QUETTA, March 20: The Balochistan National Party (Mengal) has rejected PML leader Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain’s suggestion that non-locals in Gwadar should be allowed to exercise the right to vote after 15 years.

The party said that the proposal was aimed at depriving the Baloch people of their right of representation in parliament.

Speakers at a public meeting at the Shaheed Nauroz Khan chowk in Kalat on Monday alleged that after controlling resources and killing innocent people in Dera Bugti and Kohlu, usurpers were trying to deprive the native people of their representation in assemblies.

BNP-M chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal, Senator Sana Baloch and Malik Wali Kakar called for mobilizing people for a protest rally in Quetta on April 2 against the military operation in Dera Bugti and Kohlu.

Sardar Mengal said that the struggle for the rights of the Baloch people would continue till their national rights were recognised.

The former chief minister criticised the federal government for trying to resolve issues at gunpoint and said that the Baloch people had been resisting state assaults for five decades to protect their resources and fundamental rights.

He said that the clash between the centre and Baloch people was for control of resources.

Sardar Mengal said his party would not compromise with the anti-Baloch rulers and continue their struggle for the rights of the deprived masses.

Senator Sana Baloch said that the party had rejected the formula of the ruling PML that new settlers in the coastal belt, including Gwadar, should be given the voting right 15 years after their settlement. He said that the proposal was a trap for the Baloch people.

He alleged that in Senate elections the federal government had brought in two outsiders to deprive the Baloch people of their representation in the upper house but their conspiracy was foiled.

He demanded cessation of hostilities in Dera Bugti and Kohlu and release of all political detainees.