, it will be a bloody election.”

The BNP chief further emphasised that they are not seeking seats or parliamentary gains; instead, all they want is a peaceful Balochistan, free from the shackles of death squads.

Published in Dawn, October 23th, 2023