KARACHI, April 15: The police pickets, removed from outside the houses of the former Balochistan chief minister, Sardar Akhtar Mengal, and his brother in Defence area only on Friday last, have been set up again.

Sardar Mengal, who is chief of the Balochistan National Party (BNP), told Dawn on Saturday that the redeployment had been made on Friday night.

The two houses were first besieged on the night between April 5 and 6 and the Baloch leaders’ uncle had challenged the action in the Sindh High Court pleading that it was an act of illegal confinement.

The court took up the matter on Friday. A provincial law officer submitted to the court that pickets had since been withdrawn.

Sardar Mengal said that the status quo remained was being maintained as the police pickets had been withdrawn only for a few hours.

“This shows that our rulers have no respect for law and judiciary. We are well aware of their mala fide intentions and have never expected any favour from them,” he said.

Regarding the situation prevailing in Balochistan, the BNP leader said: “The trouble is growing. It is now spreading to more areas due to the brutal actions on the part of the government agencies.”

He said a complete shutter-down was observed in all major towns of the province on Saturday on the call of opposition parties against the ongoing military operation and atrocities by security forces.

The Baloch leader warned that Balochistan was vulnerable to a disastrous situation and military rulers would be held responsible for such a situation as it was the government which appeared unwilling to resolve the political problem by recognizing the sovereign rights of Baloch people.

He ruled out the possibility of any negotiated settlement under the current circumstances, saying that he could not understand who actually was calling the shots in that province.

“The assembly has been held hostage and a weak and inefficient chief minister, besides an outsider as governor, has been imposed. The government is corrupt, ineffective and dysfunctional which depends on the federal government for its own survival.”

On the other hand, Sardar Mengal said, the federal government wanted to usurp the resources of the province through the use of brute force. “It does not even try to make its intentions to crush the Baloch people, fighting for their national rights, a secret.”

The Sardar argued that none of the problems concerning Balochistan could be addressed effectively without recognizing the rights of Baloch people on their provincial resources and granting them the right of self-rule.