KARACHI, Feb 4: Leaders and activists of the Balochistan Nationalist Party have demanded immediate halt to the alleged torture on interned Baloch leader Sardar Akhtar Mengal and release of all nationalist civilians picked up over the past many months.

At a protest demonstration against the arrest and inhuman treatment meted out to the Sardar, chief of the Balochistan National Party and a former chief minister of Balochistan, BNP leaders and activists demanded withdrawal of the ‘false’ case of holding two agents of a sensitive agency hostage, and immediate release of the leader.

Hameed Sajna, Mushtaq Ahmed, Nizam Baloch and others told participants of the demonstration, held outside the press club here on Sunday, that “the state-machinery has unleashed a reign of terror on nationalist forces across the country and targeted Baloch nationalists in particular.”

They condemned the large scale crackdown on Baloch people and the secret agencies’ act of whisking away and taking in custody many of the government’s political opponents without disclosing their whereabouts or the charge framed against them. They pointed out that a large number of BNP leaders and activists was among the Baloch nationalists picked up many months back and their whereabouts was still not known.

They alleged that the government had implicated Sardar Mengal in a ‘fabricated’ case and he was being subjected to severe mental and physical torture in jail.

The BNP leaders asked the government to release all its political opponents immediately and restore the constitutional rights of each and every citizen.

They warned the government that Baloch people, especially youths, were losing patience and if the inhuman treatment was not stopped immediately, they would take to the street.