KARACHI, March 12: Chief of the Balochistan National Party (BNP) Sardar Akhtar Mengal has dismissed General Musharraf’s latest warning to sardars (an oblique reference to Baloch nationalist leaders), saying: “It is not a new thing.”

Talking to Dawn, Sardar Mengal remarked: “Such warnings had also been issued in the past by the Gen Musharraf using threatening language to the extent of physical elimination of the Baloch leaders who were resisting his dictatorial regime.”

He said one could expect such a language from a dictator, however, “we are sitting where we were. Who is preventing him to take any action?”

The BNP leader recalled that the general had already embarked upon the path of his predecessors, indicating that a massive military operation had been carried out in Balochistan during the 11-year dictatorial rule of Ayub Khan and the same had been continued by Z. A Bhutto’s regime for seven years.

He said no dictator had ever succeeded in eliminating the Baloch people. In the same way, neither any Baloch nationalist leader had ever succumbed to the pressure of dictators nor had they ever compromised on the people’s national rights.

Sardar Mengal said that Gen Musharraf was issuing such warnings because he was in uniform, and he fully knew his position without it.

About possibility of any political settlement, the BNP chief maintained that a meaningful dialogue could not be held with military dictators who, he observed, believed only in the language of force.

Sardar Mengal was of the view that politics and dictatorship were two different things. “Therefore, talks or dialogue being part of a political process can only be held in a democratic environment, and the dictatorship will not allow democracy to flourish.”