QUETTA, Nov 20: Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani has asked the home department for a list of people detained in the province on political grounds under the Maintenance of the Public Order (MPO) Ordinance.

“Gradually the cases are being withdrawn and political prisoners are being freed,” the chief minister told Dawn on Thursday. He, however, said that it would take time to get all such prisoners freed.

Mr Raisani said he had furnished a list of 845 missing persons to the federal interior ministry and the Pakistan Army in order to trace the persons missing in Balochistan. “It is our duty to release all political prisoners, including the Marri and Bugti tribesmen,” he said.—Correspondent