QUETTA, Nov 22: The Balochistan National Party (Mengal) has said that the Lashkar-i-Balochistan long march from Gwadar to Quetta is being staged from Nov 30 in protest against military operation, extra-judicial killings, arrests of political workers by intelligence agencies, humiliating burial of former governor Nawab Akbar Bugti, looting of the province’s resources and establishment of cantonments.

The party’s secretary-general Habib Jalib Baloch alleged at a press conference at the press club her on Wednesday that the Gwadar project was aimed at settling thousands of Punjabis and refugees and occupying the land.

He said the BNP had not believed that parliament could resolve the province’s the issues but the party used the forum to raise the voice of the oppressed Balochistan. But after the martyrdom of Nawab Bugti and the ongoing military action, parliament had lost its credibility, he said.

Responding to a query, he said the party’s national council would decide about contesting the next elections at an appropriate time. He dispelled the impression that the long march was aimed at launching an election campaign, saying that polls under the present set-up would be engineered to bring forward the favourites of the establishment.

He said the intelligence agencies wanted to strengthen the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and the governments of the NWFP and Balochistan were running the affairs on the pattern of Talibanisation.

He asserted that situation in Balochistan had taken a new turn after the barbaric killing of Nawab Bugti and the Baloch political groups would estrange themselves from the masses if they did not respond to the atmosphere.

The BNP said the oppression and excesses of the usurpers had changed the nature of the Baloch question from that of autonomy to historical right of sovereignty, which invited the intervention of international institutions and supporters of peace and freedom.