QUETTA, July 19: The Balochistan National Party (Mengal) would convene an all parties’ conference on different issues of the province, including the Dera Bugti situation and political murders.

The newly-elected BNP secretary-general, Habib Jalib Baloch, made this announcement at a press conference with Vice-President Sajid Tareen Advocate and Information Secretary Sana Baloch here on Friday.

He also announced that the BNP would observe a shutter-down strike throughout the province on July 25 to protest against police for not arresting the murderers of the party’s senior leader, Mir Aslam Jan Gichki, despite the passage of more than five weeks.

Mr Baloch said all the political parties had already assured the BNP of their support for the strike. He declared that his party would soon start consultation with other political parties for holding the all parties’ conference.

The BNP leader, while referring to the Dera Bugti situation, said that a delegation of the party had recently visited the area, where the Frontier Corps had established dozens of checkposts, while pickets had also been erected on the rooftops of government buildings and mountains.

He added that the entire Dera Bugti area and other areas of the tribal agency were under siege due to which the area people were facing shortage of food, medicine and other daily use items. He claimed that government had completed its arrangements for launching an operation in the area.

Mr Baloch said that a BNP delegation had held a meeting with Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and had assured him that the party and the people of the province would resist any operation in the area.

He demanded of the federal and provincial governments to withdraw all the forces from the tribal agency and accept what he called the just demands of the people. The BNP leader accused “secret agencies” of harbouring the murderers of Aslam Gichki.