• Conference agrees to move joint resolution in provincial assembly against Mines and Minerals Act
• Aimal seeks end to military operations, border trade restoration, release of political prisoners

QUETTA: Awami National Party (ANP) Central President Senator Aimal Wali Khan urged the government and opposition parties to unite on one platform to find a solution to the burning issues of Balochistan, protect its resources from plunder, and ensure the release of all political leaders.

He said this while speaking at a press conference after the multiparty conference (MPC) and a national jirga hosted by the Awami National Party in Quetta. Expressing concerns over the ongoing operation in the province, he urged the government to immediately stop military operations, restore border trade from Gwadar to Bajaur and withdraw the order of the merger of the Levies into the police department.

“The participants have agreed to move a joint resolution in the Balochistan Assembly opposing the Mines and Minerals Act adopted by the assembly,” he said, adding that the moot discussed this issue in detail and decided to resist the plunder of resources of the province.

He said the conference formed a multi-party committee to devise a plan of action and pledged to present a united front in the court against the controversial law. He said the political parties declared the act a conspiracy against the 18th Constitutional Amendment and vowed to fight it legally and politically.

The ANP leader said the foreign and domestic policies over the past 78 years were responsible for terrorism, extremism and instability in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He called for an international truth commission to investigate human rights violations, and also condemned the role of state-backed armed groups and “death squads” targeting political workers.

The ANP chief rejected the Feb 8, 2024, elections and urged fresh, free and impartial polls under an autonomous election commission. He also demanded the cancellation of “fake” land allotments in Pakhtun and Baloch areas, restoration of all border trade routes, including those along the Durand Line. He also demanded the release of political workers such as Ali Wazir, Mama Ghaffar Qambrani, and Dr Mahrang Baloch, the rollback of the controversial Peca law, and the withdrawal of a travel ban on BNP-M chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal.

He rejected agricultural taxes and called for duties on imported fruits from Iran and other countries.

Published in Dawn, August 10th, 2025