QUETTA, June 18: The Balochistan National Party (Mengal) on Monday could not hold a scheduled protest demonstration out side the Quetta Press Club due to presence of a heavy contingent of police.

The BNP-M wanted to hold the demonstration on Monday to condemn alleged police crackdown on its members.

BNP-M’s secretary general Habib Jalib Baloch alleged that the provincial government had not allowed his members to reach the press club, adding that the restrictions had exposed government’s claims of tolerance for the opposition.

He said the BNP-M had organised successful rallies in Mastung, Kalat and Nushki, but in Khuzdar, he added, the authorities did not allow the party workers to hold a rally.

The BNP-M leader alleged that police had arrested about 60 members of his party from different localities of Quetta after the June 14 incident in which nine army personnel were killed in a terrorist attack.

Criticising the police crackdown, he said military operation and arrests could not stop the party from raising voice against injustices, adding that the BNP-M under the leadership of Sardar Ataullah Mengal would continue its struggle for the rights of Balochistan’s people.