QUETTA: In an open letter to Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Balochistan National Party chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal has said that the situation in the province has not changed over the past decade and the delay in delivery of justice has encouraged the elements who are involved in the killing of Baloch people.

The letter released here on Sunday calls upon the Supreme Court to make “restoration of peace” its priority in order to remove fear among people, eliminate criminals and ensure return of a responsible and sensible political leadership in Balochistan.

Sardar Mengal warned that if genuine elections were not held it would only exacerbate the Baloch people’s complaints against Islamabad.

He said the century-old political and social problems of Balochistan could be solved through a “conflict resolution process” that provided justice to the mothers who had received mutilated bodies of their sons or whose sons were missing.

He held politicians, generals, bureaucrats, nawabs and sardars responsible for turning Balochistan into a graveyard and said they must be punished.

He said elections in the province would fail to serve their purpose unless people, including judges, were able to move freely in a peaceful atmosphere without fear of death squads and the situation was suitable for expression of views.

Mr Mengal claimed that since his appearance before the court in September last year, Balochistan’s people had received 60 mutilated bodies, 70 had died in targeted killings and another 100 had disappeared.

He said that after the Baloch people, Hazaras had suffered badly because of targeted killings but no killer had been punished.

He said when Baloch political parties expressed willingness to participate in the polls, hidden forces and their death squads became active, adding that recently bodies of Baloch people had been found in Karachi.

This was tantamount to conveying a message to Baloch nationalist political groups to keep away from elections to pave the way for the politicians who were imposed by Islamabad, he said.