QUETTA, Dec 9: Members of the NFC committee from Balochistan and the NWFP must resign to protest against the federal government's policy of protecting the interests of a large province, says Kachkol Ali Baloch, leader of opposition in the provincial assembly.

In statement issued here on Thursday, he termed the resignation of Sindh member Abdul Karim Lodhi from the National Finance Commission committee a major step and said that Balochistan, Sindh and the NWFP should take a joint stand on the issue to protect the rights of smaller provinces.

He alleged that the NFC committee had been working to safeguard the rights of the big province at the cost of the other federating units. Mr Baloch highlighted excesses against smaller nationalities and said that without transferring powers from the centre to provinces, the deprived nationalities would not be able to protect their resources.

He also called for handing over the control of the Gwadar port to the provincial government so that the local people could enjoy the benefits of revenue collected from the harbour.